Help to make a choice: BAT; VAC; E.A.R.

The down side of the Renaissance amps is the expense of replacing 300B output tubes, even cheap ones are expensive. A PA100/100 would do the job. For the price, if you have the space the 220 mono amps would be awesome. I was using a PA100/100 to drive N802's which I truly loved, but a deal came up and now I'm using a PHI 110 which offers deeper better defined bass but lacks a bit of the excitement of the PA amp. I'm still in the fine tuning process. All the VAC amps are well built and have been reliable for me. Another consideration is the heat output. I live in a hot climate so I prefer having only four output tubes to generate heat. The VAC makes no more heat than my Classe amps.

I'm using a PHI 110 which offers deeper better defined bass but lacks a bit of the excitement of the PA amp.

Rhljazz, I'm running the same amp. Could you elaborate upon what you mean by "lacks a bit of the excitement of the PA amp"?

How are you running the Phi 110/110: zero feedback/feedback, triode/pentode, single ended/balanced?

At this point I would characterize the PHI 110 as being a more polished sound. It is certainly more spacious sounding and has tighter bass control. The result being that it doesn't have the fat round bass and quite the treble bite that embellishs the 1960's jazz that I favor. I am using the amps single ended inputs with the feedback engaged and ultralinear operation. The N802's may be a bit too difficult to drive with the feedback disengaged. Some material sounds very good this way but sometimes certain upper mid frequencies seem to jump out or it sounds congested in the bass. The preamp is a Renaissance and I use Audio Magic Illusion interconnects and Audio Magic Excaliber speaker cables in my latest setup. As I said, this is a work in progress.
I have changed the input tubes to NOS black base Sylvania which I preferred over the chrome domes. The PHI 110 did not like my Nordost Thor power contioner so I have gone back to my old Power Wedge for now. I still need to experiment more with power cords also.

Rhljazz, thanks for your comments. I find my Phi 110/110 does not lack whatsoever in treble "bite", so I find your post interesting. Crazy how this is all so system dependent.

I used to run my amp exactly as you do. Whenever I switched to zero feedback, I experienced distortion in the upper mids and highs. Then, my APL Denon 3910 was modified with new output transformers to better match the VAC's high gain in zero feedback mode, and the modification has made an astounding impact. Now, I run the amp with zero feedback and in triode. The difference is stunning...much more expansive sound, although it doesn't have the spooky darkness of running with feedback. It sounds more live, and I suspect this would lend itself perfectly to the 60s era jazz you prefer. The highs are sweeter, and the bass control is still superb. I find I don't miss the little extra punch ultriode provides, even while listening to Metallica.

As usual, your mileage will vary. I simply share my experience because like you, I ran with feedback and in ultriode mode for over a year, and the change to zero feedback and triode was excellent.

Raquel, have you heard the VAC Phi amps (I own one). I'm curious to know if you could provide any comparison betweeen the sound of the Phi series and Renaissance 70/70?