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VTL TL6.5 Series II Signature Preamplifier

VTL TL6.5 Series II Signature Preamplifier

like to joke that it’s the Virgo in me (actually, a triple joke at that­—as this magazine’s late founder and astrology buff Harry Pearson once needled me about), meaning that I’ve always been the type to dive deeply into subjects that grab hold of me by both lapels and won’t let go. Even when, maybe even especially when, the subject is one where the rewards are mighty but frequently elusive. 

This may explain my long-term love/hate affair with the music dramas of Wagner—so many passages of the most sublime beauty wedded to equally long stretches of—well, let’s just say it—yawning tedium. 

It also speaks to my fascination with the wines of Burgundy—a lifelong study in which, at their best, these wines are unlike any other (ethereal, magical, memorable), and yet they so often fall short of such transcendence, cruelly teasing us with what might have been, sort of like a fickle lover.

VTL TL6.5 Series II Signature Preamplifier

There’s equally compelling evidence that another affliction—audiophilia—springs from the same well. But let’s face it, this disorder, like everything I just mentioned before, has less to do with one’s astrological sign than it does with something much more basic: the luck—or misfortune, depending on your point of view—of exposure to things that burrow under your skin and at the end of the day bring an inexplicable joy and deep satisfaction to your life.

It is this quest that drives audiophiles like us to spend absurd amounts of time doing what no “normal” person would: tweaking barely measurable changes to speaker placement or to tonearm VTA; obsessively searching for and then cleaning treasured LPs, all the while fretting over the fluids, brushes, and machines employed; toying with accessories that cause laughter (or horror) among our friends; and investing what to most people would seem likewise absurd sums of money in pursuit of sonic nirvana.

And yet…for those who choose to follow Alice down this particular rabbit hole, the musical rewards can be extraordinary—worth every moment and dollar spent—despite the times when things don’t go exactly as planned. Indeed, like many pursuits of pleasure, the audio hobby, too, can be a harsh mistress.

And yet…when things click, when our systems have been tuned to the levels they’re capable of and then pushed to the next level, it’s arguable that a fine audio system is not only deeply gratifying for the aural and intellectual senses, but also a kind of mental and emotional health insurance policy in our current age of global anxiety.

 

After some years of distraction—uh, like starting a new business—my lifelong passion for this hobby was recently reignited by a decision to invest in a Basis Audio 2200 turntable and Vector 4 ’arm. 

Now, as regular readers of this magazine may recall, I’m also a long and bigtime fan of the Rega turntable line. I purchased my first model (a Planar 3) when I was around eighteen, have recommended Regas to countless satisfied friends, and reviewed quite a number of its different designs over the ensuing years—mostly for this very publication. Regas are smartly designed and well-crafted; they sound terrifically musical; they are a breeze to set up and maintain; they don’t break or otherwise act up; and they are fine values, to boot. 

And yet…something kept nagging at me. That it was time to push things to the next level. To unlock the greater potential of my record collection and the rest of my playback system.

After re-reading reviews and consulting with TAS Editor-in-Chief Robert Harley, I settled on the Basis rig as being not only brilliant of design and execution, but a classic that I’d cherish and enjoy for many moons to come.

And while I will write my own follow-up to Paul Seydor’s excellent and thorough evaluation (see Issue 180, way back in 2008) in a future issue, I felt that this assessment of VTL’s TL6.5 Series II Signature preamplifier wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Basis combo (fitted with a Koetsu Rosewood Platinum Signature, also for a future write-up) because it sets the context for a large part of what my review must by necessity be about, i.e., what I experienced moving from VTL’s TL-5.5 Series II Signature preamp to the company’s next step up. 

I’ve been lucky enough to use the TL-5.5 II for several years now. I wrote about it glowingly (and deservedly so) in Issue 251, and it has served me beautifully over that time. So when VTL’s Luke Manley asked if I’d like to take on the latest edition of VTL’s second-from-top design—the company offers four preamps in its line—I was naturally eager to give it a listen. 

At $18,000, the TL6.5 Series II Signature preamplifier is a significantly updated version of VTL’s TL6.5 Signature. The VTL design team’s goal for the Series II edition was to incorporate most of the advanced technology found in the company’s flagship preamp, the TL7.5 Series III Reference—a hybrid, two-chassis (separate power supply) model—in a single chassis.

 

In conversation and a follow-up email, the simplicity of the 6.5 II’s circuit was something Luke spoke passionately about: “The TL-6.5 Series II has as simple a circuit as possible,” he explained. “The volume control is connected to a tube gain stage, which is direct-coupled to a buffer driving a large-output coupling capacitor. The tube gain stage allows zero global negative feedback, which works well in inherently linear devices like tubes.

“Zero global feedback gives an immediacy to the sound, and makes the preamp response much faster. The FET output stage uses a device that operates much like a tube does (a normally “on” device, just like a tube, that doesn’t require a complex circuit to bias it). The tube gain stage is very wide band—0.25dB at 200kHz—situated on a shock-mounted board to minimize physical resonances, and the large 20 microfarad output coupling caps drive low impedances with good low-frequency response.” 

For VTL, a preamp must be neutral sounding while also performing consistently under a wide variety of conditions. Looked at in the context of the entire system, the preamp must be as resistant as possible to external influences. Hence, the low output impedance allows the 6.5 II to drive any length of cable, as well as any power amp, paralleled amp, or subwoofer. Likewise, the design’s high input impedance ensures that that the preamp will not load the source components feeding it.

The circuitry itself is fully balanced (as opposed to just having balancing devices at the input and output and a single-ended circuit in between), with a mirror-imaged left/right layout. The simple circuitry rejects noise, and develops a balanced signal from a single-ended input, with both outputs active. One nice benefit of this approach is the preamp’s polarity-inversion capability that can be activated from both the front panel and the remote control. It simply flips the negative and positive phase on the XLR and RCA outputs, allowing one to experiment with recordings that may not be in absolute polarity. Although one could go a bit batty constantly checking such things, on some records it can make a noticeable sonic improvement. 

VTL is also adamant that a preamp should sound the same at all volume settings and deliver full resolution at lower volumes, and it has put a lot of work into achieving this goal: “The volume control in most preamps is the first circuit that the signal from the source sees, and it is desirable to avoid any headroom limits or loss of resolution in this first stage. CD players have high output voltages, and a resistor-relay volume control offers unlimited headroom, as opposed to a chip volume control that runs on 5V, which would clip at a 6V signal from a CD player.”

Luke said, “It’s desirable to have just one potentiometer to handle both volume and channel balance functions, using software to offset the two channels for balance control. This approach yields better resolution from the low contact resistance of switch-type relays, as opposed to lossy wipers, and from only running signal over one control, instead of a volume control and a balance control.”

 Critically, with both of its top-end models VTL decided not to go with the all-tube deign of the 5.5 series, but instead to take the hybrid approach, determining that, while tubes are ideal for some applications, such as the gain stage for voltage linearity, an FET-driven output circuit yields higher current capacity and actually creates a “more tube-like sound,” due to the simpler circuity employed. “You need power, man!” Luke has been known to say. 

 

“We don’t use tubes in the power supply,” he said, “as we don’t think that tubes are the best devices for this function. I mentioned that tubes are very linear voltage amplifiers, but are not very linear current amplifiers. They also change as they age, which would cause the sound to change as the power-supply tubes age.”

 But the company didn’t arrive at these conclusions without testing and retesting its theory. For example, while designing the Series III version of the TL-7.5, VTL built a tubed power supply and initially found that, even with the heavier energy storage in the FET power supply, the tube supply sonically outperformed the FET supply employed in the Series I and II versions of the TL-7.5, and also in the Series I version of the TL-6.5.

VTL reasoned that this was due to the inherent lower amplification factor of tubes, and that moving to a shunt-regulated power supply with FETs would probably be the right choice. Luke said that “when we compared the new shunt-regulated power supply to the tube supply, we found it far outperformed the tube supply, both sonically and in measured performance, and was much more consistent, insofar as FETs do not change very much as they age.” Finally, the precision-regulated power supply blocks AC line disturbances and noise.

Now, let’s talk sound.

First, when I initially installed the Basis/Koetsu setup in the system with the TL-5.5 Series II Signature, it took me a week or so to get used to my new analog rig’s lack of distortion. Practically speaking, the most satisfying playback level proved to be a moving target. On one hand, I found that I could push the system to significantly higher volumes than before—not for the sake of loudness, but because a higher playback level with less noise and distortion simply sounded more real with rock, jazz, and larger-scale symphonic and operatic works. Conversely, I found many LPs to be more satisfying played back at softer levels, due to the analog system’s higher resolution and more realistic recreation of dynamic nuance. 

In short, and as expected, installing the Basis/Koetsu combo into my existing system brought what was already a highly satisfying playback system to deeply rewarding new levels in every way imaginable. To trot out one of my favorite analogies, it’s been like having a whole new record collection, as one experiences well-loved LPs afresh. 

And my astonishment would continue when just a month later Luke arrived to install the TL6.5 Series II Signature and TP6.5 Signature phono preamp. As excellent as the 5.5 II was with the new ’table and cartridge, it was immediately obvious that these new arrivals had once again brought my system to an entirely new plane. 

 

Reflecting on Luke’s talk about power, and then learning about the 6.5 II’s design, things suddenly clicked in my mind. Again—but now we’re also talking about CDs and Blu-ray audio discs, as well as streaming movies via my Apple TV feeding an Oppo 205 disc player’s DAC—I experienced a newfound sense of effortlessness, resolution, richness of sound, dynamic range, bass weight and punch, and, most importantly, emotional thrill to everything I played. 

Sometimes our systems “wow” us, as mine did with the Classic Records release of Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys. Playing “Machine Gun,” I felt an extraordinary sense of the band’s energy, a reach out and touch it “there-ness,” a never-before-heard richness of tone, texture, effortless power, and hall resonance, as well as the remarkable interplay of Billy Cox’s bass, Buddy Miles’ two-fisted drumming—so funky and pounding compared to Mitch Mitchell’s more jazz-inflected style—and Hendrix’s string- and mind-bending Stratocaster genius. I never knew my Maggie 1.7s could rock so hard. 

Likewise with Analogue Productions’ 45rpm release of Thelonious in Action, another stunning live recording from New York’s Five Spot captured in 1958 that figuratively places Monk’s smoking hot quartet smack in our listening rooms. With the new preamp and phonostage installed (it will receive its own look down the road), Johnny Griffin’s honking, bluesy tenor spoke with a newfound richness and force; Monk’s signature off-kilter rhythms and dissonant, plonking chords set the mood in a way that was as much percussive as melodic, and Roy Haynes’ drums all but exploded into my room with a power that once again left me agog at what the Maggies can do, reminding me of why I so love their way with bass instruments, despite frequency and weight limitations. 

(Here I should take a moment to note how remarkable these speakers are. They retailed for a couple of grand when new. For perspective, that’s less than a tenth the price of my turntable/’arm/cartridge rig, and something like 10% of my system’s overall cost. And yet, as all else continues to improve these modestly priced Maggies easily keep up, revealing all that’s placed in the chain before them.)

When I began playing the Berlin Philharmonic’s complete Beethoven symphony cycle conducted by Simon Rattle, the results were so non-hi-fi spectacular, that it took a while to settle in and realize that what I was wowed by was the utter lack of artifice, the perfect balance and harmony of the whole. Put another way, the sound was so utterly natural that you could almost take it for granted, until you realize what an amazing job the system was doing at recreating something that at least resembles, if not equals, the real thing. 

I experienced this feeling over and over while winding my way through this excellent cycle (a new addition to our Super LP list, by the way). And by the time the vocal soloists and chorus entered in the final movement of the Ninth, I was marveling again. Rarely have I heard recordings of unamplified human voices in a concert setting—the very essence of the absolute sound—reproduced in so convincingly lifelike a way, surrounded by the hall’s air, projected with the always surprising power I experience when hearing un-miked voices in concert. 

One of the things I kept marveling at listening to the latest incarnation of VTL gear in my system is the extraordinary sense of balance and overall harmony, of the interplay between musicians. This is, of course, critical and difficult to describe no matter what you’re listening to—be it Hendrix shredding his Strat or Monk in action—but it was deeply underlined while listening to the Fine Arts Quartets traversal of the Late Beethoven Quartets—a marvelously natural sounding account on the Concert Disc label. During the famous Gross Fugue of Opus 130 (later rewritten at the bidding of Beethoven’s publisher), the combined warmth and richness of wood and strings, the back and forth between the players, the weaving and repetition of themes, the sensation of space and air, and the projection of sound from and around each player was so uncannily real sounding that I could easily imagine bodies moving and swaying, intensely interacting, as the score unfolded. 

As I continue on my journey with VTL’s designs, and better understand the company’s philosophy and goals, I’m struck by what I see as a focused effort to craft gear that’s both musically natural and measurably superior, maximizing all that tubes do well, while minimizing their shortcomings and also making them as hassle-free and unintimidating as possible to listeners who may steer clear of the higher levels of uncertainty, unreliability, and hands-on involvement much tube-driven gear demands. 

It’s also clear to me that Luke and company are rather Virgo-like themselves, as they continue to dive deeply into their core values, all the while pushing to take their gear to higher levels of musicality, reliability, and overall user satisfaction. 

The fact that Luke’s wife Bea is a crucial member of the team—she’s a trained musician, and my wife and I have bumped into her (and Luke) at SF Symphony concerts—and acts as the team’s “ear” for final voicing makes sense to me, as placing the TL6.5 Series II Signature in my system has brought me to a place of musical pleasure in my home beyond any I’ve known in many a year. 

Specs & Pricing

Inputs: Three pairs balanced XLR or single-ended RCA, five pairs single-ended RCA
Outputs: One pair balanced, two pairs single-ended RCA, two pairs buffered RCA (tape)
Tube complement: 2x 12AU7
Dimensions: 17.7″ x 6″ x 17.5″
Weight: 46 lbs.
Price: $18,000

VTL
4774 Murrieta Street, Unit 10
Chino, California 91710
(909) 627-5944
vtl.com

Associated Equipment
Basis 2200 Turntable, Basis Vector 4 arm, Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum moving-coil cartridge; VTL TP6.5 Signature phono preamplifier; VTL TL5.5II and Sutherland N1 preamps; VTL S-200 Signature stereo amplifier; Oppo UDP-205 disc player; Magnepan MG 1.7 loudspeakers; Nordost Tyr 2 interconnect, speaker, and power Cables; Nordost Qx4 power conditioner and Qb8 AC distribution center; Finite Elemente Spider equipment rack

By Wayne Garcia

Although I’ve been a wine merchant for the past decade, my career in audio was triggered at age 12 when I heard the Stones’ Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! blasting from my future brother-in-law’s giant home-built horn speakers. The sound certainly wasn’t sophisticated, but, man, it sure was exciting.

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