VAC Standard Preamplifier

A Legend Is Born

First shown in prototype form at the January, 1999 CES, The Standard Preamplifier made the leap from the drawing board to the assembly line in May 1999. It was worth the wait. After many months of painstaking design effort, VAC president Kevin Hayes had authored the finest affordable preamplifier in his company's ten-year history. Even more importantly, The Standard Preamplifier is quite possibly the Best Buy in high end audio today.

The Standard Preamplifier heralds a new era in VAC design philosophy, and addresses the preamplifier's changing role in today's state-of-the-art home entertainment systems. The increasing number of digital audio formats (DVD, MD, DSS, etc) and the growing popularity of multichannel music and cinema software presents the audio designer with a new set of challenges: it is no longer sufficient to create a component that flatters traditional stereophonic program material. A cutting-edge preamplifier must also accommodate a wide variety of sources and perform flawlessly with both music and movies; this the Standard Preamplifier does, without any compromise to the purity and fidelity of traditional two-channel sources. Truly, it allows a cost-no-object stereo system to integrate seamlessly into a home theater context when needed.

Equipped with six line level inputs and full tape monitoring facilities (including discrete signal paths for recording and playback), the Standard Preamplifier can easily accommodate the most elaborate Audio/Video systems. A more innovative feature (not shown in the prototype photo above) is the inclusion of a "Cinema" mode on the centrally mounted MONITOR control knob. In the Cinema mode, the left- and right-front channel outputs of a surround processor are connected directly to the amplifier outputs, bypassing all controls and active circuitry. This unsurpassed level of integration enables your high end components to perform double duty, and allows state-of-the-art high end and home theater to coexist in a single system. As you can see, the Standard Preamplifier not only fulfills your present needs, it anticipates your future ones, as well!

As with all VAC electronics, the Standard Preamplifier has benefited from scrupulous circuit refinement, countless hours of "voicing" and the finest parts available. Obsessive attention to component layout dictated an external power supply in order to isolate the signal path from transformer-induced magnetic fields and rectifier switching noise. A custom made cable terminated with military-grade connectors enables the audio circuitry to harness this vast power reservoir, while substantial energy storage in the main chassis respond instantaneously to changes in the audio waveform.

Constructed entirely of aluminum, the heavily braced chassis prevents mechanical vibrations and electrostatic interactions from reaching the signal path, for a degree of transparency which only the finest - and most expensive - preamplifiers can approach. A new circuit topology featuring a direct coupled Class-A common cathode triode amplifying stage delivers frequency response and dynamic range limited only by the other components in the system. As befits an heirloom quality audio component, the Standard Preamplifier's visual aesthetics match its sonic beauty: the 3/8"-thick faceplate and custom machined knobs are finished in rich, charcoal grey metallic enamel, and silk-screened in gold.

A convenient remote control for volume and mute functions is now standard equipment.

The Standard Preamplifier can be outfitted with a superb moving magnet or moving coil phono stage. These options can be specified when your unit is ordered from VAC, or they can be factory installed at a later date. For those discriminating listeners who wish to hear more of music's subtle detail - and more of its emotion - the Standard Preamplifier represents a major milestone in audio design.

The October 2000 issue of Stereo Review's Sound & Vision magazine has an interesting article in which a rock band and its producer compare the VAC PA100/100 & Standard Preamplifier to a Krell/Lexicon combo costing twice as much. The verdict? "There's a lot more clarity on the tube system, with a lot more going on in stereo separation... the tube is what I want our records to sound like... the tube had more 'definition'... with the tube, I can hear into the mix better... That sound is so clear and open, especially in the real bottom and the ambient high end... "
Click here to read the full article.

VAC Standard Preamplifier Specifications

• Type: Remote controlled Class A all Triode Vacuum Tube Preamplifier with separate power supply and Cinema (home theater) pass-through.

Options:

• Class A all Triode Vacuum Tube MM Phono stage
• MC Phono step-up (wideband transformer coupled)

Line stage preamplifier:

• Gain: 24 dB
• Maximum input signal: Infinite (attenuation precedes the gain circuitry)
• THD: Approx. .04%
• Output impedance: 350 ohms; main output inverts absolute phase from all sources
• Tape output: Unity gain from selector, non-inverting
• Cinema pass-through: Non-inverting, no gain, does not compromise the sound quality of normal stereo operation. May also be used for input of stereo source components with their own level controls (dacs, etc.).

MM Phono stage (option):

• Class A Triode Vacuum Tube
• Gain: 37 db (measured at tape output)
• Residual noise: 3 mv at output (S/N ratio approx. 69 db)
• Overload: 117 mv @ 1 kHz = 8 volts RMS output; 460 mv @ 10 kHz
• Frequency response: RIAA +/- .25 dB Notes:
• Does not invert absolute phase. This means the output at the tape jacks is non-inverted; the output through the line stage is inverted, just as with line level sources.

MC Step-up (option):

• Special ultra-wideband transformers
• 20 db gain
• works in conjunction with the MM Phono option.

Tube complement:

• 2 x 12AX7 low noise (MM phono option)
• 2 x 12AX7 (line stage)
• 2 x 12AU7/6189A (line stage)

Other:

• Dimensions: (main chassis) 18 inches wide, 4 inches high, 15.3 inches deep (+ knobs & connectors)
• Dimensions: (power supply) 4.3 inches wide, 5.3 inches high, 6 inches deep
• Shipping weight: 40 pounds approx.
• Machined 3/8" aluminum faceplate, custom machined knobs, extensively braced chassis
• Three years parts and labor warranty, excluding tubes.
• Specifications subject to change and improvement without notice.

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