Opinion 1

In the times of progressing, almost omnipresent miniaturization and radicalizing pseudo-ecological lawmaking by the authorities, the ideas, which were driving the High-End are becoming less than popular, if we put it mildly. Interestingly, despite the more and more controversial technological cuts the prices do not become more real, but skyrocket to levels unknown. This results in the fact, that products are positioned in the market is done based on the price asked for it, and not by its sound. This is s a pathological state, and there should be no consent for this from the consumers. But the question is, what can a consumer do? Protest and do not upgrade his system, against the odds? This would be an utopia. A much better solution is to do a research and select a (narrow) set of brands, the last ones that stayed true to their initial ideals. One of those, at least with a great dose of probability, will be the American VTL. At least we would name this brand when asked, so when we got the opportunity, due to the courtesy of the distributor – the Warsaw Hi-Fi Club, we decided to verify our assumptions and confront them with the real thing, testing the separated amplification composed of the TL-5.5 Series II Signature preamplifier and a stereo power amplifier S-200 Signature.

I mentioned miniaturization in the beginning of the previous paragraph on purpose, because the VTL are exactly the opposite. Instead of the almost desktop, D-class, ecological pancakes, we get almost 60 kg of beautiful, current drawing and heat generating iron boulder.
Starting with the preamplifier you can clearly see, that during the design phase, there not too much care was taken about usage of materials, so the chassis made from scratched aluminum has a significant size (44.45 x 44.45 x 12.06 cm), so it takes a lot of sweat to put in a standard audio rack. But why would you do that, as despite its size the TL-5.5 Series II Signature does not look clumsy or heavy. In contrary. The two silver parts of the front delicately come together in about two third of its height, and the additional, lower belt, anodized black, makes the whole look lighter and more delicate than in reality. In addition placing thirteen (!) buttons on the front panel and a small volume knob composed into the black frame surrounding the blue display might seem a breakneck idea, but in fact this design is far from being messy or crowded. Even the sapphire LEDs indicating the active input, placed above the respective selector buttons, do not irritate during nightly listening, as they are not overly bright. The massive side panels give the whole chassis needed stiffness, and the perforated top cover allows for efficient cooling. The back panel leaves any doubt away that we deal here with a “toy” from higher levels, as we have eight line inputs at our disposal, two of them being available in both XLR and RCA version. Similar with the outputs – there is a doubled pair with a tape loop in addition to that. Typical for products from across the ocean, there are also trigger ports and a RS-232 interface port.
Although the TL-5.5 is only the second from the bottom of the catalog in the VTL line-up, yet from the external design, and more important, from the inner construction it is closer to the “older” brethren than the entry-level TL-2.5i. It is not only a fully tubed construction (2x12AU7 and 4x12AT7) but also fully balanced and with a low-level negative feedback loop based on a low-noise microprocessor. Additionally, you can also add the optional phonostage module to the unit, which was initially offered with the TL-6.5.
The stereo power amplifier S-200 Signature is a true toy for the big boys. It weighs almost 50kg, and it also looks like an electric oven. Maybe this is not a very serious association, but the massive aluminum front with a centrally placed window allowing to peek inside and see the glowing tubes makes it happen. Centrally, below the window, there are three buttons allowing us to control the device – the power switch, a mode switch that places the unit in triode or tetrode mode, and that on-the-fly!, and a mute button.
The top cover, or rather a monstrous c-profile that is used as the cover, is quite heavily cut, and has bolted access holes made in it, which allow for easy access to the twelve tubes hidden inside (8×6550 or KT-88, 2z12AT7 and 2x12BH7). The back plate, typical for tube amplifiers, has the utility part only in a flat row on the bottom. The single wire terminals are equipped with collars, which make me overly aggressive, so if you have spade terminated wiring at hand, you should make sure, that your spouse and children are far away, so they will not hear the arsenal of bad words you have at hand. Similar to the preamplifier the power amp is also balanced, so the inputs are available in form of XLRs and RCAs, and you chose the right input via a small switch placed between them. There is also a central IEC power socket, in the 20A version. The manufacturer did also not forget about the trigger socket.
With regard to the tubes, the manufacturer allows to use both kinds – 6550 or KT-88. We got a version stuffed with eight 6550 Electro-Harmonix, and to minimize the influence of cabling, we also got a set of Transparent Powerlink MM2 cables to use with them.

The set I got for testing was already burned it, so I did not need to test my patience with the VTL and could start listening already after just a dozen hours of accommodation. To not to follow the common paths and immediately verify the opinions about above average dynamics of the American set I took the dark and nostalgic album “Aventine” Agnes Obel. Working in tetrode mode and as such able to provide 200W the eight 6550 tubes got my Gauder speakers in an iron grip and did not loosen it from the first to the last note. You could feel the tube homogeneity in the sound, which only the best solid state amplifiers can provide, yet the drive, contour and precision were much closer to such constructions. Is this bad? Absolutely not, as you need to remember, that at this price level, we do not discuss good against bad, but only about fitting in someone’s taste. In addition, the collusive borders between “tube sound” and “solid state sound” are far behind us. So when we leave behind our wrong habits and expectations, we will be able to look wider and more objectively on our tested device. The slightly glassy and matted voice of the vocalist was presented in a very realistic and objective way. It turned out, that you do not need to oversaturate and boost the midrange to be happy. It was enough to have an almost organic coherence and precise drawing of the contours of the virtual sources combined with an incredible volume of the reproduced sounds. A derivative from those assets is the very spacious sound stage, where each of the musicians has enough space, to not to land on each other’s knees, even when getting carried away with stage fever. To be able to assess this aspect further, I changed the repertoire slightly to “Shrine of new Generation Slaves” Riverside. Prog-rock, sometimes rough and for sure complicated rhythms, with their intrinsic finesse, of the Polish band, sounded on the tested system with might and verve, not seen too often, but without bombastic monumentality, which is often attributed to American amplifiers. In this aspect the VTL really emphasizes upon the truthfulness and reliability of the sound, and taking into account the reservoir of power it possesses, it does not need to prove anything. You will search its sound for any signs of dazzling, or trying to catch the less experienced listeners with extra bass, upped midrange or shrieking treble in vain; this is not a hormone boosted teenager, but a true professional, knowledgeable of his own performance and capabilities. But do we have here an audiophile version of an accountant, cool and calculating each move? Also not, because this restraint and manners are its native, genetic characteristic. A characteristic that proves to us, that emotion must be hidden in the music we listen to, and the audio gear should only release them, show them to the listeners. I will underline this – release, and not add or amplify them. The amplifier should only power the signal, and not change or interpret it, and sometimes it is good to remind ourselves about that.
However the VTL S-200 Signature, as it was mostly responsible for the final effect here, has a second nature, much more lyrical and almost romantic. It suffices to hold the button, placed to the left of the red power on switch, called “Mode” to be like Alice after eating the magical cookie (or mushroom – I forgot the details). After transposing the unit in triode mode maybe the volume of the generated sound got significantly lower, but that what happened to the treble perplexed me. The old recording “Art Tatum Meets Ben Webster” started to enchant as if it would get a second youth. The amount of air and micro-information enclosed in the upper registers was overwhelming, and the midrange became almost sticky. Of course the contours of the virtual sources become a bit thicker, and their edges become rounded. But this does not impair the selectiveness and precision of the positioning of the musicians on the stage, what clearly indicates the class of the microprocessor controlling optimal settings and parameters of the tubes hidden inside the aluminum chassis. Similar things happen with vocals in general, as the spirited “Misa Criolla” Mercedes Sosa as well as the pulsating with erotism “Trav’lin Light” Queen Latifah enchanted with timbre and velvet voices. You could hear real passion and engagement, things not so easy to get from the starlets of the youngest generation.

There are devices that have something in them, that when we switch them on, we subconsciously become addicted to them. Slowly, yet steady, we become listening junkies. And the VTL have that something. In addition they have the best genes of the audiophile chameleon, which can pass from one genre to another, and we can move from the neutral, objective truth of the original to the slightly re-touched, but still very real “triodism” at our will. What else do you need to be happy?

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
– CD/DAC: Ayon CD-1sx
– Streamer: Auralic Aries Mini
– Digital source selector: Audio Authority 1177
– DAC/Preamplifier/Headphone amplifier: ADL Stratos
– Headphones: Meze 99 Classics Gold; q-JAYS
– Power amplifier: Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 2
– Integrated amplifier: Electrocompaniet ECI5; Einstein The Amp Ultimate
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Arcona 80 + spike extenders
– IC RCA: Antipodes Audio Katipo
– IC XLR: LessLoss Anchorwave; Organic Audio; Amare Musica
– Digital IC: Fadel art DigiLitz; Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Copper; Apogee Wyde Eye; Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 200
– USB cable: Wireworld Starlight; Goldenote Firenze Silver
– Speaker Cables: Organic Audio; Signal Projects Hydra
– Power Cables: Furutech FP-3TS762 / FI-28R / FI-E38R; Organic Audio Power; Acoustic Zen Gargantua II
– Power distribution board: GigaWatt PF-2 + Furutech FP-3TS762 / Fi-50 NCF(R) /FI-50M NCF(R)
– Wall Socket: Furutech FT-SWS(R)
– Antivibration platform: Franc Audio Accessories Wood Block Slim Platform
– Ethernet cables: Neyton CAT7+
– Accessories: Sevenrods Dust-caps; Furutech CF-080 Damping Ring; Albat Revolution Loudspeaker Chips

Opinion 2

Tube or transistor? This question is posed by most lovers of good sound. Roughly speaking, each solution has a certain sound signature “attached” to it, however this is not really warranted. I will not be putting a comprehensive list of characteristics of each of those signature characteristics, but for most tube means warmth and smoothness, while solid state represents speed and control. When I reach to lower parts of the catalogs, this distinction had some ground, but when we reach High End, things change, and we can get completely opposite characteristics from gear build with a given technology. And this is not a flaw of the manufacturer, but just consistency of how the final effect is achieved. Going back to the test, I will just say, that the tested gear has both of the common characteristics, and as such it goes against the beliefs. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present a product, that escapes all the classifications, that a tube must mean coloring and rounding of the sound, the American separated tube amplifier set, VTL TL 5.5 II and S-200, distributed in Poland by the Warsaw based Hi-Fi Club.

Starting to describe the looks of the preamplifier I need to tell about its significant size and weight, both easily higher than the Reimyo gear I use in my system. The front of the TL 5.5 is made from two planes falling into each other. Despite the high amount of buttons there is no visual overload. Beside the mentioned buttons there is also an acrylic insert, which displays the volume level, and a rotary knob allowing to adjust it. Moving to the back, on the top cover there are four grates allowing the unit to release heat. The back panel offers two inputs in RCA and XLR standards, a series of RCA only inputs, one of which can be converted to a phonostage as an option, RCA and XLR outputs, a power socket and the main power switch. The amount of connections is quite overwhelming, but they are very logically grouped and well-described, so that you can easily find your way around. And we should be quite used to the looks, as this is typical for the High End. Going over to the power amplifier, I must warn you, that its size and weight are also bad for the health of the, already weakened, spine of the reviewer. The front allows us to peek inside and see the tubes used in its circuitry by means of a special window. This window is surrounded by plates of scratched aluminum; the lower one containing three buttons, vital to the unit’s operation. To know, with which brand we deal here, the window has the company logo etched in the middle. The top cover also has a significant amount of ventilation holes, which allow the tubes to release their heat. You can sometimes see that, when the air moves above the amplifier during listening. Finishing this description I just mention the contents of the back panel – there you have symmetrically placed single loudspeaker terminals, RCA and XLR inputs and a power switch. This may not seem too crowded, but it is perfectly fine for a power amp.

The world drawn by the VTL set after a standard startup is very far away from the stereotypical tube timbre, a label that was given to not very good tube amplifiers. Of course you can hear, that this is a tube amplifier, but it sounds in such an interesting and solid way, that it can easily compete with many solid state amplifiers, and I think, that it can easily beat many of those. In what way? It skillfully controls the lower registers, it has great midrange and good treble. Why is the midrange only great? A consequence of directing the center of the sonic potential to convey all the information of the bass, is to shift the gravity of the music upwards. Although it was not bad, avoiding upping the bass-midrange turn resulted in slight thinning of this middle part of the sound spectrum. This is only cosmetic, and not an anorexia, but it was audible when I switched over from my amplifier. Another good move of the constructor was to avoid overly activity of the treble, as a duo made from ethereal midrange and crazy upper registers would awaken all the bad instincts in the audiophiles. In the end we have here a tube amp, which controls well the speakers, and not something that tries to impose being an athlete in lower registers at the cost of being dry in all other parts of the sound spectrum. So we have the way of amplification behind us, let us have a look at the way the sound stage is build. Here I have only good news, as the tested set fantastically placed the artist on the stage up to the back wall. The guys from EST presenting their abilities during the concert in Hamburg, maybe did not need to use binoculars to find each other on the stage, but I give kudos to the engineers to put lots of air between them. I think that it is obvious, that due to the fact that tubes were employed to amplify the sound, we also have hear great vividness of the sound. Interestingly the contrabass, which usually does not like any smoothing out, seemed to get only positive aspects here, as the taste of the body nicely blended with the sharp drawing of the strings. An interesting adventure with the VTL turned out to be the electronic sound of Massive Attack. Controlling even artificially generated bass, allowed to extract from it individual harmonics, and this combined with the rest of the sound spectrum being a bit tempered, resulted in a very interesting effect of the sound being very homogenous; massaging bass and electronic beeps intertwined. And when after those two positive musical examples I mention baroque material, it turns out, that with the whole solid sound of the tested amplifier, it lacks a bit of operating with color and temperature of the sound, something I like so much. But please do not despair, the VTL engineers found a way of dealing with that – there is a switch on the power amplifier that allows to switch it from tetrode to triode mode. What does that change? For me the world becomes more beautiful. True, the virtual sound stage becomes a bit denser, but only a die-hard enemy of such solutions would say it turns out for worse. The slightly thicker line with which the sound sources are drawn does not degrade the musical spectacle, despite my loudspeakers being very sensitive to timbre. The sound becomes more tube like, in the sense of the common sterotype, but in this case you can switch this on or off, what makes this VTL amplifier very versatile, as it somehow combines the best of both worlds. A true chameleon.
When it turned out, that in the preamplifier that was supplied to me, the optional phonostage was built-in, so it was natural for me to also test it. When I was listening from the digital sound source, this control of the sound I described, was always there, but when listening to vinyl, things were slightly different. The sound was an ideal reproduction of that, what a good, and well configured, turntable can offer. As a consequence of this, I am happy, that VTL does not follow the trail of other manufacturers, who continue to offer the “digital” way of sound also from the phonostages. Here there was some differentiation between the formats. Interestingly this was not the usual coloring of the world, but allowing the vinyl to get its musicality and smoothness it should have. Everything was very readable and well drawn, but with a tad of analog nostalgia, and I think, that this is what vinyl is about. At the end of this very positive encounter I would like to propose to all other manufacturers, who propose phonostages built into their line preamplifiers, to try to show the two different worlds as they are, different, and not to unify the sound from any of the sources. I am not saying that this second approach is bad, but I would like to mention, that for many users the turntable should have its own standing, and should not be brought down to the quality of the CD player. And I would like to ask all readers to not to perceive my voice about the analog as an attack, but just a loose remark to protect this analog sound source, as it carries a lot of nostalgia, and this makes it very valuable for many music lovers.

If I would measure the tested set with my measures, I would say, that closer to my heart was the test with the turntable. I know, I am a bit poisoned with this kind of music reproduction, so that even in the digital set I own, I try to follow the same kind of esthetics, that was the reason of how I tuned my system. But I always tell, that this is my, somewhat mannered point of view, which could come true only due to the very good performance of the tested products. Looking from a less biased point of view, that VTL tries to satisfy many audiophiles and proposes two worlds – one, a bit more coherent from the digital source, and the other, slightly more pleasant from the analog, what enhances the potential target group. It is nice, that the company can do that using tubes, at the same destroying some stereotypes. I was very happy, that I had the opportunity to find such an interpretation of the sound by tubes. There are lots of people having fantastic sounding loudspeakers like Harbeth or Rogers, who would like to have a tube amplifier, but usually the amount of sweetness flowing out of their speakers prevents them from trying out such amplifiers. The more reason for me to encourage not only tube amp lovers, but also owners of very sweet sounding speakers, to try out the duo from overseas, as it may turn out, that the magic of the tubes glowing behind the window of the power amplifier, with synergy of the other elements of the system, will find a way into your hearts. Who knows?

Jacek Pazio

Distributor: Hi-Fi Club

Prices:
VTL TL-5.5 Series II Signature: 34 000 PLN
VTL TL-5.5 Series II Signature with phono stage: 45 000 PLN
VTL S-200 Signature: 54 000 PLN

Technical Details:
VTL TL-5.5 Series II Signature
Vacuum Tube Complement: 2 x 12AU7, 4 x 12AT7
Inputs: 2 pairs XLR / RCA, 6 pairs RCA
Outputs: 1 pair XLR, 1 pair RCA, 1 pair RCA – Record Out
Gain: Normal -11dB RCA, 17dB XLR; Low Gain – 6dB RCA, 11dB XLR
Output impedance: 150 Ω, Max 400 Ω @ 10Hz
Input impedance: 35 kΩ
Frequency Response: 1Hz – 200kHz, +0 -1dB
Maximum Output Voltage: <1% THD 30V / 10Hz – 200kHz, 1.75V / 600 Ω / 1%THD
Channel separation: >100dB @ 1kHz (>80dB / 20kHz)
Power consuptiony: 60W; 130 W(with phono stage)
Dimensions (W x D x H): 44.45 x 44.45 x 12.06 cm
Weight: 18.12 kg brutto, 13.6 kg netto

TL5.5 Phono Stage
Vacuum Tube Complement:
– MM: 2 x 12AX7, 2 x 12AT7
– MC: 2 x 12AT7, 2 x 12AX7, 2 x 12AU7
Load:
– MM: 45kΩ
– MC: 100Ω, 220Ω, 470Ω, 1kΩ, 47kΩ
Gain:
– MM: 40dB
– MC: 54dB, 60dB, 66dB

VTL S-200 Signature
Vacuum Tube Complement: 8 x 6550 lub KT-88, 2 x 12AT7, 2 x 12BH7
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz <2.5% THD
Output power (Tetrode): 2 x 200 W / 5Ω   
Output power (Triode): 2 x 100 W  / 5Ω
Input impedance: 45 kΩ
Input sensitivity: Variable between 700mV and 1.6V, depending upon DF setting
Dimensions (W x D x H): 47 x 23 x 45,7 cm
Weight: 48 kg

System used in this test:
– CD: Reimyo CDT – 777 + Reimyo DAP – 999 EX Limited
– Preamplifier: Robert Koda Takumi K-15
– Power amplifier: Reimyo KAP – 777
– Loudspeakers: TRENNER & FRIEDL “ISIS”
– Speaker Cables: Harmonix HS 101-EXQ (mid-high section); Harmonix HS-101 SLC (bass section)
– IC RCA: Hiriji „Milion”
– Digital IC: Harmonix HS 102
– Power cables: Harmonix X-DC 350M2R Improved Version, X-DC SM Milion Maestro, Furutech NanoFlux – NCF
– Table: SOLID BASE VI
– Accessories: Harmonix Beauty Tone Milion Maestro, Harmonix TU 505EX MK II, Stillpoints „ULTRA SS”, Stillpoints ”ULTRA MINI”; Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V; Harmonix Room Tuning Mini Disk RFA-80i; antivibration platform by  SOLID TECH
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END
Analog stage:
– Turntable:
Drive: SME 30/2
Arm: SME V
Cartridge: MIYAJIMA MADAKE
Phonostage: RCM THERIAA