Anyone's opinion about VTL amps?

are you listening in Triode mode or Tetrode mode? Have you tried both modes?

The ones I heard (the 350 watt model at the time) struck me as powerful and a tad grainy. But,to be fair, the grain was in comparison to the mega-buck Levinson system in the other room. What I do remember is that my head was picking out the flaws but my feet were tapping to the music.

Everything put throught the VTL had this effect; I would mentally note the not-quite-perfect hf response, the slight grain perhaps, and so on. And my body would tell me it didn't give a damn...to stop thinking and just enjoy the freakin' music!

Frank Sinatra was illustrative of this; within seconds my fingers are snapping and my other hand is reaching for a whisky.

I've never heard any other tube amps best them in bass response. I did find them a bit forward. All in all I liked them. My biggest concern is (please understand this is not from personal experience!) is VTL's reputation for customer service.

If the driver tubes affect the sound of the 450 as much as the 750, I would suggest swapping the original Sovtek tubes for something with less distortion and wider bandwidth.

I have not completed my testing, but Brimar and Sylvania Military grade in 12AT7 are excellent. Also, high frequency response was increased, soundstage brought in focus and distortion decreased by replacing the supplied power cord with Purist Dominus. I suspect Elrod, Nordost and Purist would all be excellent choices for this amp, but have not tried them all.

Let us know how it works out if you experiment.

Thanks for everyone's opinion. Mejames! I have tried two modes Triode and Tetrode but my favor is Triode's sound with more musical and dynamic. How is your experience? It should be much better with MB750, isn't it?

Albertporter! I have only tried the Elrod EPS3 Signature and they are the same. I guess the reason is the source (Audiomeca Mephisto IIX is too laid back?)