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Herron VTPH-2A final thoughts.

A year ago, I took the plunge and purchased a new phono pre-amp, the VTPH-2A. I'd read numerous posts on this forum about how special it is, head and shoulders above the rest. I'd also read that Keith Herron is the definition of quality, in terms of knowledge, customer service, and being real as a human being.  I'll be as objective as I can be: everything that was stated is 100% true. I've easily spent hundreds of hours spinning up vinyl with the VTPH-2A and nearly every time my comment to myself is, "damn that's good." Many audiophiles would fret about the synergy with other system components. My opinion is that it would be an overachiever in any system that endeavors to produce fine music.
With respect to Keith, I contacted him not for technical support or customer service, but to let him know how pleased I was with my purchase. His response was so gracious, I felt like I was talking to a friend or good neighbor. Definitely someone honest and worth doing business with.
I want to close this post by thanking the folks on the forum for sharing experience and what you know. I live a very rural life and don't travel much. Opportunities to critique a variety of equipment at shows or audio shops are virtually nonexistent for me. Audiogon has been an excellent place to narrow down the thousands of possible choices that I could never possibly pursue and sometimes get solid advice =)
professorsvsu

Showing 6 responses by three_easy_payments

three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
I just received my VTPH-2A yesterday and I’m completely blown away by the performance even early into break-in. I did notice the dynamics really begin to shine after the unit had been running about 45 minutes and kept getting better throughout the evening. Are you guys leaving your units running 24/7?

This is clearly a transformational piece of gear in my system and it’s distracting today wanting to get home to listen more! My interest is now completely piqued on the VTSP-360. Anybody running these together? I assume there would be some nice synergies.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@dodgealum 

Thanks for the comments coming from your reference point which seem quite on point to me given how likely similar the 3A and 360 are in design approach. This may be an irrational fear but my only hesitation is whether I'm giving up anything if I run the 360 into my fully differentially balanced amp given the fact the Herron doesn't offer balanced outputs.  Thoughts?  
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@dodgealum 

Yeah, I will reach out to Keith to collect his thoughts.  I have to say, adding the VTPH-2A has made me rethink the relative importance of the phono pre in the vinyl system.  Compared to the other upgrades I've made along the way (TT and cartridge), the Herron pre has been by far the most transformational upgrade.  It has me questioning whether I needed to do the other upgrading over the past year!  For fun (at some point) I am going to put the old TT and cart incrementally back in and take notes on the sonic improvement each piece of gear has added.  I suspect the VTPH-2A will "move the needle" (pun intended) the most in terms of measuring sonic bliss.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@wlutke 

Appreciate the feedback on your experience with VTPH-2A.  I have no doubts I will feel the same in 6 months.  Keep us posted on your experience when the VTSP-360 arrives.  I will be interested in seeing how you feel it performs against your ARC Ref-3.  Right now the two line stages that interest me the most are the VTSP-360 and the Backert 1.3 Extreme - both are at about the exact same price point.  I like the idea of the balanced outputs for the Backert but I wonder (being a tube guy) if Backert's two 12AU7 tubes will sounds tubey enough for me compared to Herron's four 6922s (I know other options are available).  I also like that the VTSP-360 has 2 gain modes.  I suspect the sonic signature between these two units is quite different yet appealing to different listeners.  
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
In case anyone is still following this thread I thought I'd pose a quick question to this group.  My unit came configured with the two 12AX7 tubes and three 12AT7 tubes, thus providing 64dB gain in MC mode and 43dB gain in MM mode.  It appears that you can simply roll 12AX7 tubes into the 2nd gain stage (replacing two of the 12AT7) in order to increase gain by 5dB - which is the alternative configuration that Keith provides.  I just wrote Keith this morning asking this question but I wanted to see if any of you had a quick answer.  I ended up recently moving into a line stage that provides 10dB less gain than my old one so reclaiming a bit of gain in my chain may be helpful.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
Keith responded quickly to my question above and confirmed what I suspected -  a pair of 12AX7s will give me about 5dB more gain.
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