Opinions on VTL preamps


I would like to know how the VTL preamps (2.5 & 5.5) compare to similarly priced pres from ARC, Conrad-Johnson, etc. What about reliability? Would be used with a McCormack DNA-1 dlx amp and Magnepan 3.6/R´s. Thanks in advance.
hasse
My impression of VTL is, they are EXTREMELY helpful by phone when something goes wrong, even if you bought it used & out of warrenty. But then, I've never had to send something in to them for out-of-warrenty repair work. I think a more important question here might be: how does VTL reliability & service compare with other tube mfg's--ARC, CJ, etc? Personally, I've started to calculate the shipping distance to the factory before buying any used gear......just my 2 cents.

Chayes...just swapping your positive and negative speaker inputs isn't gonna cause the problems your talking about, it wont cause ANY problem just polarity issues.
either you left something out or I misread it
no problems in last six months.It will make horrible noises if i forget to turn the rest of the system on before the amps.may be they where loaded up or something.they work fine now and keep getting better.I figured it was the speakers polarity.Its very dark in my listening room,ecept for the glow from all the tubes.
I cannot report on anything VTL, except that my dealer here in Austin is a nightmare......... so I don't buy anything from them including VTL. I sent my ARC VT200 in to the factory, all was great. Nice people fast dependable service.
I have a deluxe preamp. I use it with a 200 watt per channel solid state amp. The combination produces a huge soundstage, depth detail and very little listening fatigue .