BAT VK-200 vs VK-220?

Ihcho I owned the VK-200 twice in about 2 yrs. It was one of my favorite amps. It is 100 wpc and the VK-220 is 125 wpc. I have not owned the 220 but some say it is about the same as the 200 but with more power and finesse. You can't go wrong with either IMO. I think they are about $500 difference on the used market? I am sure there are some threads or reviews here. I really liked the BAT sound and paired mine with a VK5i.

Samzx,

What a small world we live in agon! You mate VK-200 with VK-5i? How did you come back to VK200?
Have you tried other preamp than VK-5i? .

I will have VK-200 soon. I have Rogue Magnum 99. I will see how well BAT works with Rogue.

I thought about VK-220, but I was not sure whether it was worthwhile to pay for extra $500 to get VK-220. VK-220 is newer, but I am not sure about the power difference. I emailed VK and he responded that VK-200 meaures more like 125WPC. Other than newer circuit and design than VK-200, it may be hard to tell that VK-220 is sonically superior to VK-200, that was my feeling. Hope somebody correct me if I am wrong.

Also, I could not find any reviews that directly compares VK-220 to VK-200.

Yep small world ;)

I have tried various Levinson amps. 27, 27.5, 29, 331, 331.5. For some reason I came back to the 200 because it is a classic and just sounds good to my ears. It does sound like it puts out more than 100 wpc and overall the sonics are smooth, powerful, and detailed. Compared to the ML amps, the bass is deeper and the soundstage is wider. The ML amps seem to be more analytical or neutral which is not a bad thing. The ML amps had better center fill where as the BAT was broader in comparsion. IMO the ML amps have better midbass punch and are built like a tank. They are a pleasure to own and look at but for overall musicality I like the BAT amps. This is not saying the ML amps are bad because they are very very good. I just preferred the BAT in my system.

As far as Preamps the VK5i was the best match. It makes sense and I used NOS tubes. One of the best improvements was to replace the 5881 tubes with TungSol. This was the most noticeable sonic upgrade with this preamp. Replacing the eight 6922 tubes were another improvement but the TungSols were more noticeable IMO. The 6922 replacements I used were Matsushida 6DJ8's. Hope this helps.

What speakers do you have and what kind of sound are you looking for? The Rogue is a good preamp. Does it have XLR? Remember the BAT is XLR. If you dont have XLR you will have to get adaptors if the amp does not come with them.

Hope this helps.

Sam

Rogue Magnum does not support balanced. The BAT I will have comes with RCA adapters. I read about that BAT amp works best with balanced preamps, but I also read that it would work good with other preamps. I bought BAT with the mind to replace Rogue in the near future. But if it works real good with Rogue I may keep it for a while.
My speaker is Tyler Linbrook Signature Systems. I have Linn AV5105, which is not bad, but with continual upgrades, I think I came to a point that Linn is outmatched and it is time to go.
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