does anyone know the VAC PA60 from his own experience?
I own the unit (two PA60-C + one PS90 power supply) and use it with my Paragon 12A occasionally. I find the sound rather thin and lacking in bass weight and extension, so far nothing I would describe as tube warmth. The unit has relatively new tubes (Svetlana KT88, Mullard/Brimar ECC81/83). The bias is set at 72mA for Ultraliear mode and 70mA for Triode, which I prefer cause surprisingly it sounds more full in the bass than the higher powered UL mode.
With the Paragon hooked up to my solid state Gryphon amp every lack in bass weight and extension is gone, to sound is more warm overall. I wonder that the solid state Gryphon should sound more tube like, than a VAC tube unit!?!!? By the way the speakers are Cabasse Iroise 500 with real! 91db and a normal 4ohms without any stressing low impedance dips...so nothing hard to control.
At least VAC is not known to build very thin or analytical sounding amps...?!?!?
No they have around 80 watts in UL and around 30-40 watts in Triode mode (2xKT88 on ech side). They are quite far from clipping since the speakers are relatively efficient. Theres also still a lot of headroom from the amps. They go much much louder than I usually hear.
How would you describe the sound from your audio memory?
I have one of these units, recently overhauled from factory, the type of sound depens to much of the model or type KT-88. Anyway it´s a excelent tube amplifier for the price. Try to put the bias to 42 mA, and listen. If yoy can find another power supply it will be nice. Grretings from Caracas.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.