audio valve eklipse or aesthetix calypso

Kabaraka, I would not use the term, "blow away", to describe what would be the difference sonicly between the VTL2.5 and the Eklipse. When I have auditioned the reference VTL linestage compared to the Eklipse, with the right NOS tubes, the Eklipse was more musical and natural sounding to me. Both the linestages and amps that VTL offers have a house sound to me that just not my taste. They remind me of tube versions of Arye SS gear, which do not sound as real to me as other tube and SS pieces from other companies. So, yes I think the Eklipse would bring your system to a higher level, but you really have to audition it to find out what appeals to you.

thanks, I just auditioned yesterday and placed order already, the unit will come in the end of this month, now the problem is what colour should I get black or chrome :)

I have owned the Eclipse for a year now and have not had any problems with it.

I tried the NOS tube thing and so far I have gone back to the stock EH tubes,the NOS tubes(RCA clear top)perhaps weren't up to spec,but other tube replacements were also not much better than stock.
Being a tweaker, that was a disappointment.

But the sound even with stock tubes is very good, and the build quality and the quietness of the pre amp is hard to beat for the money.

Lacee, you must have bad luck with NOS tubes. I agree that the RCA Clear tops are not that much better sounding then the EH tubes in the Eklipse. However either NOS Amperex long plate G getters or NOS Mullard long plate square getters bring the performance of this linestage to a much higher degree on all levels. If you can get a couble of pairs of these 12AU7's, I think you will be very happy.

regarding tubes replacement with NOS tubes, do we have to change all four of them or just the front or back set? also I notice the faceplate of the demo unit at the dealer is different from the picture I see in many forums, including audio valve website, the characters of the words "eklipse" is different, and also the characters on the input is different, other than that looks pretty much the same. I asked if the unit was made in germany and he said yes. is it the newest version?