Best amps for MBL101e's?

"If you really want to hear what the MBL's can do get your self a pair of VAC Statement 450 mono blocks, match made in heaven."

A match made in heaven if your view of heaven is heavily compressed and dead. Of course heaven is for the dead so you may have a point there.

Dev, you seem angry. Why? Is it because two different people independently auditioned the VAC/mbl combo and came to exactly the opposite conclusion you did? Is it because one of them reached that conclusion after hearing your system? Or do you just prefer ad hominem attacks to rational discussion. Hey, maybe it's just easier to call everybody who disagrees with you "deaf."

Now that I see you will never let the facts get in the way of your agenda, I will leave you with this parting thought: "Denial is not just a river in Egypt."

Thank you for asking Dev. Let me clarify the points I made. Make no mistake, the VAC is a wonderful amplifier. It just can't drive the mbls with any degree of conviction. I got a chance to listen to this combination over the course of several hours and really had enough after a few minutes. To me it was amazing that an amplifier with so much power could sound like it had so little. Moreover, I had an email exchange with someone who had the good fortune to audition your system both with the CAT and VAC. He said the mbls sounded "amazing" with the CAT and "dull and boring" with the VAC. He also noted that "David seemed unaware of the sonic compromises he had made with the VAC in his system but it seemed to make him happy and in the end that is what really matters." I enthusiastically agree!

Hi Dev. Please help me to understand what you wrote. You're insisting these auditions never happened? Hmm...for a guy who never visited your house and auditioned your system, he sure did a great job of describing both to me. How your place looked--right down to the miniature clown near the front door, the carved stone walrus on the glass coffee table and the knee-high wooden viking sculpture in the listening room. How the CAT sounded with the mbl--lifelike, transparent, dynamic. How the VAC sounded with the mbl--compressed, veiled, stressed. Of course that was exactly my experience too when I got a chance to audition the VAC/mbl combination for myself. So what you're saying then is we're both deaf in exactly the same way? Hmm...