What to put under my VAC AMP/ PREAMP??

Barrelchief, thanks for sharing your experiences. Unfortunately, the gentleman I was referring to lives a long way from me, and hearing his system is not realistic. Kevin also seems to prefer Ultralinear, but that was coming from an older phone conversation with him. I will have a different speaker to audition very soon, and it is very efficient. I will definitely give Triode another go at that point. I will chime back with my results. Vacattack, congrats on your Vitus CDP. I heard it at my dealers, and left extremely impressed. Jwm, it's funny that there really are never any unanimous opinions in audio most of the time. I wouldn't think Triode sounds thinner or bleached on your ESP's, or it's likely you would not be preferring it as you now do.

I think it also has to do with your source. If ones cd dac or phono source is thinner or fuller they may like one mode versus the other. I do like ultralinear too but I get more involved with the music in triode. Its nice to have the choice.

Resurrecting the thread on ultralinear versus triode. I listened my first two months (received the VAC gear this summer) in ultralinear mode. Just borrowed a Decware Torii Mk III 25 wpc amp to see how it sounded in my system. More body/heft, silkier, more delicate mids and highs, and better spaciousness esp front to back. VAC beat it easily in transient speed, articulation, low end control/grip and sheer presence. But...it did make me realize the VAC was lean by comparison. So I decided to try the 300.1a in triode mode. It took the edge off the highs, warmed up the mids, and brought more space and body into the presentation. Much less aggressive sound compared to ultralinear in my system. Very slight absence of total grip on lower registers. My Esoteric MG20 speakers are 89db efficient with nominal load of 6 ohms, dipping to about 4ohms. Eager to hear if anyone has done more comparing on ultralinear versus triode mode and what was gained/lost. And, if I wanted to add more heft (without loss of grip/control) any tube swapping recommednations? Darrin

Darin, I prefer triode as you found out. I'm sorry but to get the sound you want you are going to have to get another phi 300.1 and turn them into monoblocks. Place new old stock RCA black base late 50's tubes in the two middle positions and place Sylvania new old stock 6SN7 in the outer positions. Place tube rings on all eight tubes and you will be in heaven. Jeff

i use 2 Hrs m3x custom under my vac statemts 450s ,and hrs m3x plaltforms ,as part of the mxr stand ,under the vac sig.2 and its power supply.extremly effective !