EXPERIENCED VAC USERS—most bang for the buck

I general I would always suggest getting the best possible pre-amp, all other things being equal. I'm also sensing an undercurrent that perhaps Liszt458 may not be in a position to contact VAC directly if he is "reselling" the equipment.

Always fascinating to see the assumptions made by some when a simple question is asked regarding the opinions of experienced users. Swampwalker, thank you for the advice, but your "undercurrent" sensing skills are not as acute as you might think. I have spoken at length with Kevin already—my apologies for not informing you sooner—and the nature of our business relationship with him is not the topic of this thread. He is the true gentleman everyone describes and could not be more helpful or informative.

Fascinating insights into how the 1% live.

A factor which may clinch the decision in favor of the Phi200/SignatureMkIIa combination, depending on the sensitivity of the speakers and the output level of the source(s), is that the gain of the other combination stands a good chance of being too high. The result being that with the 300.1a/MkIII combination the volume control may have to be operated undesirably close to the bottom of its range.

In fact I would not even rule that out as being a possible issue with both combos, depending on speakers and sources, but assuming that the specs are accurate it is a much greater concern with the 300.1a/MkIII. Both power amps have similarly high gains, around 31 db balanced and 37 db single-ended according to the published specs. The Signature MkIIa has a reasonable gain of 12 db, but the Renaissance MkIII has a specified gain of 22 db, which strikes me as outlandish in combination with the high gain of the power amp.

Regards,
-- Al

That's a great point, Al.