Ah..The battle rages on....
Having crossed back and forth over that line many times looking for the magic amp I have finally found an amp that I really find to be something special. It has the magic of VTL Tiny Triodes with the brawn of a high power muscle amp. Of course it is the Ayre V3. I had heard so many good things about these amps over the years, but never really jumped on the wagon. I was spinning through ARC, VTL, Krell, Cary, Kora, Classe, CJ..I could go on, but the bottom line is that there is something very magical to the sound of this Ayre. Of course I am front ending it with a highly modified ARC LS-7 tube preamp.
Regarding your purchase of the VTL 150. That is a fine amp and it seems to hold its value. It sounds good, uses an easily obtainable output tube and looks good. It would be a good choice. The Audio Research Classic 60 is a fine sounding amp as well. The power is lower and the care and feeding is a bit higher as well. The CJ MV-50 thru MV-60 are excellent amps as well. They are easy to maintain and sound awesome.
My only recommendation for a new tube purchase is to steer away from the Chinese stuff. It all looks great, sounds ok, but who will fix it if a tube bottle-rockets and burns a handful of resistors? I think that at some point your local BFI trash pickup will have a special recycling bin for most of that gear.
So cross over, have fun with it. You can always cross back. When you do, I suggest that you consider the Ayre.
Having crossed back and forth over that line many times looking for the magic amp I have finally found an amp that I really find to be something special. It has the magic of VTL Tiny Triodes with the brawn of a high power muscle amp. Of course it is the Ayre V3. I had heard so many good things about these amps over the years, but never really jumped on the wagon. I was spinning through ARC, VTL, Krell, Cary, Kora, Classe, CJ..I could go on, but the bottom line is that there is something very magical to the sound of this Ayre. Of course I am front ending it with a highly modified ARC LS-7 tube preamp.
Regarding your purchase of the VTL 150. That is a fine amp and it seems to hold its value. It sounds good, uses an easily obtainable output tube and looks good. It would be a good choice. The Audio Research Classic 60 is a fine sounding amp as well. The power is lower and the care and feeding is a bit higher as well. The CJ MV-50 thru MV-60 are excellent amps as well. They are easy to maintain and sound awesome.
My only recommendation for a new tube purchase is to steer away from the Chinese stuff. It all looks great, sounds ok, but who will fix it if a tube bottle-rockets and burns a handful of resistors? I think that at some point your local BFI trash pickup will have a special recycling bin for most of that gear.
So cross over, have fun with it. You can always cross back. When you do, I suggest that you consider the Ayre.