Tour of our Durham, NC facility (1998)

Many VAC owners make it a point to come and see where their amplifiers were born. For those of you who are too far away, perhaps this virtual tour will help.

Until September, 2001, the VACtory was a 13,000 square foot facility located at 807 Bacon Street in Durham, North Carolina, just a few blocks off of the Durham Freeway (Hwy 147) adjacent to the famous Research Triangle Park. The building was purchased in 1996 from the Research Triangle Institute. It was built in 1959 as the first tangible presence of the Park.

This first photo is what you would see as you approach the VACtory from Bacon street. You would typically park in a visitor's space outside of the gate, and walk up three steps to the front atrium (hidden behind the tree in this photo). From this angle you can only see the original 10,000 sq.ft. 1959 structure. The building was further expanded in 1960; that section houses VAC's machine shop, silk screening, and shipping/receiving areas.

This is the view from the back of the main building, showing additional employee parking, the "explosion proof" building for storing paints and solvents, and the driveway to shipping/receiving. This is what your VAC component saw as it began its journey to you.

Most visitors are quite surprised to discover that we make the majority of our own chassis, knobs, and brackets. In this photo, machinist Clarence Wilson is seen at the control console of a Hurco CNC milling machine. In the background, the motor head of a Bridgeport mill is also visible, as is a fume hood used during some painting and cleaning operations. Other equipment includes a Maximat, a Sheldon lathe, band & table saws, grinders, an air press, and a Chicago Rivet machine.

VAC also silk screens its own chassis, panels, and tested vacuum tubes. Here George Davis is seen preparing to run VAC Tested vacuum tubes through the rotary screening machine. George is also the fellow who prepares and pots transformers, as well as other cosmetically sensitive operations.

Many VAC components are completely hand wired and "hard wired". The normal PC board is analogous to book produced on a printing press. The VAC hard wired assembly is like the same book written by hand in calligraphy. It is true art and demanding craftsmanship. It allows VAC designer Kevin Hayes complete control over the wire and insulation materials and geometry used at every part of the circuit. Here Linda Bullock is seen installing conductors between silver plated turret lugs on glass board for the VAC Standard Preamplifier. These circuit cards are made in the VAC machine shop; compared to the ferrous terminal strips normally seen in hand wired equipment, these turrets are non-magnetic and can be placed it the exact right spot for best circuit performance. Keen observers may notice that there are three distinct color codes of wire used by VAC on its glass boards alone; these codes denote three different manufacturers of hook up wire, chosen for each location in each product through hundreds of hours of critical "voicing".

This picture shows Caesar Carmona installing discrete components on the line stage circuit card for a VAC Standard Preamplifier. Silver solder is used exclusively, with temperature controlled soldering stations.

Here, in assembly room #1, Alex Rivera fits an output transformer to a Renaissance 30/30 triode amplifier. The transformer has been painted for a smooth, attractive finish. On top is a polished, gold plated end bell. The end bell is machined at VAC from a solid aluminum billet. On the left is the power transformer assembly; this stereo amplifier has three separate power transformers encapsulated by epoxy within the central aluminum can.

Here a baker's dozen of PA100/100 amplifiers await the next manufacturing step in assembly room #2. Marantz Model 7 subassemblies can also be seen in this photograph.

Some of you may know that VAC engineered and manufactured the Marantz Classic reissue of the legendary Model 7 preamplifier, Model 8B stereo amplifier, and Model 9 monoblock. Pictured here is assembly of a Model 7 tone control switch. In addition to the classic Marantz models, VAC also manufactures the new Model 66 integrated amplifier, currently only available in Japan.

In this photo we see the "front" and "back" of a Marantz Model 7 being "married" together. At the extreme right side there are two bundles of cable visible; more than 60 wires go to the selector switch alone! Note the foam taped to the chassis sides to prevent any cosmetic damage to the chassis.

We hope this brief tour gives a small idea of what is involved in manufacturing the world's finest audio components.