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In Reply to: By the way, even with VTL series 1 machines, you can replace 12AX7 tubes with 12AU7s to reduce gain/tube-rush.[nt] posted by Steve Cortez on May 6, 2007 at 08:17:34:
near as good as the gain stage was designed around the 12ax7 and I tried a lot of them.
I gave it almost 12 mnths with the 7.5, which I think is longer than most. Ergonomically it was superb, and quiet as long as you used less than 28db gain amps. The cary 98P was more musical than the 7.5.
The bass was somewhat soft, but it was the stupid gain structure of having full gain at all times which just grated at my bones, by having to use attentautors and alike.
cj pre amps have 25+ db of gain, but you NEVER get the gain noise issues that the VTL has. Why, correct gai8n structure design in the first place.
I am glad I got rid of it as it seems that series 2 has better bass, has the gain nstage re-designed ( if that is not a admission of a F_c_ up of design in the first place I don't know what is), however it seems to have got cooler in balance, which is not what i want from a pre amp.
Follow Ups:
I have had a TL 7.5 for several years. It was originally a Mk1 and I had it upgraded to the Mk2. IMHO the improvements were good in every respect. It was slightly quieter (but was never exactly noisy before anyway). It took a few weeks to fully open up, but certainly had dynamics that were equal to or better than the Mk1. The speed and effortlessness across the whole audio band was noticeably better. The bass extension and weight were better, and bass tonality is superb. I am not sure why these negative comments on the TL 7.5 have been posted, as in my experience, this is a superb piece of gear that performs flawlessly, offers the very highest performance, and if partnered up with VTL power amps will present zero issues with gain.
The main issue I had with the 7.5 was its total lack of compatibility with any amp over 28db gain. Use any Pass, Krell, cj, Simm, Lamm and the tube noise is intolerable. This would be bad news in any $500 piece of equipment let alone a $US12500 piece.Use a cj prem amp which has similar total gain and there are ZERO ISSUES with tube noise. There is something fundamentally wrong with the VTL 7.5 gain structure.
VTL clearly indicated that they tested their pre amp against all the top pre amps, therefore it would be an expectation that the 7.5 would be going into systems without VTL 26db gain amps.
If you the distributor or any dealer advised that the 7.5 only worked with amps that had under 28 db gain when used with 89/90 db speakers, I and probably many other customers would not have considered the 7.5. Unfortunately that was never done.
I lost a bucketload of $ on this, hence answering the orginal question.
HiI'm a long time (about 15 yrs) owner of VTL equipment, albeit not TL7.5!
I have never experienced the issues Shane has experienced, and have rarely found anything to rival the naturalness of my VTL pre power combo. I have heard the TL7.5 on a number of occasions, and have not heard any of these noise issues that are referred to in this post. Admittedly the TL7.5 sounded its most stunning with VTL power amplification, but what doesn't sound its best when it is with its ideal partner?
Anyway, having looked at some alternatives at various times I am hard pressed to go past VTL offerings. Shane, if you have any more great deals on a 7.5 (seems unlikely), just let me know!
Hi There,
I must say that the most magical/nirvana audio moment was hearing my favourite song via the VTL 7.5 and VTL power amp.
The set-up was absolutely perfect, and the sound was gossamer to the ears and was the best I have ever heard from a complete system preamp to power amp period.
Noise was not an issue let alone audible.
As Stereophiles Paul Bolin review so eloquently puts it "Sonically, it simply did not exist in the signal chain." And I could not agree more.
So is it then just me that maybe Stereophile got it wrong with their review?
Really how could anyone be unhappy with that sort of sonic purity in a VTL system. I know I wasn't. If I had the dosh I'd certainly step up to the plate for the new Mark II 7.5.
With equal respect Shane, I have owned VTL amps since 1988 (well before I became the agent for them) and have more experience with them than anybody else in Australasia, so why should my opinion be less valid than those of people with less knowledge of the product?
I have also owned a TL 7.5 and S-400 for over 3 years and sold several TL 7.5's to various end users, none of which have any issues at all. They are all thrilled, and enjoying superbly musical sound.
... IMHO VTL's redesign around the 12AU7s are a big mistake.
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