BAT vs. Mcintosh?

Loonytunz, I've heard about other people using the same set up as you and they're happy as well. Being that they're both BAT products and Victor takes great care in his designs, was impedance or level matching an issue at all? It must sound great!

Gunbei, in all honesty, I won't know 100% until I get the jrs broken in completely, but I will say that so far I am extremely pleased. Until I ran the tar out of them for a good 50 hours or so, they sounded pretty course and restrained. Out of sheer laziness, the break-in is taking longer than it probably could. I'm using the SS amp for break-in duty during 'busy' time to preserve precious NOS stock, and patching in the 60 during 'happy' time. They are coming along nicely, though.

Impedance/level mismatches have been non-existant. FWIW, I'm running both sets of full range outputs from a 5i into each of the amps (the 5i is being fed by a D5; analog front end to follow soon...)

Soundstage width is breathtaking, depth & height are good while not stellar (I'm hoping for a bit more from the midrange as they approach completion of the breaking period and I refine their positioning), dynamics will downright scare the pants off you with a good full orchestra piece!

To quote a famous fast food slogan: "I'm lovin' it!"

Sounds awesome Loonytunz!

I'd been using a BAT VK200 for almost two years and just made the switch to a Bel Canto SET40 which had some pleasant surprises I wasn't expecting. I never realized a high powered SET could deliver such great bass. I thought I'd be losing a lot, but honestly for my taste the difference between the VK200 and SET40 in this department is quite small. I think a lot has to do with the speakers I'm using.

I had considered your biamp set up, but I just didn't have the room. So, it seems you and I may have gotten similar results with a slightly different approach. Once you get everything broken in to your satisfaction you might obtain even better results when you start tube rolling. I bet the all BAT system sounds great!

I guess we can officially consider this thread jacked... ;)

I've not had the chance to audition any Bel Canto gear, but the Proac pairing would seem a little different given the relatively low sensitivity of the 2.5s. Just goes to show you, synergy is the cat's meow.

While I would like to make some hardware changes to my system, I really am enamored with the all BAT system, as is my wife. As I've written in a number of other posts here, she is a fairly serious enthusiast as well. Unfortunately, she also becomes emotionally attached to stuff (thankfully, or I might well be single.) That makes it more difficult for me to suddenly decide I need a different preamp or source component. Maybe one of these days...

The tube rolling has been in progress for a while now. In my travels, I've decided that a pair of Tung Sol 5881s in the 5i, and a pair of RCA red base 5692s in the 'critical' positions of the 60 are keepers.

Several iterations of lesser 6922s and their variants have proven lackluster in their respective units, but I have my eye on some Amperex PQ 7308s for the D5 and 5i that I hope will end my search (I'll probably have to sell some blood to complete the transaction.) In the coming weeks, I hope to obtain the last piece of the puzzle; some 40's Sylvania 6SN7 GTs for the remainder of the positions in the 60. I haven't had the chance to play around with 6SN7s much, so I'm kind of anxious to see how the Sylvanias work out.

At that point, I hope I'll be able to listen for a while before I decide to change anything else! I know my wife probably has similar hopes...

Yeah, I love the 6SN7 tube. I've been using a 6SN7 based Blue Circle BC21 for quite a while which I even preferred to a BAT VK3i I once owned. What I seem to like is what deHavilland Audio calls the "big tone" sound of the 6SN7.

I was a bit apprehensive about a loss of this characteristic when I bought an eXemplar Exception II a couple weeks ago. I was surprised to find this preamp also exhibits the expansive and full-bodied sound of the BC21.

In my experience 6922s by in large create a huge soundstage, but lack the full bodied midrange presentation of the 6SN7. It seems the VK60 will help create the big tone sound with its 6SN7s. My favorite versions of this tube are all from the WWII era. Sylvania, RCA, Ken-Rad, etc.

I can completely understand your wife's attachment to certain pieces. I don't plan to sell my Blue Circle preamp. I like that little guy.