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Audio Research Corporation VSi60 Integrated Amplifier

Audio Research Corporation VSi60 Integrated Amplifier

Longtime readers of these pages will recall my enthusiasm for the integrated amplifier. Although most integrateds do not reach the sonic heights of the finest separate components, I still love them for their space-saving chassis, uncomplicated hook-ups, and what is generally their very good value (surely Buddhism must have a word for such virtues).

At $5000 Audio Research’s VSi60 more than nicely fulfills this basic checklist. At 50Wpc it may not be the most powerful of competitors, but 50 watts strike me as a somewhat conservative rating of this unit’s output power, and, in any case, as with any amp/speaker combo, a wisely considered pairing should avoid any mismatch (more on this to follow).

Oh, did I mention that the VSi60 is a tube-driven unit? Well, it is. But as those familiar with contemporary ARC gear already know, there is no added vacuum-tube fat or golden glow in these designs. Part of this is simply because the traditional sonic differences once found between solid-state (cool, dark) and tubes (warm, rich) have been diminishing; part is because Audio Research has a long history of making unusually neutral devices. The Vi60 is also a hybrid model, sporting a passive, microprocessor-controlled linestage, a JFET input (for low noise) coupled with a pair of 6H30 driver tubes. As with other ARC designs, KT120 output tubes are employed, in this case, two per channel.

At a mere 14″ x 8″ x 16″ and 35 pounds, the Vi60 also presents no serious domestic challenges. It’s handsome in a simple, utilitarian way (an optional tube cage is available for those with small kids or pets), comes with either a black or silver faceplate, and—like the SP17 preamp—sports a row of pushbuttons across the bottom right of its front panel, mirrored by a string of green LEDs to indicate volume level and input-selection. ’Round back are separate connectors for 4-and 8-ohm speakers, and a quintet of line-level inputs. Save for the remote control, that’s it when it comes to I/Os and controls.

Audio Research Corporation VSi60 Integrated Amplifier

All that’s left to describe is the sound, which is pretty damn wonderful.

During my day job as a wine merchant I often draw analogies between fine wines and high-end audio components. Beyond delivering pleasures both sensory and intellectual, both of these pursuits, at their finest, should be transparent. Wine, of course, should channel the place that it came from—that often misunderstood word terroir—while our audio systems should bring us as close as possible to the recorded event.

This is a great strength of the Vi60. Over the course of the months in which I’ve enjoyed the review sample, I never felt as if the Vi60 were imposing its own voice on the music; rather it was always in service to it. Now, this doesn’t mean that the Vi60 doesn’t have its own sonic signature—in a nutshell, pristine, grain-free, open, detailed, dynamically nimble—but this integrated’s overall qualities convey a very close link to each recording’s provenance.

Without actually having been present at the sessions we still sense the acoustic signature of, say, Columbia’s famed 30th St. studio (aka “The Church”) where, among a string of other famous recordings, Miles Davis and company laid down Kind of Blue, or London’s Kingsway Hall, where so many great classical recordings were made, or, closer to home in my case, Davies Hall, where I’ve actually attended some concerts and Tilson Thomas and the SF Orchestra recorded their fine Mahler cycle.

 

In each case, the Vi60 effortlessly rendered the feeling, the ambience, of each venue, hence acting as something of the proverbial time machine in which we the listeners feel as if we’ve been transported to the musical event.

Another thing that will strike you about the Vi60—and which I believe contributes mightily to this sense of transparency—is the silence from which the music emerges (this is another hallmark of today’s best gear). And here the lowest-level details, say the subtlest fingerwork heard in Chris Thile’s brilliant mandolin renderings of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. I, flicker through due to the design’s lack of electronic hash or grain.

Balanced is another word I would use to describe the Vi60. Across the band this is a very coherent unit, lighter than it is heavy or dark, with no evident tonal peaks or valleys. Like autumn sunlight in a forest, there’s something especially illuminating about the way this design let’s us “peer” into a recording. This, again, contributes to that time-machine feeling. But what I’m aiming to describe is something slightly more complex than that—the way, for instance, in which Sinatra integrates with the orchestra in MoFi’s superb recording Only The Lonely, or Wilco layers electronic noise and synths with their instruments in A Ghost is Born [Nonesuch], or Thelonious Monk and his septet seem so very there in Analogue Productions’ knockout 45rpm release of Monk’s Music. Yes, it’s a tonal thing, but it’s also dynamic balance and coherence and a uniform sense of “rightness” that make the Vi60 sing so beautifully.

Although the Vi60 is a hybrid, and veers toward a lighter presentation, it does bring with it that sense of “bloom” that tube lovers adore. So when Coltrane blasts into his tenor solo on “Well, You Needn’t,” or Sinatra mimics a train whistle in “Blues in The Night,” or the San Francisco brass and wind players break into a waltz in their Mahler cycle, the air in our rooms expands and contracts, breathes, as does the music itself. This is, again, a part of the whole that makes the Vi60 so musically satisfying.

The only issue I would take with ARC’s own description of the Vi60 is its claim that the amp has the “ability to drive power-hungry, low-impedance loudspeakers.” Granted, my current reference is the Magnepan 1.7, one of the most notoriously demanding of all speakers. Still, my room is small, and though I rarely listen at, uh, what might be deemed excessive levels (not really the Maggie’s forte anyway), here is the one area in which the Vi60 managed not to fully satisfy.

This was this case with obvious tracks, such as “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” from Classic Records’ reissue of Led Zeppelin. Now, mind you, the many virtues of this design were also on display. The lush overtones of Jimmy Page’s plucked jumbo acoustic guitar, Robert Plant’s more subdued vocals (yes, he has such moments), the immensely reverberant studio space. But when the song soars into hard blues/rock mode, the Vi60 could take it to 8 or 9, but that last bit of oomph was more than the amp was capable of. It’s not a matter of harsh clipping, because, of course, the Maggies have their own limitations, but rather more like a locomotive whose fuel source has run low limiting top speed—here limiting the impact of Bonham’s drumming, Plant’s vocal wailing, and Page’s stinging licks. The Vi60 simply cannot manage the final push to free-flowing, glorious rock excess.

Before dismissing this observation as that of a prolonged adolescent, classical music lovers should note that larger works with demanding dynamic extremes—Stravinsky ballet scores, the above mentioned Mahler symphonies, Wagner operas (whose histrionics make Robert Plant look like a toddler)—may result in a similar desire for just a wee bit more juice.

This is not a fault of the Vi60, but like I said at the outset, a matter of proper amp/speaker matching. There are plenty of transducers out there, such as Esoteric’s superb MG-10, that I imagine would be a match made in heaven with this amp. The Maggie 1.7, not so much.

Otherwise, what can I say that I haven’t already? Although for most of us $5000 remains a fair chunk of change, when you add up the Vi60’s list of outstanding qualities I would say this is one of the high end’s strongest values.

SPECS & PRICING

Power output: 50Wpc
Tube complement: Two matched KT120 pairs, two 6H30s
Inputs: CD, Tuner, Video, SE1, and SE2
Output taps: 8 ohms and 4 ohms
Dimensions: 14″ x 8″ x 16″
Weight: 34.8 lbs.
Price: $5000

Audio Research Corporation
3900 Annapolis Lane North
Plymouth, Minnesota 55447
(763) 577-9700
audioresearch.com

Associated Equipment
Pro-Ject Xtension 10 turntable with Sumiko Palos Santos Presentation MC cartridge; Sutherland N1 preamp and 20/20 phonostage; TEAC HC-501CD/SACD Player; Magnepan MG 1.7 loudspeakers, Tara Labs Zero interconnects, Omega speaker cables, The One power cords, and BP-10 Power Screen; Finite Elemente Spider equipment racks

Tags: AUDIO RESEARCH FEATURED

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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