Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) VK-500 Amplifier (SS) by blindjim Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here.

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Model:	VK-500
Category:	Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price:	$5000
Description:	250 W @ 8 Ohms
Manufacturer URL:	Balanced Audio Technology (BAT)
Manufacturer URL:	Balanced Audio Technology (BAT)

Review by blindjim ( A ) on January 11, 2006 at 13:54:23 IP Address: 72.40.93.121

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I've had but three amps exceeding 200 wpc, in my home audio system (s). Krell KAV250, B&K Ref 220, and now The BAT VK 500 w/BAT pack. Moving from the Krell to the BAT VK500 s/BP, has been and is in my humble opinion, the best move I've yet made in main power amplification. I say that without hesitation.

The BAT VK500 w/BP is really a pair of mono amps sitting on but a single shassis. Separate entities entirely. From the energizing controls to the cords, only the frame and housing are shared. Two separate power cords supplying the power to the amp (s). BAT provides in this instance a completely balanced two stage system with an enormous reserve of current that deftly handles what one may throw at it on any given situation. A hefty 105 pound unpacked weight of the amp and traditional styling with side mounted heat sinks show attention to not only the working portions of the amp but it’s appearance as well. Lines that do not call attention to themselves, but if the eye falls upon them, they do not scurry away.

I am not a detail freak by any stretch of the imagination. In fact quite the contrary. I lean towards the spot that finds itself a touch short of neutral most often. Though detail is a portion of the musical experience, it should not be the music. Not a distraction… or provided with edge, or hard in an attempt to construct some semblance of dynamics. I’m personally not here for the sounds of sweat dripping onto the microphone, or the chair squeaking on the wood floorboards. Nor am I to terribly thrilled with the sound of gassey musicians. I am not here for it though, it happens. These artifacts need be a part of rather than ‘the’ part that takes ‘from’.

Never fear! The BAT is here. The VK500 possesses the capacity of exhibiting details in a most musical rendering. The BAT VK500 in conjunction with it's immense reservoir of available power on demand provides a seamless recreation of music in an almost tube like presentation. Across the entirety of the discernable bandwidth. Every detail is recreated without etching, or grain. All of the music is set onto a pallet of grand scale, keeping appropriate relationbships with instruments and other musical cues in the soundscape itself.

Depending upon the upstream components the BAT plays no favorites. Even impact and harmonic tonal qualities are portrayed without color or bias. A solid bass line is the foundation that supports the soundstage in staggering dimensions. All of them, height, width, and depth. The mid bass is well defined and if there is indeed a portion of the presentation given more emphasis, or character, at least in my system, it would be the mid range itself. the upper mids and highs are refined, open, smoothly as sweet as one could ask for in that area without gaging. Air and spatial dimensionality abound. There is sparkle and light enough to please even the picayunish of audiophiles.

I've as yet been unable to find a characteristic of this amp that shows it as colored or slanted to one area or another of the sonic presentation. I will say in light of that statement the midrange is so startlingly revealed as to be as substantially dimensional in substance and placement, that on occasion it will make me open my eyes to make sure there really is no one there... just the speakers and the wall behind them. An almost erie presence comes forth as vocals gain great form and presence. It’s almost like the singer is momentarily transported into the soundstage via a rip in the space time continuum.

Setting this amp to task over the last year or so, and with three different sets of speakers, the amp always portrays music smoothly, with warmth, refinement, and with impact in it's attack and precise timing in the decay. transiients lose nothing…. and are engrossing and natural. Depending upon the speakerage choice one can obtain a very warm, near dark sounding yet most involvingly romantic presentation, as was the case with the former Phase technologies flagship towers, PC 10.5. A different set may, (and is my experience too), such as the VR4-JR's has lifted the sounds cape to a more neutral position. Still keeping the 'magic' of the midrange, but tightening it's grip of the bass adn an increase in overall dynamics. Greater openess in the upper ranges accommpanies the ensuing changes. All the while keeping itself refined, and full. No hint of strident or bright top end here. Vocal sibilence is as the recording allows. Still the mids are cast as natural and musical as one would want. As many positive attributes in terms of detail and spatial enhancements were gained by infusing the JR’s, it did take a time to become used to encountering far more information…. It’s like having lots of cream and sugar in your coffee for a very long time and then going on a sugar free diet, but keeping the cream. As is the case with diets, the end result is highly touted, but the path strown with resistance. For myself, new things always take me time to become accustomed to, as a rule. Good or bad. Even ‘different’ sometimes is an issue. Growing akin to the less romantic auspices of adding the VR4-JR’s took a couple three months. See? I said I was resistant to change. Though in fact this one has been for the better. Fruitful. I’m sure another upgrade in speakers will yet again provide new worlds of sonic enjoyment…. And oh, yeah… another wrestling match with ‘change’.

With but a pair of two way units still another sort of sonic involvement exsists. Attention here please, especially to that of the mid bass and mid ranges with gobs of open airy notes set about the soundstage in proper porportion and size. More than a palatable experience. One I enjoyed for some few months as well. A sub made it more the affair than the occasion. Did I say I liked bass? Well, I do. Without a sub the presentation remains a rich and satisfying one with greter focus for sure on the meat of the music set into a less restrictive appointment.

The more than ample and sustainable power development of the vk500 w/BAT pack provides a solid footprint from botom to top. Colorless, aside form the warm mid, balance is easily seen throughout the harmonic range. As eager to please an amp as I've yet owned. The neutrality and apparent warmth this amp continues to provide from begining to end is a statement in and of itself. Fully balanced, using nothing in the way of feedback. No differentially balanced power here. Straight forward. bold. Simple in construct yet solidly built. Esthetically and sonically pleasing. As close to a tube amp as you can get I would think.... yet with greater control and dynamics. A most satisfying unit regarless the musical genre.

To elucidate but a few CD’s that provided startling overall impact or deft subtlety, I’d point your attention to Shemekia Copeland’s “Wicked” ex. ‘Don’t Wisper’, Pinetop Perkins’ “Ladies Man” ex w/Odetta “Trouble In Mind” & Susan Tedeshy’s “When I Lost my Baby”, John Mayall’s “Along for the ride” ex So Many roads w/Otis Rush; Johnny Hartman’s “And I thought about You” ex, title track; Eva Cassidy’s “Time after Time” ex, “Ain’t No Sunshine”; Stanly Turentine’s “Salt Song” ex “Sugar” & “Storm”; Milt Jackson’s “Burning in the Woodshed” ex, “Soulmates”; There are others but for the sake of brevity, which by now is a notion vainly lost. I will settle for the above to hopefully demonstrate the versatility and range the VK500 w/BP is capable of handling. Surely, deftly, with heart and involvement. The best amp on the planet? Possibly not. At the price point it was sold at while in production? Certainly, a ‘no brainer’ in that regard. I consider myself fortunate to have one of the very last units made by BAT in the fall/winter of 2003, to be sure.

I would be remiss if I did not indicate my experience with using the VK500 as the main speaker power supply in a Home Theater setting. Good as good goes though for those involved eeply into it, not my first choice there for sure. This amp is a musical pure blood. It’s given more to singing and dancing, rather than crashing and roaring about.

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Product Weakness:	Balanced only inputs. Could be slightly faster. Although workable in HT, I'd shy away from it in that capacity.
Product Strengths:	Dynamicly rich, warmly detailed, harmonically balanced in a most musical fashion.

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Balanced Audio Technology VK500 W.BP
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	BAT vk5i, Anthem AVM2, Sony STR 444es
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Sony SCD xa777es, AVM2 AM/FMtuner, Toshiba DVD 3750 dvd
Speakers:	Phase tech PC 10.5 & PC 6.0, VSA VR4-JR's
Cables/Interconnects:	MIT magnum, Cardass Neutral Ref.
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Blues, R&B, Jazz, Folk, C&W, Rock, Classical
Room Size (LxWxH):	20.75 x 13.75 x 8.75
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1.5 year
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	VooDoo gold Power cords on VK500, Shunyata Python on SCD 777, VooDoo Black Dragn on VK5i, PS Audio UPC200 FOR AMP ONLY.
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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