Dear all,
It is true that it is quite quiet at the VTL forum and it is IMHO petty that this brand is overlooked among many new trendy brands with more aggressive digital presence.
I want to share with you my experience with VTL Siegfried II after two and half years of usage. Although Siegfrieds are extremely well designed and executed amps further optimization can elevate their performance further:
- of course, power cables make a difference but I will not further elaborate on it since it is frequently discussed topic,
- I was though surprised how changing original spikes to anti vibration footers can make such a profound difference. I have tried Stillpoints Ultra 5 and Neodio Origine B1. I have settled for later since it provided better flow and articulation,
- I have been thinking how to upgrade tubes too. There is rather common understanding that Gold Lions, which I use, are the best new production KT88, and finding 24 NOS can be quite expensive and almost impossible to find. Therefore I did not explore that option. But I have tried several new production and NOS 12BH7 and 12AT7 tubes. I have found that changing 12BH7 tubes have relatively small influence, but was surprised that the influence of 12AT7 is so important. I have settled for NOS Mullard 12AT7 because of its superior musicality.
But this is not only a report about improving VTLs but also how delusional a quest for the best can be. When I bought VTLs I had TAD R1 speakers. Although the sound was good it could be heard when using solid state amps that no matter how powerful and well designed tube amps are they just could not control the potent bass of TAD R1. Latter I sold them and bought Sigma Acoustics MAAT. With a claimed sensitivity of 100db and 8ohm impedance they should have been my final way to SET heaven. Therefore I have tried some SET amps (up to 60w) at first but found out that despite beautiful musicality they lacked the power to deliver dynamics of big orchestra. Then I have tried some some A class amps (up to 200w) and heard an increase in transparency but after some time missed the emotions of tubes. I have also tried hybrids. And each time after inserting VTLs again in my system I have found out how I missed them and how I like them. They really deliver most of the attributes I want: emotion of tubes, superb dynamics, bass control and quite excellent transparency. I can listen to big orchestra, small ensembles, voices, jazz, electronica, good and not so good recordings equally well.
Besides, they are obviously very well made and reliable. I only had one issue with them when one tube blew. But changing it proved to be very easy - you just have to follow well written manual.
If I would describe the phases of my attitude towards Siegfrieds with words: it started with romance, continued with respect and ended with love
I am not disclosing any brands of other amps because I would not like to start a fire among brand loyalists. But they were all well known brands and I have lived with them for at least few days (up to few months). Anyhow , it is a matter of synergy and subjective preference at the end.
But there were important learnings for me at the end (or maybe rather until now ):
- power is extremely important if you listen to wide range of music. Of course we all read about magic of SET but in reality there are very very few examples where combination of high sensitive speakers and SET amps can play wide range of music equally well on the top level,
- system building is about compromises and making choices. Therefore you have to have really in-depth understanding of your musical choices, sound preferences and impact of those on system building.
- but there is a problem: maybe our music and sound preferences change or evolve over time. Therefore you have to have this in your mind and not use “this is my final destination” for any piece of equipment to quickly. Only retrospective will prove that.
It is true that it is quite quiet at the VTL forum and it is IMHO petty that this brand is overlooked among many new trendy brands with more aggressive digital presence.
I want to share with you my experience with VTL Siegfried II after two and half years of usage. Although Siegfrieds are extremely well designed and executed amps further optimization can elevate their performance further:
- of course, power cables make a difference but I will not further elaborate on it since it is frequently discussed topic,
- I was though surprised how changing original spikes to anti vibration footers can make such a profound difference. I have tried Stillpoints Ultra 5 and Neodio Origine B1. I have settled for later since it provided better flow and articulation,
- I have been thinking how to upgrade tubes too. There is rather common understanding that Gold Lions, which I use, are the best new production KT88, and finding 24 NOS can be quite expensive and almost impossible to find. Therefore I did not explore that option. But I have tried several new production and NOS 12BH7 and 12AT7 tubes. I have found that changing 12BH7 tubes have relatively small influence, but was surprised that the influence of 12AT7 is so important. I have settled for NOS Mullard 12AT7 because of its superior musicality.
But this is not only a report about improving VTLs but also how delusional a quest for the best can be. When I bought VTLs I had TAD R1 speakers. Although the sound was good it could be heard when using solid state amps that no matter how powerful and well designed tube amps are they just could not control the potent bass of TAD R1. Latter I sold them and bought Sigma Acoustics MAAT. With a claimed sensitivity of 100db and 8ohm impedance they should have been my final way to SET heaven. Therefore I have tried some SET amps (up to 60w) at first but found out that despite beautiful musicality they lacked the power to deliver dynamics of big orchestra. Then I have tried some some A class amps (up to 200w) and heard an increase in transparency but after some time missed the emotions of tubes. I have also tried hybrids. And each time after inserting VTLs again in my system I have found out how I missed them and how I like them. They really deliver most of the attributes I want: emotion of tubes, superb dynamics, bass control and quite excellent transparency. I can listen to big orchestra, small ensembles, voices, jazz, electronica, good and not so good recordings equally well.
Besides, they are obviously very well made and reliable. I only had one issue with them when one tube blew. But changing it proved to be very easy - you just have to follow well written manual.
If I would describe the phases of my attitude towards Siegfrieds with words: it started with romance, continued with respect and ended with love
I am not disclosing any brands of other amps because I would not like to start a fire among brand loyalists. But they were all well known brands and I have lived with them for at least few days (up to few months). Anyhow , it is a matter of synergy and subjective preference at the end.
But there were important learnings for me at the end (or maybe rather until now ):
- power is extremely important if you listen to wide range of music. Of course we all read about magic of SET but in reality there are very very few examples where combination of high sensitive speakers and SET amps can play wide range of music equally well on the top level,
- system building is about compromises and making choices. Therefore you have to have really in-depth understanding of your musical choices, sound preferences and impact of those on system building.
- but there is a problem: maybe our music and sound preferences change or evolve over time. Therefore you have to have this in your mind and not use “this is my final destination” for any piece of equipment to quickly. Only retrospective will prove that.