REVIEW: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL TT-25 Amplifier (Tube) - Vinylly

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REVIEW: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL TT-25 Amplifier (Tube)

63.15.3.222

I was very much interested in the Tiny Triodes back in the early l990's when "The Absolute Sound" gave a glowing review of them. The latest review from "Listner" pricked my interest again and the "Electrostatic Doctor" indecated that they were one of the best amps. available for Quad ESL 57's.
First of all, these tiny triodes aren't what I call "tiny", -the little Houston from Singapore is "tiny".
The auditioning is done on two different systems, using two different preamps and speakers and rooms.
A notable change from "Listner" mags review is they changed the speaker lugs to five way lugs so you can now use bannana lugs, -however, they are space too closely and they are hard and uneven to screw down without a socket wrench. I wish a big company like VTL could learn from a small individual from Thailand how to make really beautiful, easy to use, widely spaced five-way speaker termanals like my "no-name" integrated 300B SET amp.
Auditioning with Spendor S100's using Reference Line Mod-2000 passive preamp. Rega Planar 25 with Clearaudio Aurum Beta S cart.: Very transparent, clear, -great soundstage depth and width. a clear "window" to the performance. However, when I put my "no-name" integrated 300B SET back in, I still enjoy the music more. The performers are in the room with you and their "presence" makes listening more fun.
Now, using the tiny triodes with my Quad ESL 57/RTS 6 supertweeter, REL Strata III subs. with Audible Illusions Mod 3A preamp., Roksan Xerexes TT RB 900 arm with Rega Exact cart. and Meridian 508-20 CD player. This is what I really bought them for. I've had other VTL amps, namely the VTL compact monoblock 100's and Renassance 70 in them, and this is what I will be comparing the tiny triode to. Firstly, on the other amps. the volumn on the Audible Illusions is at the 9'o-clock postion. To get the same volumn, I have to move it up two or three ticks more with the tiny triodes.
There is more "presence" using the Audible Illusions then with the Reference Line passive preamp. The tiny triodes are much cleaner sounding and detailed then the other VTL's. It does indeed, seem to work very well with the Quads and 25 watts. seems to be more then enough power to drive them. Please note: I'm auditioning with triode mode. I'm really not interested the tetrode mode.
Conclusion: these are great amps. for both the Spendor S-100's (90 dB) and Quad ESL 57's. However, it would be interesting to compare them to the Transcendent OTL Stero amp (too big for my equipment rack) or the VAC Avatar (but what would I do with my Audible Illsions?)
More Details: Tubes: Four EL84's and two 12AT7's.

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Topic - REVIEW: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL TT-25 Amplifier (Tube) Review by Vinylly at Audio Asylum - Vinylly 08:30:58 03/29/00 (3)

Re: Vacuum Tube Logic - VTL TT-25 Amplifier (Tube) - Keith 09:16:10 03/29/00 (1)

To Answer Both Of Your Questions: - Vinylly 10:30:21 03/29/00 (0)

do you have hard walls? - petew 08:45:49 03/29/00 (0)

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