VAC Design Philosophy - Why Vacuum Tubes ?

Subjective musical satisfaction is our primary goal.  We require that all VAC components "sound superb and measure at least reasonably well."

Frankly, we don't care what technology makes this possible, be it vacuum tubes, transistors, or cold-fusion electro-hydraulic widgets.  It is the music that matters.

It turns out that the vacuum tube is the purest amplifying device known.  The triode vacuum tube is still the most linear amplifying element known.  A tube amplifier, properly designed, preserves far more of the vitality of the original performance.  Tubes simply bring the music back alive.

Yes, vacuum tube technology is quite old. So is a Stradivarius violin. There is no substitute for the best. This is why the world's foremost guitarists use tube amplifiers, and why vacuum tube microphones and processors are highly prized by the world's best recording studios.

The difference between a good amplifier and a great amplifier resides in the details, and in the passion of the designer.  As an example, consider our award-winning VAC Renaissance 70/70 amplifier.  Once the basic electrical design was completed, more than 1,000 hours was spent in the process we call "voicing."  During this time, small changes in the physical arrangement of the parts were tested, different types of capacitors and wires were auditioned, and even various chassis materials tried.  The differences often eluded the linear test bench instrumentation but were plainly audible to the human ear.  This often frustrating work and attention to detail is required to bring a design to its peak of performance.

In addition to this careful design and implementation, we carefully monitor the audio quality of our production to protect your investment and ensure your listening enjoyment.  For example, a few years ago we auditioned a production Renaissance amplifier and it unexpectedly sounded bad, even though it measured flawlessly.  The next several also sounded bad in the same way.  Production and shipments of the product were halted immediately.  Some of our dealers may remember that no Renaissance amplifiers were shipped for eight weeks while VAC's engineers carefully traced the cause of the sonic change and corrected it.  This was painful to our dealers, and certainly painful to our balance sheet, but was necessary to protect our customers.  By the way, that particular problem was traced to a change in manufacturing process in one of the wire types used in that design.

All of this care can be summed up as follows:

Listen and let the sound be your guide!

Why doesn't VAC make single-ended power amplifiers?  What's wrong with negative feedback?  Click here for thoughts on power amplifier design.

 Click here for some scientific contrasts between tubes and transistors.