A good friend of mine and local VTL dealer offered me a listen to some tasty valve mono-blocks recently. Of course I jumped at the chance. A pair of VTL MB-125s, 125 watts per channel in pentode, and 60 w.p.c. in triode mode have been in position for the last week or so. All my listening was done in triode mode. These instruments looked gorgeous with their brushed metal front, and smoked glass windows hiding those EL-34 tubes. A single On/Off switch resides on the front panel (no standby mode is available), the pentode/triode switch, a pair of five way binding posts, an IEC power connection and RCA inputs round out the rear. I must say the build quality inspires confidence in the sound even before it is warmed up, which incidentally sounds better in hour three than it does in hour one in my opinion. The demo pair were suspected to still need another hundred hours or so until they were fully burned in.

Once underway, the first impression was one of weight and realistic scale. The VTLs drove my Zus far more realistically than the existing Red Rose Music 35 w.p.c. valve amp, usually used in ultra-linear (or pentode-equivalent) mode. Bass was reproduced with speed and precision and the top end was extended and crisp. The sound stage was wide and deep and imaging as detailed as you would expect.

Over an extended listening period however, I found the sound missing a little in the mid-range, not as 'tubular sweet' as the Red Rose. The dealer was slightly disappointed with that and after some investigation of related products, it appears that there is a voltage mismatch between my Wadia 861SE CD player/pre-amp and the VTLs. For amplifiers of the VTLs power or greater, the internals of the pre-amp throttle back the output, with impact being at the expense of the mid-range. The theory is yet to be proven but the source of the information has historically been reliable.

Even so I was sorry to see these amps go back, being shipped off to a lucky customer further up the coast. Once I listen to a few pre-amps, I am sure another demo of VTL gear will be in my future. My thanks to Tony Collins at Home Theatre Solutions in Melbourne for this opportunity.

There have been several changes in the listening room lately.

The major change has been the installation of three-layer curtains, with velvet fabric, some sound reducing mid-layer and a heavy backing. They look good and have done a great job in dampening much of the reflections in the room, but without 'killing' the feel of the room totally. Excellent!

A new audio cabinet is now in place. A recycled Columbian oak two shelf cabinet, with three lower draws for bits & pieces. The room is now much tidier. I can't tell if the sound is improved but aesthetically it is more in keeping with the room and more practical to boot.

Also purchased were some cable lifts. While some ceramic and fancy jobs can cost upwards of $A60 each, I managed to pick up twelve lifts today for a grand total of $A3.60! Made of none too exotic plastic, they at least lift the Zus power and speaker cables up off the floor. Absolutely no improvement to the sound that I can determine (not even a placebo effect!) but again they look just fine, and suitably hi fi 'tweaky'.......

Finally, not a tweak, but my wife and I relocated the CD rack and contents, from the family room to the music room, making access to the CD collection and spinning the tunes much easier.