Anyone retube VTL 5.5 w/phono

I have no ownership experience with the 5.5, but I owned a 2.5 for several years. I found that the stock tubes in the line stage and phono stage were a bit on the noisy side. I also found that the Multicap upgrade quieted the preamp, but I believe the 5.5 ships with Multicaps.

I replace all of the line and phono stage tubes. Quality, tested Mullards, Tele's and Radiotechnique tubes were a huge improvement over the mostly Chinese stock tubes. As to which of the three I used, is a matter of system matching and personal taste. The Radiotechnique tubes were one of my fave's, but they are getting harder to find these days. Just be sure to purchase your replacement tubes from a trusted source.

As a side note, if you ever ship your preamp to VTL for service and/or upgrade be sure to remove the NOS tubes. They take issue with use of non-factory issue tubes, and bring warranty complications up as an issue.

The VTL MB-125 mono's are a nice match, of course, which I ran for over a year. I also owned the ST-150, which had a bit more slam than the mono's, but not quite as nice thru the midrange and highs. I chalk this up to the 125's using EL-34 output tubes vs. 6550 tubes for the ST-150. I also tried the Plinius SA-100 MkIII for a bit...very enjoyable with plenty of impact, but I still preferred the tube amps. Of course, you need to take into consideration what speakers you intend to drive. I found that ProAc 1.5's and Meadowlark Shearwater's were both great matches to the two VTL setups I mentioned (15x20x8 room).

I'm currently using a Cary SLI-80 with Grado's nice little PH-1 for phono stage. This comes very, very close to the quality of sound I previously had, with smaller outlay of funds. Can't wait 'til I start tuberollin' with the Cary.