Audio Physic Virgo Solid State Amps ?

Hi John, I have Audio Physic Avanti Centuries and use a Levinson 27.5 it is 100 watts (200 watts into 4 ohm) and drives the centuries very well. The Centuries are similar to the Virgo's, but have a little better bass and the levinson does drive the bass. Good Luck, Mike

Pass works wonderfully with my Avantis. Try the Aleph 3 first. If it is powerful enough you've saved a lot of money & have one of the best amps in existence.

what's wrong with the vt100mkII with the virgos? i have heard pass aleph 2 monos with the virgos....fabulous sound! but do tell me what you're finding to be a problem with the mkII, as i have one and am going to be getting virgos. thanks, dave

I'm getting very good sound with the vt100m2/virgo's. I'm just consolidating my THREE stereo systems to ONE (maybe two :>), and it makes sense that that one be solid state since it will be on quite a bit. My house looks a little too much like a stereo/guitar store right now. Anybody need a guitar ?

I used to own Virgos powered by vt100 mkI with Terra subwoofer. With the Terra they sounded better with vt100 mkI than mkII! By themselves they sounded best with BEL (Brown Electronic Labs) 1001 MkVs. These amps are hand tuned solid state pure class A 200 watts mono or 50 watts stereo which will still power the Virgos incredibly well. I have already sold my Virgos but still have the BELs for sale. I am totally biased but just as the Virgo defies belief so the BEL astonishes.

Stay away from the BEL. It is junk and one of the biggest ripoffs in the high end. You wouldn't believe how little a BEL costs to make.

I bought a demo McCormack DNA-1 and sent it back to Steve McCormack for serious upgrade. Total price is within your budget. If you like speed and detail (I assume you do since you have Virgos), this is a match.

Phill, I'm really interested. How little does it cost to make a BEL amp, Richard Brown's time to hand tune them included?

How about Virgos with a tube amp, how much power do they need to be at their best??

The Virgos sound really good with tubes, the ARC VT-100 especially. I have also heard them sound magical with JADIS JA 80s (60w class A monos) and now the best of all with JADIS JA 100s (80w class A monos balanced). I don't think power is as crucial as you might think, but I'd love to hear the Virgos with the ARC VT-200 or the JADIS JA 200!

I did have Virgo and they were superb with ARC VT-100MKII, I think that all AP speakers do benefit from tube amp. However at the end I did switch to Goldmund mimesis 28 and this took them to the new level. ciao

I just bought a DNA-1 Rev A w/switched Balanced inputs, and it sounds GREAT with the Virgos. I would like to hear a set of aleph two's with them some day too. The mccormack doesn't have quite the palpability or lushness of the vt100m2, but very close. Impressively so for a solid state amp. The bass is another story. I have never heard such powerful, controlled bass. The mccormack sounds very good with my vandersteen 3aSigs as well. With the virgo's I could take either the vt100 or the mccormack and be happy, but the vandersteen/mccormack pair is the hands down winner. It's actually kind of funny to look at the little tiny virgo' while hearing bass that is shaking the room. They actually have better bass than the vandersteen 3aSigs. This might be because I have a smaller listening room (16x13 arm of an L shaped room). I have a feeling the vandersteens need to be in a larger room, and turned up louder to get their best sound.

I too had my Virgo's powered with the ARC VT100 MkII amp. It was a superb combination, far better than the dry ML 331 SS amp I had previously used. The one area where I felt improvement could be made was, of course, the low frequency. The Virgo's are very articulate in this area, but they require the current and control that only a solid state amp can provide. As audiophiles we want it all. I did not want to sacrifice graceful highs and lush mid's only tubes seem able to provide. SOLUTION: LLANO DESIGN TRINITY 200 Hybrib Class A power amp. Two gain stages. Tube voltage stage drives Hex-Fet current stage.Also features tube interchangeability, so you can voice amp to your taste using a variety of triode's.I've tried many amp's with these wonderful speakers and this product is the best by far.Do yourself a favor and check out their website. They offer an in home audition program, so you have nothing to lose. Goodluck, Adam