”The TL6.5 Series II Signature is a significantly updated version of VTL’s TL6.5 Signature preamplifier. The VTL design team’s goal for the Series II was to incorporate most of the advanced technology found in the company’s flagship preamp, the TL7.5 Series III Reference—a hybrid, two-chassis (separate power supply) model—in a single chassis. The application of this advanced technology has certainly improved sonics (and ergonomics). Musically natural and measurably superior, the TL-6.5 Series II maximizes all that tubes do well, while minimizing their shortcomings.”

The Absolute Sound

”Countdown to Extacy.”

The Absolute Sound

”The VTL Siegfried is not simply one of the most powerful and musical tube amplifiers in existence; it is also one of the most reliable. It features a wealth of features designed to make it user-friendly and avoid breakdowns. A fault-sensing system shuts down a tube before it can damage the amp. In addition, a precision regulated power supply regulates the output tubes, helping to produce a pure, fast, and very enticing sound. The Siegfried lands on the (slightly) warmer and more burnished side of the sound spectrum, and its immense power reserves endow recordings with real heft and weight. A visceral and emotional experience that is not soon forgotten.”

The Absolute Sound

”VTL’s ST-150 is a relatively compact yet powerful stereo power amplifier employing 6550 tubes that can drive a wide range of speaker loads. A classic all-valve push/pull power amp, the 150 delivers 150Wpc in tetrode mode and 70Wpc in triode operation. Sonically the amp delivers plenty of wallop, but is also capable of fine dynamic shading, excellent resolution, and great overall coherence, with the attendant bloom, air, and texture tube lovers desire.”

The Absolute Sound

”When compared to the big boys—costly gear from Boulder, Ypsilon, and so forth—the VTL isn’t some kind of giant-slayer. But the comparison isn’t fair, or to put it another way, it’s only enlightening in showing that gear in th TP-2.5i’s price range comes tantalizingly close to achieving the performance of far more elaborate designs with separate power supplies and the like.”

Jacob Heilbrunn, The Absolute Sound

Editors Choice Award 2020.

”Spending time with these VTL amplifiers, it is easy to understand how and why the company has quietly but confidently established itself as the go-to option for versatile, high-powered tube amps. The TL-6.5 and S-200 don’t just tick the boxes – they own this turf!”

Roy Gregory, hifi+

”VTL’s linestage is the best one it has produced. Its transient fidelity, dynamic power, enormous soundstage, and sheer grip are mesmerizing. Like its predecessors, the 7.5 features an ingenious “clean” and “dirty” box to prevent the signal from becoming contaminated by noisy parts. But there the similarities end. The Series III version of the 7.5, which features a host of upgraded parts and improved circuit design, has conquered the slight bit of electronic grain that the Series II version displayed.”

The Absolute Sound

”VTL’s latest TL-5.5 Series II Signature has been seriously improved using technologies found in the flagship TL-7.5 Reference Series III  and TL-6.5 Signature Series II. But those are linestage-only hybrid designs; the 5.5 is all-tube with a fine optional phonostage. It delivers an impressive sense of the musicians’ presence, with seamless bottom-to-top tonal coherence, dynamic push, and resolution that create a thrilling sense of aliveness and of the music-making process.”

Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound

”The standard against which the competition is measured”

”When it comes to high-powered tube amps, today it is VTL that set the standard against which the competition is measured. Look a little closer at their products and it is not hard to understand why; listen and it becomes more obvious still.”

”t’s this ability to get the right amount of energy in the right place at the right time that makes these amps such natural musical communicators and places them firmly ahead of the competition.”

Roy Gregory, hifi+

Vacuum-Tube Chameleon

”Beyond its outstanding sound and sonic flexibility, I’m highly taken by this amp because it does what I firmly believe is the most important thing our gear should do, which is to present music as a cohesive and engaging whole. Or, to borrow from the German—gesamtkunstwerk, a total, all-embracing work of art.”

Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound