VAC - when music matters

I'm glad he touched upon the matter of transistors being discontinued. Nowhere was this issue more apparent than in the "Stax Mafix" headphone community. Those high-end electrostatic amplifiers depend on some very specific high voltage transistors. I remember one particular excellent design, the KGSShv, went through many iterations in only a FEW years: transistors would be discontinued and then replaced with another part #, which then also became discontinued and subsequently replaced. I've heard five KGSShv builds and EVERY ONE sounded significantly different. Mainly because of the transistors. Those KGSShv amp versions ran the full gamut from very warm to very bright, and it could absolutely be pinned down to the big HV transistor in use.

You hear about SS & hybrid amp makers stockpiling silicon all the time - it's a necessity because of this fact. I'm sure Justin Wilson of HeadAmp has significant stockpiles (his BHSE actually uses a lot of this HV silicon). This almost certainly adds to the cost.

With tubes, pretty much all the common audio types are still in production. Even in the vintage tube market, there's PLENTY to choose from, since hifi audio mostly focuses on only maybe a dozen or so tube types (all which were produced in HUGE quantities), as opposed to how specific and small-batch the "good" transistors are.

Really nothing is more future proof than a P2P wired tube amp (with circuit diagram).
 
I admire this guy Kevin Hayes - what a class act for the industry. I also treasure my VAC Master Preamp and a recently sold 160i SE - wish I had it back! Maybe a 170iq in the near future.
 
Scotty said:
I admire this guy Kevin Hayes - what a class act for the industry. I also treasure my VAC Master Preamp and a recently sold 160i SE - wish I had it back! Maybe a 170iq in the near future.
Click to expand...

Couldn’t agree more about Kevin Hayes. Every interaction with Mr. Hayes, whether personal, technical or business has always been top shelf.


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Vac makes great tube amps no doubt but there are flaws in some of his claims
1- when he says linear How is this measured ?
I don’t think a tube can be linear as much as a SS amp can in some ways
2- his claim of triodes has truth but again only cause a tube can’t switch it mostly has to rise and fall so a smoothing takes place
Is this making it linear ?
3- tubes are made to many specs and do not perform all the same nor over a life span
You can’t always measure tubes as they age but one can hear this if new tubes are installed after breaking them in.
if I were to buy a tube amp it would be there why cause many times rooms at shows I love are using there amps. Or preamps and phono pre amps
I think one reason is they make tubes amps in one manner no bias changing sws making the amp perform at its best as it’s made.
great video mike ty
 
Alrainbow said:
Vac makes great tube amps no doubt but there are flaws in some of his claims
1- when he says linear How is this measured ?
I don’t think a tube can be linear as much as a SS amp can in some ways
2- his claim of triodes has truth but again only cause a tube can’t switch it mostly has to rise and fall so a smoothing takes place
Is this making it linear ?
3- tubes are made to many specs and do not perform all the same nor over a life span
You can’t always measure tubes as they age but one can hear this if new tubes are installed after breaking them in.
if I were to buy a tube amp it would be there why cause many times rooms at shows I love are using there amps. Or preamps and phono pre amps
I think one reason is they make tubes amps in one manner no bias changing sws making the amp perform at its best as it’s made.
great video mike ty
Click to expand...

I think he's comparing the devices on their own - a singe triode versus a transistor as a pure amplification device. When you add lots of parts and global feedback to a SS circuit, it can get to a much lower THD distortion number than a tube amp - but that has its own downsides. I don't know, maybe some high tech modern transistors are linear enough to compete with triodes (SicFETs), but the silicon makers don't cater to audiophiles, good audio transistors go OOP quite regularly, and they are also highly counterfeited. The EL34 tubes from 60 years ago were great, and EL34s are still produced today are quite good, with thousands of makes of amplifiers to plug them into.
 
very nicely done with great content. thanks for posting.

after watching the 3 available episodes, i am for some reason feeling the upgrade urge.

;):)
 
Took a trip in my way-back-machine when Bill Iber mentioned Dahlquist DQ-10s were his first serious system. They were my gateway drug.
 
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