Home
AudioAsylum Trader
General Asylum: REVIEW: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL Ref 750 MB Amplifier (Tube) by jrus

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

For Sale Ads

FAQ / News / Events

 

REVIEW: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL Ref 750 MB Amplifier (Tube)

209.239.210.27


[ Follow Ups ] Thread:  [ Display   All   Email ] [ General Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Model: Ref 750 MB
Category: Amplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price: $20000
Description: Tube Power Amp
Manufacturer URL: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL
Model Picture: View

Review by jrus ( A ) on April 28, 2002 at 11:35:08
IP Address: 209.239.210.27
Add Your Review
for the Ref 750 MB


I want to try to write a review that is actually useful rather than just brag about my new toys (which I definitely feel like doing). After thinking it over, I'm going to break it into two parts: 1) Dealing with VTL and, 2) The Goods. With components on this scale, its almost a toss up as to which is more important so its hard to decide which should go first. I think I'll start with the practical and work my way down to the divine. I should warn you, if you don't like, "Man, this clown can't find a single bad thing to say" type reviews, you aren't going to like this one. If I could marry these amps and VTL, we'd be smooching on the balcony on our frickin honeymoon suite right now. Some details follow.

1) Dealing with VTL
I had VTL Deluxe 300s for 12 years previously. They sounded great running my MG3s; never had the slightest problem with them. I started noticing an intermittent noise in my system that I thought might be an input tube finally going in the 300s. I called VTL to ask about getting a couple of test/replacement tubes. The woman who answered was smart, perceptive and helpful. She made some insightful suggestions and figured out the fastest way to get me the tubes. Next thing I know, Luke Manley HIMSELF is calling me to offer to COME OVER TO MY PLACE (!) and help me diagnose the problem. This he did, and spent an entire afternoon checking out the amps from one end to the other (which turned out not to be the cause of the noise). He treated those amps like long lost children. He told me stories about how they were made, what was going on at VTL at that particular time, and obviously had genuine affection for them. He never mentioned his other products once. He had no interest in trying to upgrade me. I could hardly even get him to talk about his other products, he just wanted those 300s to sing and dance and he left them doing just that. Very smart, real, nice, genuine guy. If my other experiences in hi-end support and service were 5% of that, I'd be ecstatic. They haven't been. Not even close. OK, on to the 750s.
I got lucky. I went to Stereo Unlimited in Walnut Creek (great "real people" store) to listen to Magneplaner MG 20.1s (awesome; bought 'um!) and they were running them with 750s. They sounded so fantastic together I bought them too even though I wasn't planning to upgrade amps for awhile.
OK. It turns out they build the amps from scratch for each order. I ended up emailing/talking to that helpful original woman several times during the birth of the 750s. She turned out to be Bea Lam, wife of Luke Manley. She's a very knowledgeable big music person - just bought a new Steinway B directly from the NY factory - and a genuine pleasure to interact with. She made sure my order was straight, kept me updated on progress, arranged a suitable time to deliver the amps, and arranged the actual delivery with the aplomb of an Apollo Flight Director. It went off without a hitch. And, you guessed it, Luke himself arrived at my door within minutes of their delivery and spent the afternoon thoroughly setting them up. Spending the afternoon with this guy is worth the price of admission all by itself and I got to do it twice. He talked a lot about what goes into designing and building these big puppies and the guy knows his stuff. I'll bet nothing else I own was as carefully and meticulously thought out. I am TOTALLY secure that should I ever have the slightest problem, these guys will be right there; "spot on" as Luke would say. Consumer security, I would say.
2) The Goods.
First off, this is not one amplifier, its two. I read a lot of stuff written about the 750's before I bought them and this point is never adequately made. Its a "tetrode amp" and a "triode amp", in the same unit. Second, the name "Brunnhilde" takes you down an entirely incorrect mental picture path (which may be why VTL doesn't seem to have adopted it). The venerable old HP just plain missed it on that. There is absolutely NOTHING whatsoever feminine about the "tetrode amp", not even "Brunnhilde butt kicking" type feminine, and the "triode amp" is too feminine to be characterized that way. Which is actually kind of weird because, different as they are, just about anything you would say about one applies to the other, but still they're totally different. I'm sorry - I realize what that sounds like - but somehow that's just the way it is.
As I alluded already, the amps are extremely well thought out, designed and built. I've read that they're the product of successful original designs followed by generation after generation of refinement, and it shows. They're extremely solidly constructed (185 LB/each) and arrive in two massive custom wooden shipping crates (580 LB/ total pair). Luke says there's essentially never been any problem with shipping damage and I can see why. The amps are easier to move around by the handles than you'd think 185 LB would be but it takes two people. I won't waste space on the spec's (you can read about them at http://www.vtl.com) but I will mention that in typical VTL fashion, they're conservative. For example, they advertise 750W in tetrode mode and 350W in triode but the individual test data they provide with each unit clearly shows 800W+ and 400W+ for both of mine.
I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to describe how they sound for this review and I've decided that the most accurate thing I can tell you is that they just plain don't sound like anything. On records with flabby bass, they sound flabby. On records with deep, tight bass, they sound deep and tight. On records with scorching highs, they sound scorching. Sweet highs sound sweet. On records with lots of dynamics, they blow your head off. On subtle music, they are delicate and exude gentle finesse. They have this weird "real environment" quality. The TAS guys described it as creating an extremely dense space inside of your listening room and that about sums it up. That denseness is just plain supernatural. There's nothing subtle about it. On a recording of "Bridge over Trouble Water", during a section where there is a huge audience clapping away, its like you can hear each and every single individual person clapping, independently. Thousands of individual uncorrelated sounds all right next to each other, spread all around you. You just have to hear it to believe it. And that characteristic makes music sound literally palpable (if its in the recording in the first place, and surprisingly, it often was all along - you just couldn't hear it).
Every record sounds totally different. Rather than go on and on describing what a bunch of particular records sound like, let me just say that there's nothing I've listened to that is demanded on a recording that doesn't simply appear at the speakers with ease. And that's another thing, they have this weird, "just loafing along" relaxed quality that to me "sounds" like they're simply missing from the picture as far as adding or subtracting any sound quality, color, dynamics or ambiance. If its on the recording, and the rest of the system can reproduce it, it glides through the 750s like a some magic signal increasing wire. A very quiet wire - they are absolutely noiseless. I'm not kidding; you have to put your ear right up to the tweeter to hear any noise from them. The only way you even know they're ON, is to play music through them.
All of those are characteristics that both the "tetrode amp" and the "triode amp" have in common. They BOTH sound like all of that. So how can they also be so different? I don't know and I'm not going to try to make up something. The "tetrode amp" is like a gigantic aircraft carrier version of it and the "triode amp" is like a fine, hand crafted, teak decked, 46' yacht version of it. I've really struggled with how to get this across and everything I write incorrectly reflects what I hear so I'm just going to leave it at that. Bottom line: I cannot turn my stereo off; I sneak away from work to listen to it; its like I have a completely new record collection which I'm going through again, one by one, from beginning to end; they are simply fantastic. Its the best twenty grand I've ever spent on anything in my life.


Product Weakness: They're heavy
Product Strengths: Ability to simply amplify the music without adding or subtracting anything


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: VTL Ref 750 MB
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Aesthetix Phono and Line
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Micro Seiki RX1500 Vacuum Turntable, SAEC 407/WE arm, MC Alpha 2 (low output) cartridge
Speakers: Magneplaner MG20.1
Cables/Interconnects: Straightwire
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Classical
Room Size (LxWxH): 12 x 16 x 10
Room Comments/Treatments: Sondex
Time Period/Length of Audition: 3 months
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Signature Sound   [ Signature Sound Lounge ]



Topic - REVIEW: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL Ref 750 MB Amplifier (Tube) - jrus 11:35:08 04/28/02 ( 7)