BAT Preamp / Levinson Amp Matching Problems?

Billandsol,

I own a BAT VK50SE which I use with the Levinson 436's. BAT definitely has a 'house sound' which is slightly on the warm side of neutral. Two caveats with the BAT:

1. It does take 30-60 minutes to warm up. For me it's usually not a problem. I play a CD while I clean records. However, if you can only listen for short periods of time, this may not be the right preamp for you.

2. If you buy a BAT preamp that uses the 6H30 'supertube', tube replacement is costly at ~$180-$200 per tube. Fortunately, tube life is pretty good. The tubes have a protracted run out which makes it hard to know when to replace them. (That is, they don't suddenly go noticeably sour.) I recently replaced my tubes and was startled to realize how far gone my original tubes had become. In the context of high end audio, this could be rationalized as a relatively inexpensive upgrade.

BAT seems to be a good combination with the Levinson amps which tend to be a bit 'polite'.

Hope this helps.

Jazdoc- not to be argumentative, but the non "dr" 6h30s can be had for about $30 each.

Swampwalker,

Absolutely agree with your point. I have tried the "non-DR" 6H30's which are certainly cost-effective, but to my ear they are not as good as the DR 6H30'Supertubes'. In my opinion, given the level of investment in a BAT/Levinson system, the added performance is worth the extra expense of the better tubes.