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First impression: Herron VTPH-2A phono preamp

I got my VTPH-2A this morning and it's up and running. After about five hours of spinning vinyl, I'm pretty sure I've wet myself, MULTIPLE TIMES! I've primarily played vinyl that I've had for decades, music that I thought I was intimately familiar with. I was wrong. There's nuance I never knew existed. Everything about the VTPH-2A is "right". The bass is tight, vocals superb, instruments have places, etc.  All that I've listened to sounds new and fresh and the most masterfully recorded vinyl sounds live. What I've read about on this forum concerning the VTPH-2A (pretty much all stellar) is true. I've had five different phono preamps and nothing can compete with this, NOTHING. It's a bad ass and definitely a keeper.
professorsvsu
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I hope you don’t mean it’s going to be more dynamic if it’s plenty loud enough, but can’t clip the amplifier in theoretical terms, as some shonks here have tried to make out

What I primarily mean is that the user will have paid for amplifier power that cannot be utilized. And it would have been better to direct the $ that went toward watts that can’t be utilized toward something else in the system. Perhaps toward a lower powered but higher quality amplifier, if the lower power capability is in fact adequate.

Best regards,
-- Al
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Hey, I have three times as much wattage than I need, I don’t use it.

99.9% of use don’t use our full wattage potential that we have on tap, idiots that do will need speaker repairs very quickly.

So loud enough is loud enough, and there’s no penalty if you can’t clip your amp with the given signal, so long as you can reach the level you need, having the ability to go up to 11 doesn’t give you any sound quality advantage at all.

Cheers George
jmolsberg's avatar
jmolsberg
467 posts
 
What improvement is the VTPH-2A vs the VTPH-2?
The cost to upgrade seems very reasonable. I'd prefer to get the scoop here and not waste Keith's time (:
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
What improvement is the VTPH-2A vs the VTPH-2?

I don’t think there’s much from what I saw of the specs, the 2A is 100ohms lower in output impedance, (400 instead of 500), the rest seemed the same.

2: http://www.herronaudio.com/images/vtph2data.pdf

2A http://www.herronaudio.com/vtph2specs.html at the bottom

Yep, 8db lower noise on the 2A

Cheers George
jmolsberg's avatar
jmolsberg
467 posts
 
Thanks George 
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