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Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Valve Amplification Company Avatar Special Edition Amplifier (Tube) by davehg

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REVIEW: Valve Amplification Company Avatar Special Edition Amplifier (Tube)

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Model: Avatar Special Edition
Category: Amplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price: $5000
Description: 60 wpc integrated EL 34 amp
Manufacturer URL: Valve Amplification Company
Model Picture: View

Review by davehg ( A ) on March 04, 2003 at 23:53:42
IP Address: 64.91.50.127
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Man, I've lusted after VAC gear ever since I first laid eyes on the original VAC PA90 back in the late 80's. Never thought I'd be spending the money on one today either. But after a year with the Passion (aka upgraded ASL 1003DT), which is a tremendous value, I needed more power than 30 wpc ultralinear.

While visiting NYC, I heard both the VAC Avatar (not the SE) and the Cary SLI-80. Both compete at roughly the same price, the VAC being a bit more expensive. The Cary, while musical, did not have quite the fit and finish of the VAC and had a slightly rolled off top end. It's bass and midrange were nice, though. The VAC was just gorgeous to look at, and I am a sucker for EL34's over 6550's or KT-88's. It sounded great in the shop, and I kept my eye open for a good deal. I found a demo for about dealer cost and snapped it up.

The Avatar SE adds upgraded caps and resistors from VAC's Renaissance line, as well as a remote control. It has three line inputs, a tape loop, a CD input, and a phono stage. Dork that I am for selling my vinyl years ago, I could not use the phono stage but the dealer was quite enthusiastic about the performance.

The Avatar is quite heavy, over 60 lbs!! Parts quality is high, though I have seen better binding posts on cheaper amps (even the el-cheapo ASL has better posts). The amp uses three 12au7's as input driver tubes, and 12AX7's in the line stage. Four EL-34's are used as power tubes. The amp can be switched via a toggle from ultralinear (60wpc) to triode (30wpc). It came with standard VAC tubes (methinks they are rebadged golden dragons). Bias is a snap using the gorgeous bias meter and bias screws (they are hidden under the front panel).

The S-phile review raved about the sound but expressed concern that their sample had troubles, attributed to a bad tube. I listened to the stock VAC tubes and, well, was not impressed with the sound. It sounded nothing like it did in the dealers room. On a hunch, I pulled the stock VAC tubes and replaced the input and output tubes. Inspecting the VAC tubes, they looked almost all used up, with lots of discoloration and hardly any silver getter at the top. Sounds like my demo had a few more hours than I thought. I also swapped the ok power cord with a DIY one I made from DIYCable.

I replaced with Valve Art El-34's and ran in ultralinear. Ahhhh, the sweet midrange and top end I heard at the dealer returned. Bass was ok but not stellar. I switched to triode, and for all of five minutes, it sounded GLORIOUS!!! Then I heard pops and crackles and noticed one of the Valve Arts glowing bottle-rocket red. CRAPOLA! I turned off the amp before any damage could be done. I switched back to ultralinear, and the problem abated. S-Phile reported similar problems, but I couldn't believe this well made unit could be troubled.

Swapping the Valve Arts with a new pair of EH EL-34's and a close eye, I tried triode mode again. Ahhhhh....the EH's did the trick and no bottle rockets! My guess is that VAC runs these output tubes much harder than most EL-34 amps (they are getting twice the power that my passion did with the same number of tubes), which I recall they did with their original PA90's. So you better be careful to run tubes that can handle the current run across their plates. Cheap chinese tubes are out, solid russians are in (I hear Sovteks and EH's are a good match with the Avatar).

I was curious about the bass and imaging, which were good but not great. Voices seem to hover and drift, and bass was a bit ill-defined. I did a couple of tweaks. I first added HAL-O tube dampers for the 12AU7's and 12AX7's. That helped a bunch for the imaging and stability. I then added HAL-O's for the EL34's. Yep, that locked everything into place. I then switched out the old Tara Labs space and time speaker cable with some killer Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun. One helping of tight bass, coming right up!! It wasn't the VAC that was responsible for the bass and imaging problems, it was the speaker cable.

One odd note: when the VAC is in mute, I can hear a local oldies station playing in the left speaker even though I have no tuner hooked up to the amp. Bonus!! I added some Cardas RCA caps, which softened but did not eliminate the sound. It only happens when I mute the amp. Must be RF interference from interconnects?

I received the excellent Boldercable-modified Art DI/O (called the MENSA), and my already open jaw dropped further. The VAC is capable of revealing so much of your components and cables. Any faults I had attributed to the VAC were shown to be cable or source related.

So how does the VAC now sound? Glorious. I find triode to sound the best, and still have enough weight and power to handle the fairly easy Merlins. Nice deep soundstage, sweet midrange which is more revealing than I thought EL34's should be, and a nice top end. Cymbals especially nice, with great decay and air. I am awaiting a pair of Acoustic Zen interconnects to replace the Boldercable ic's, and hope they add even more transparency (they should, at 9x the cost!).

VAC gear is so well made, and so beautiful, I would have bought the unit just for its appearance. Thankfully, it sounded great too. I think it is more open than the Cary. Both are about the same price on the used market. I think in its price range, only the luscious AirTight amps would sound ever so slightly better, but those amps are also hard on tubes.

Lesson to VAC owners: try the HAL-O tweaks, experiment with cables, and do be careful not to run certain tubes with this unit.


Product Weakness: Tough on tubes, expensive at retail, could use better binding posts.
Product Strengths: Solid bass, sweet seductive midrange, extended highs, heirloom build quality


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Passion PAK Ai11/Cary SLI-80
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): None
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Technics DVDA10 and MENSA DI/O
Speakers: Merlin TSM-M
Cables/Interconnects: Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun and Boldercable
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Vocal/Jazz/Rock
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): JR Power filter
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Valve Amplification Company Avatar Special Edition Amplifier (Tube) - davehg 23:53:42 03/4/03 ( 1)