VAC owners, sound off

Not much to add here but another vote for VAC. I have a PA100/100 amp and Standard MKII preamp (must be an upgrade 'cause it says LE on the chassis but MKII on the box and has no external powersupply) Anyway, totally reliable so far.
I have taken the pre to several audio get-togethers and it has always sounded fabulous with whatever it's been hooked up to. Also at my place it has powered several amps, each wonderfully.
While I really like my VAC amp, my gut tells me that my pre is the more special of the two.
I don't think impedence matching will ever be an issue because VAC pres have the reputation to be able to drive anything.
Very satisfied.

-Mike

Well, I received the pre and have had a couple nights to listen to it. It is a Standard that was upgraded to LE status. I'll give a summary of my equip and listening habits, then give some very brief impressions.

It is receiving source material from a Musical Fidelity a308cr upsampling player via analog unbalanced RCA. It is feeding a NS LM3886 chip-based amplifier, the Jaton Operetta also unbalanced. That is feeding Usher 6381 3-way towers -- 87db@8 ohms. My music preferences are solidly rooted in hard rock, and a bit of techno, though i do enjoy acoustic guitar/vocals male and female as well. No jazz, no classical.

The preamp it replaced was a Rogue Audio Metis. Comparatively, differences were interestingly not that extreme, I'd say they were more subtle. What I can tell is that the VAC seems to have a flatter frequency curve and perhaps more neutrality then the Metis. I'm still getting a handle on explaining sound in technical and oft-used audio terms. It also seems to resolve better. What I miss, though, is the mid-bass and bass I got with the Metis. That's why I say it seems to have a more neutral tone -- mids seem to be pushed more, bass seems to have receded a tad.

Has anyone experimented with tubes in a Standard before, and perhaps have either tube recommendations to try that have a bit of warmth and/or extension, or just in general what they thought of my impressions vs their own? Just curious.

I don't know what type tubes are in your Vac...but I have had good luck with d-getter Amperex tubes. Owning Vac amps... I would agree that your preamp should resolve very well....the bass is excellant on my amplifiers.

Tholt, what is the power supply sitting on? The material it sits on will definitely make a big difference in the sound. I've tried MDF, solid oak, solid cherry, granite, butcher block, and the best is the Mapleshade solid maple platform with brass spikes. The second best was the MDF. Also, I think the VAC standard preamp inverts phase so you will need to reverse the connections at your speakers.

Rhjazz - 2 things I never would have thought about. PS is sitting on hardwood floor. I'll try getting it off that. I actualy have some butcher block I could use. Did you attach the spikes to the PS, or underneath the wood block? Secondly, I don't recall reading anywhere in the manual about phase inversion. Ill double check.

The tubes in the pre are standard VAC issue (they even have the VAC logo on them). The previous owner said they were fairly new, and from talking to Kevin the 12ax7's are Chinese and the 12au7's are Sylvania (not sure which kind). I read up a little on Joe's Tube Lore (found the site people have been citing for years) which started me on a tube hunt. Found some Amperex 12au7's and some GE 5751 (supposedly better then 12ax7) on ebay that I'm thinking about.