Opinions on VTL preamps

Early on, VTL did develop a reputation for unreliability. Though that reputation may have been deserved years ago, the quality of VTL equipment has improved and that ought not to be an issue anymore. (I can only speculate that the reliability issue may have changed when Luke Manley, the son, took over VTL from his father, David Manley. David Manley is known as an outstanding designer and Luke Manley seems very focused on satisfying his customers.)
I have a VTL 2.5 and VTL 225 DeLuxe Monoblocks and am very pleased with them. The 2.5, a newer product, has had no problems at all and I am the second owner. I'm considering upgrading to the 5.5 because I am so pleased with the 2.5. The 225, an older product, is sonically outstanding, a former Stereophile Class A amplifier.

I have owned a few and they all had some problems

I have a 2.5 that had a tube go bad. The tube took out the power supply that fried the board. It took VTL three weeks to just make the diagnosis. They said they had never seen that problem before but if this is a design that is common to the 5.5, I would be hesitant to purchase VTL. They will fix this problem for about $800 and wil NOT warranty their work. They were not helpful. So, if you want a mint, rebuilt 2.5, you could get mine out of hock for the cost of $900, which would cover the repairs, shipping, remote, original box, and good luck! P.S. I had a ST-85 amp that didn't go bad in a year, but it was sold and replaced with SS. And yes, the 2.5 had that warm, tube sound but that combo lacked bass control and clear highs. Great mids though!

I have a 5.5 with a pair of 185 monos. No problem with the pre but have an intermittant hum with one of the amps. it is probably a ground problem because it goes away as soon as the power switch is moved. it is't bad enough to fix and hasn't gotten worse over 3 yrs. sound...with dunlavy athenas. killer tight deep bass as long as it's on the recording, wonderful mids, open highs. overall i could't think of anything i would change except for adding a phono section to the preamp. the cost there has had me on the fence for a long time...don't listen to that many LPs these days. if the guy with the one with the phono section still has his for sale maybe we could work a three way deal if you are interested

I have a 5.5 and a st150 that I was bi-amping with a classe ca 300 on the bottom driving b&w802n's .loved it so much thought i would get rid of the classe and got the phono 2.5tp and 225t90 mono blocks last week. I have had no problems until hooked up the mono blocks.put the st150 on the b out put for the rear and the monos on the A output for the front (bi-wireing).no need the classe bass is fine without no smear.About 1 minute into it the right side starts making a screaching noise then stops I dont know what it is but after another 10 sec it stops.So last night i have the system running for about 3 hours then shut down everything.Then this morning i go to power up the amps and then the screaching starts up on the right as usual for but now The st 150 starts in with the same crap only more anoying and louder like someone dragging a piece of metal across the blackboard. so I unplug the st 150 and hook up the ca 300 to see if maybe its the pre-amp. sound great except the 10 sec while the 225s are warming up. So I think its the st 150. I enjoy the sound of vtl,but hope its just a bad tube and not a transformer, i have spare tubes but i dont want to turn the thing on to try to bias until i figure out what that noise is.Anybody guess what is going on with the right mono and st150?