"The Ferrari Enzo of Tube Amplifiers"...

[GordonW]

They've been officially available for just about a month, and they've already sold three of them. I know, we've got number 3!

Also, if you consider the SHEER MASS of the iron in these things, between power and output transformers... that's probably several thousand dollars worth of custom-winding right there. Some of the biggest, baddest transformers I've seen. That's part of what you get, when you go "cost virtually no object"... something with bottom end that literally goes LOWER than many high-end solid-state amps, and stays ROCK STABLE doing it...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[EchoWars]

Call me wierd, but I love the looks of it. Even the backlit lettering on the glass.

...and if I'm gonna have a tube amp, by God, give me a lotta tubes!

Love to hear one.

 

[GordonW]

If anyone's interested in reading up, here's the official web page for the Phi Beta:

http://www.vac-amps.com/Phi_Beta.htm

Neat stuff... including RCA unbalanced AND XLR balanced pre-out/main in connectors, the ability to assign any of the line inputs as a fixed-gain input (so that you, if you so chose, could easily incorporate this amp as the front channel amp of a home theater system, among other possibilities)... and the crown jewel, of course: the white LEDs illuminating the VAC logo, VARY in brightness, depending on the ambient light level. So, if you dim the lights, so will the amp... how thoughtful of it, right?

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[tubino]

Gordon, thanks for the link. Ah those VAC folks -- a lot of solid engineering there!

I bet if those specs were put out for bid for a military contract, the VAC retail price would look pretty good by comparison!

My first real tube amp was a VAC. I still like the company a lot. I like that they are pushing on a project like this, that must have as much passion involved as pride or profit-motive.

 

[Thumpy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the guy's name "Enzo Ferrari", and not "Ferrari Enzo"?

 

[GordonW]

Yes, but the car is known as the Ferrari (make) Enzo (model)... like you would say Chevrolet Corvette (and not "Corvette Chevrolet"), or whatnot...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[Thumpy]

Got it! I'm obviously not all that familiar with the Ferrari line.

 

[GordonW]

My first real tube amp was a VAC. I still like the company a lot. I like that they are pushing on a project like this, that must have as much passion involved as pride or profit-motive.

Kevin at VAC is a blast to talk to.

We were actually delayed in getting our amp... we were getting impatient, and called to see what the deal was. Well, Kevin got on the line... and explained that he had been listening to the amp, in production, and had been UNSATISFIED with the sound of it, with the capacitors they had been using up to that point (apparently, a falling-off of QC at the capacitor mfr., or something similar). He actually ORDERED COMPLETELY NEW caps from a NEW SOURCE, and RE-VOICED the amp around those, to make SURE it was up to 100% of what he wanted, before he would send it out.

In fact, he let us know- not only was it AS GOOD as before, he thought he had actually made the amp BETTER than before, with the new caps. To paraphrase his comment: "This is the best sounding amp we've ever made here"...

Yes, it was a bit inconvenient to have to wait for the amp (and we were glad, it was for a store demo piece and NOT something a customer was put out of for a couple extra weeks), but to have someone STOP a whole assembly line, because a component wasn't ABSOLUTELY PERFECT (I mean, it still was in TECHNICAL spec, as in right capacitance, and it passed all the normal tests, but it just didn't give him the "sonic feel" he had been getting before), to re-optimize an amp around a NEW, BETTER part... that's some serious dedication. How many companies would do that?

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[tubino]

Kevin at VAC is a blast to talk to.

About a decade ago I heard a used VAC Williamson amp at a store and fell in love with it. I wanted to learn more, had questions no one I knew could answer, and wound up on the phone with Kevin Hayes. After a nice chat about tubes and amps, in which he was incredibly patient with my ignorance, I was convinced about VAC, and bought a "remaindered" integrated version of the amp from Kevin. Price was $1500, a huge sum for me, but that and a decent pair of floor-standing speakers put me WAY ahead of where I'd been. I still remember waiting for that UPS truck to arrive...

 

[Gerrit]

Looks absolutely gorgeous to me :yes: NOTHING wrong with a bit of eye candy!!
If it sounds as good as it looks, it will be worth the asking price.

Those KT88's alone are more than $260 each.

I'm VERY jealous

Regards

gerrit

Edit: After looking deeper into this amp's specs and features 18K is actually cheap IMHO. The parts cost alone could run into the thousands of dollars if you look at the cost of decent caps, switches, custom trannies, volume pot's, chassis materials etc. Then comes R&D, tooling, testing and other overheads etc.
I would be surpirised if you can DIY this amp for cheaper even if you had the blueprints.

Gordon: a good buy in my humble opinion.

 

[theophile]

I'm just kinda wondering.....

Seeing as how this is a newly relased amplifier,and the poster is selling the same amp (i.e"it's a store demo piece"),is this thread an advertisment by stealth as well as afficionado communication?Or have I missed something here?
I apologise sincerely if I have read something into this,and I'm wrong.

 

[RuSsMaN]

One of the ugliest amps I've ever seen.

 

[tubino]

I'm glad Gordon posted some interesting news about a piece I wouldn't know about otherwise. I hope he continues to do so. I honestly don't understand the contrary views.

 

[tubino]

His store is selling this amp and that is the problem.

It's a very unusual and interesting amplifier. It's fun to share the information. And I think it's extremely unlikely that Gordon is looking to sell an $18K amp here by mentioning it. I think he's an insider with a passion who likes to share info, even with a bunch who aren't likely to purchase as a result, because the point is sharing information and starting a conversation on a cool topic.

I hope he keeps doing it, but I know I'd be discouraged if I were taken to task for contributing information.

I am a "mini-dealer" for deHavilland amplifiers, and I'm rabidly enthusiastic about them. I try not to let my enthusiasm turn every other post into a sales pitch. I probably come closer to crossing the line than anything I've seen Gordon post. But he's perfectly open about what he does for a living, so I don't see the problem. Disclosure? Done.

My two cents.

 

[one1speed]

I agree with Tubino. I think Gordon is providing information here on an interesting piece of equipment in addition to answering questions that have been asked. He's obviously very knowledgeable. I don't see it as a sales pitch, but something he was excited about. You see folks here all the time posting about a cool piece of equipment they saw or heard and I feel his excitement about this is easily read in his initial post. I read it as "hey guys, you've gotta check this out..."

 

[melbatoast]

it is different