Battle of the BAT's, VK-60 vs. VK-220

I have owned a VK-60 and a VK-500w/bat pak and have listened to the VK-200 on a few occasions. I have yet to hear the newest BAT family of amps. Here's my take, the VK-60 will give you midrange with texture and detail no solid state amp will, it will have a natural presence on the higher frequencies. Where it will fall a little short is its control of bass, which ironically is what the ss amps will do better. I ran a pair of avalons(86dB at 4ohms) with the VK-60 with no problems at all, so you will be fine for a long time if you don't want to purchase a second amp for some time. These SS amps are good for ss amps, the smaller bat's are slightly more musical then the larger ones(that seems to be pretty typical with ss amps), they will control the speakers, power them with aplomb. You will lose some of the "magic" tube amps deliver, the euphonious glow(the texture, body and palpable sense) that simply will not be there with out the use of a tube amp. There is no maintnance to concern yourself with using SS, you don't have to think about tube rolling, or replacement. If your dealer has a VK-60 take one home and try it, for the prices they are selling for on the used market they are real bargin these days. I can not think of an amp that is as good for that kind of money- just make sure you get a later revision- board E or F I believe were the last two revisions made. If you really want to blast your speakers and let them crank, then tubes may not satisfy you the way SS amps will but its worth trying.

This is kind of ironical because I was talking to my dealer last week and we were discussing that the VK-60's are so good and are a steal now. He even felt they are better then the vk-75, in terms of transparency and musicality.

I've owned a vk 200 and a vk 60. At the time, I was using a vk 50se pre and Audio Physic Virgo speakers. Tireguy is pretty much right on. The vk60 will give you a midrange to die for. In terms of transparency, depth, image, tonality, etc.... The bottom will be a little looser than with the vk200. The vk60 on top is pretty darn good, the vk200 is close, however I pretty much had to leave it on 24x7 to get the top end close to the vk60.

Neither amp you'll go wrong with. However, the vk60 gives you some great upgrade paths. you can run them mono, double your power, which will increase your dynamics, bass control, image size and this set up will beat the solid state amp on bottom. You can also upgrade it to SE status, which dramitically improves the transparency through out the mids, bottom and top end, tightens up the bottom significanty, and better image size and depth.

VK60's are a steal used right now. The front 2 6sn7's are critical to sound quality, spend some money there on NOS, the other 6sn7's don't yield the same improvement...helps, but not worth spending a ton ...

Tireguy,

Is VK-60 better than Nelson's Aleph ?

The upgrade path is a nice option, what do the upgrades usually run?

Cdma I have never had an Aleph though they have always interested me- one day I'll get one and give it a shot.