There was no doubt that the CH/WB pairing was the more balanced overall, quicker on its feet and fleshed out by the speaker’s natural tonal balance and harmonics. But at the same time, the VTLs had even greater scale and substance, an even more developed acoustic, qualities that might well give the listener more of what they love about the big tubes. Some people take their coffee with milk, some with sugar and some prefer it plain black.
It underlines the fact that each of these amplifiers offers enough quality and capability to have its own appeal. Both have considerable musical integrity, getting the important stuff in the right place and creating meaningful, recognisable patterns – not capabilities that are as common as we might like. But for all they have in common, they are also quite distinct, one from the other. The clarity, separation and natural perspectives and proportions of the CH make it a reviewers dream. Never has it been so easy to understand the inner workings of a system, the way changes in the system affect the musical reproduction. But that’s a strictly limited application. As a way of listening to music, the VTLs offer their own strengths and they are just as appealing. More importantly, they’re never, ever less than enjoyable.
For me, this exercise has been fascinating, because it has underlined once again just how critical the amp/speaker interface is to system performance and musical communication. But it has also reinforced just how limited such direct comparisons are, how utterly dependent on context. Change the system, change the set up and you change the relative ranking. Yes, they’re interesting in themselves, but what’s more interesting is how the characteristics they reveal dovetail with your tastes and loudspeakers – a far from simple equation. Like the old “I’ll use a warm interconnect to compensate for this cool and clinical CD player” approach, the musical costs are often not nearly as obvious as the apparent benefits.
The versatility and adaptability of the VTLs is testament to the combination’s balance of virtues. It’s easy to get carried away with the dozen glowing bottles and the apparently bottomless power delivered by the S-400. But in a very real sense it is the TL-7.5’s anchored stability and quiet, spatial and temporal authority that keeps the S-400 under control and pointed in the right direction. The dynamics and intimacy on tap bespeak a low noise floor and (perhaps not surprisingly) the 7.5 is certainly quiet by tube standards. Nor do those dynamics suffer if the preamp is asked to drive long or multiple interconnects, a case of theory being bourn out in practice, and a crucial capability that is often overlooked. I have used both units in isolation, with non-family partners and great success. But there’s no ignoring the potency of the pairing used together.
Not just substance but subtlety too…
If you like to feel the sheer size and weight of the piano; if you want your drums to stay hit; if you value dimensionality and tonal colour and you want natural, unfettered dynamics – big and small – then these VTLs will deliver all of those things. What’s more – and what I really love about them – is that they do it with such natural exuberance and musical enthusiasm. In dynamic terms, they bring new meaning to the response, “How high?” Not in terms of changing level, but the combination of those changes in level with the solid weight and substance that’s delivered. It’s certainly impressive but it needs to be handled with care. That means choosing these – or any other – amps for the qualities they offer, but then choosing a matching speaker that suits, a combination that meets your expectations.
