Van Alstine Synergy amps: Are they quality sound?

To.Mr JMC Grogan, Relax, I was just being facetious. Most of these audio pundits have ears stuffed with cotton when they go to audition high-end. I have only truated reviews by Bob Reina at Stereophile. His review method is systematic and thorough, and 90-95% of the time his impressions are right on target. This could be said of Tom Norton who is no longer with Stereophile and possibly deceased. His review of the Aragon 4004 MKII power amp in 1988 was excellent, and over my 15 years of ownership of this amp, I came to hear every point he made about the amp's performance

04-11-13: Sunnyjim
To.Mr JMC Grogan, Relax, I was just being facetious. Most of these audio pundits have ears stuffed with cotton when they go to audition high-end.

Don't worry about me Jimbo, one can't help but be relaxed with all the quality entertainment here. :)

I would would replace the word "cotton" with "dollar bills" in your statement. ;)

Years ago Frank came to my house and plugged in his latest preamp. At the time is bested my ARC SP3-a. His equipment doesn't strive to be audio gems in looks, but his designs will live up to his claims. Further, he makes iterations of his amps with the stability to drive hard loads. Check out his sight and remember, he is an engineer, not a designer.

I too bought a Synergy 450 after hearing it. My brother owns my old Odyssey Amp I sold him with double banks of capacitors. The VanAlstine450 is far more modern and advanced.the double Mosfets can be added For $99
In the Synergy 240, as well as 300, the 450 comes with 4 double dye Mosfets per channel 15amp each 250v which is = to 8 per channel.
These new units have 12 regulated power supply's .it runs cooler
No power sags very stable even if your voltage sags 10 volts.
Musically a very nice balance very clear open but with a very Vacuum tube like nature. Instrument textures I find night and day more palpable then
A new Bryston I compared with.the Synergy it reminded me of a $5k Ayre amp with better dynamics and control. I can not think of any amplifier even at $5k that betters this .
I highly recommend the 450,and 300 ,Buy the double dye Mosfets it gives better dynamics,runs cooler and actually less wiring.the 300 is $1,600 with the double Mosfets. I overlooked Van Alstine for years,for not enough advertising I guess. with this new design
I picked a great time to start. The fet vacuum tube version is slightly better
At a much high price.

I owned the FET 600 and his latest FET tube preamp for about 6 months and enjoyed it a lot. Only reason I sold was that I made a major system wide upgrade.