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Having evaluated any number of integrated amplifiers in the past year or so, I've repeatedly been impressed by the ways in which designers build versatility and sonic distinction into their single-box designs. In matching those that sounded and measured the best—such as the tubed E.A.R. V20 (October 1999) and the solid-state Magnum Dynalab MD 208 receiver (January 2001)—with appropriate speakers and source components, I was able to attain high-resolution musicality with a minimum of fuss. Crave high-end sound but require even less complexity? You could dispense with interconnects altogether…
Or a secondary power source, such as the VTL ST-85 power amp in horizontal biamp configuration. To this end, along with the gain stage of the VTL 2.5 preamp Manley shoehorned the guts of the ST-85 into the chassis of the IT-85. One could thus employ the cathode-follower buffered second amp—as I did, to power the bass drivers of my Joseph RM7si Signatures—while employing the cleaner, unbuffered output of the IT-85 to control the tweeters (and while piggybacking a second pair of speaker cables from the IT-85 to run the single 10" cone of the 150W Soliloquy S10 subwoofer). But such is the…
As the IT-85 burned in, my appreciation of its grace and musicality only deepened. It had all the mellowness and sweet extension you'd expect from a good EL34 output circuit, but with a surprising level of rhythmic authority. Comparing apples and oranges, the IT-85 didn't have the ultra-transparent purity, alpine airiness, and backlit detail of a solid-state box such as the 100W Magnum Dynalab MD 208, but it more than held its own in terms of linearity, bass focus, and harmonic detail.
Still, for all its resolution and articulation, the IT-85's midrange was, if not exactly opaque, then…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Vacuum-tube integrated amplifier with class-AB1, push-pull tetrode output stage, active line-stage preamp, headphone output, and remote-controlled volume and mute functions. Tube complement: four EL34, two 12AU7, four 12AT7. Line-level inputs: 5, plus buffered preamp out, processor/amp in, tape out. Power output (20Hz-25kHz, less than 3% THD): 60Wpc into 8 ohms (17.8dBW), 80Wpc into 4 ohms (16dBW). Small-signal frequency response: 1Hz-75kHz, -3dB (<0.2% THD at 1W). Voltage gain: 38dB. S/N Ratio: 95dB (no reference specified). Recommended load…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Rega Planar 3 turntable and RB300 tonearm, Grado Reference Master cartridge.
Digital source: California Audio Labs CL-20 DVD/CD player, Sony SCD-777ES SACD player.
Preamplification: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista and Blue Circle B-3 Galatea preamplifiers, Musical Fidelity X-LP2 dual-mono phono stage.
Power amplifiers: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300, Mesa Baron.
Integrated amplifiers: Mesa Tigris, Linn Classik, Magnum Dynalab MD 208.
Loudspeakers: Joseph RM7si.
Cables: Monster Cable Sigma Retro speaker cables and interconnects.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As might be expected, the VTL IT-85 runs hot, but not too hot to touch, even after the one-hour preconditioning. A clone of the input signal was available from the processor outputs, this unaffected by the volume-control setting, and the amplifier didn't invert signal polarity from these outputs, the preamp outputs, or the main speaker outputs. The VTL's input impedance was a moderate 19k ohms, and maximum voltage gain into 8 ohms was a high 40.2dB.
As CS tried biamping his speakers using the IT-85 and a sample of VTL's ST-85 power amplifier, I checked the…
Fig.4 plots the VTL's small-signal THD+noise percentage against frequency; the level of distortion rises both at the frequency extremes and into loads below 4 ohms. The content of that distortion is mainly low-order harmonics (fig.5), but with low frequencies reproduced at high levels (fig.6), the third and fifth harmonics are the highest in level, which might make the amplifier sound a little forward-balanced. Even just below clipping, the level of intermodulation distortion (fig.7) was acceptably low, the difference product just reaching the -60dB line (0.1%).
Fig.4 VTL IT-85,…
Records To Die For creates one of two problems for the Stereophile writer: either she can't come up with the names of two (or, in the case of new writers, five) recordings of world-class music in world-class stereo sound, or he comes up with so many his hard-drive crashes trying to narrow down the choices.
Do they complain to me about this? Do they whine, squeal, snivel? Do they drag their heels, turning in copy a month late? Do they refuse the task altogether, naming out-of-print mono LPs by the cutout-bin load, and their favorite badly recorded rock albums from their drug-drenched days…
Barry Willis
SCOTT HAMILTON QUARTET: In Concert
Scott Hamilton, tenor sax; Chris Flory, guitar; John Bunch, piano; Phil Flanigan, bass; Chuck Riggs, drums; Eiji Kitamura, clarinet
Concord Jazz CCD-4233 (CD only). Carl E. Jefferson, prod.; Tameo Kawada, Isao Itoh, Phil Edwards, engs. TT: 52:52 Scott Hamilton and crew pump joyous life into nine great old Swing Era standards in this June '83 live recording made in Tokyo's Yamaha Hall. Only 28 at the time, Hamilton was wonderfully out of sync with his contemporaries in mining the rich veins of the past; we are much the richer for…
SCOTT HAMILTON QUARTET: In Concert
Scott Hamilton, tenor sax; Chris Flory, guitar; John Bunch, piano; Phil Flanigan, bass; Chuck Riggs, drums; Eiji Kitamura, clarinet
Concord Jazz CCD-4233 (CD only). Carl E. Jefferson, prod.; Tameo Kawada, Isao Itoh, Phil Edwards, engs. TT: 52:52 Scott Hamilton and crew pump joyous life into nine great old Swing Era standards in this June '83 live recording made in Tokyo's Yamaha Hall. Only 28 at the time, Hamilton was wonderfully out of sync with his contemporaries in mining the rich veins of the past; we are much the richer for…
Sam Tellig
PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet
Excerpts from Suites 1, 2, & 3
Myung-Whun Chung, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
DG 439 870-2 (CD only). Lennart Dehn, prod.; Wolfgang Mitlehner, Tonmeister; Reinhard Lagemann, eng. DDD. TT: 63:22 Since the mid-'80s, Myung-Whun Chung has conducted mainly opera. The experience shows. This performance/recording has everything: delicacy, subtlety, a wonderful way of bringing out details in the score---and, most of all, drama. What it avoids is bombast---the entire performance is very well thought out, with a real a sense of the story…
PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet
Excerpts from Suites 1, 2, & 3
Myung-Whun Chung, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
DG 439 870-2 (CD only). Lennart Dehn, prod.; Wolfgang Mitlehner, Tonmeister; Reinhard Lagemann, eng. DDD. TT: 63:22 Since the mid-'80s, Myung-Whun Chung has conducted mainly opera. The experience shows. This performance/recording has everything: delicacy, subtlety, a wonderful way of bringing out details in the score---and, most of all, drama. What it avoids is bombast---the entire performance is very well thought out, with a real a sense of the story…