Balanced Audio Technology Vk-500

[tom t]

any thoughts out there on this amp. BALANCED AUDIO TECHNOLOGY VK-500

seem to be getting good reviews. has anyone actually heard one,sound impressions. tube like, smooth mids, bass power. any info would be good
thanks

[george daniel]

I believe that RT1 has one,,how does it sound,,if you were at PF you'd know----Great,, I'm sure that he will chime in. :)

[dorokusai]

Tube like? C'mon. It's a big, well made, powerful SS amplifier.

[hearingimpared]

I believe Ted's is a VK-250 and it sounds glorious.

[tom t]

are you saying there is no ss amp that has tube like sound qualities??

[treitz3]

No, that's not what he's saying.

[tom t]

then explain what it is he's saying????

[F1nut]

If you want the tube amp sound, buy a tube amp. The VK-500 is a balls to the wall SS amp, it's not trying to be a tube amp.

BTW, Ted has the VK-500, it's rated at 250wpc.

[tom t]

not looking for tube amp. just wanted to know what kind of sound characterstics the vk 500 had,thats all. just wondering if it would work well with my infinity 1b mid/tweeter panels.

[Early B.]

not looking for tube amp. just wanted to know what kind of sound characterstics the vk 500 had,thats all. just wondering if it would work well with my infinity 1b mid/tweeter panels.

There's only one way to find out....

[F1nut]

I'd have to say it's a musical, yet fairly neutral sounding amp with a zero feedback design that should work pretty well with just about any speaker. Mate it with one of the BAT tube pre amps for the best of both worlds.

Sorry if my first post wasn't all that helpful.

[tom t]

thank you for the input f1nut.

[hearingimpared]

If you want the tube amp sound, buy a tube amp. The VK-500 is a balls to the wall SS amp, it's not trying to be a tube amp.

BTW, Ted has the VK-500, it's rated at 250wpc.

I knew there was 250 in there somewhere, sorry for the misinformation.

TED's BAT amp rocks!!! Especially with his BAT tube preamp!

[F1nut]

You might want to PM Ted to get his thoughts.

[F1nut]

I knew what you meant Joe, just keeping things straight. :)

[hearingimpared]

. . .

Ac/dc . . . Ballbreaker!!!:D

[F1nut]

Hey Tom, if you get one make sure it has the BAT-PAK upgrade.

Regards,
Ballbreaker

[tonyb]

Ditto on the bat-pak....
I thought Ted moved up to the VK 600 ?

[tom t]

sure thing on the batpak

[reeltrouble1]

Tom,

The VK-500 is a powerhouse amp configured as 250w mono-blocks in one chassis. It is a neutral amp and is refined in its sound. You get plenty of low level detail and can drive any speaker. One of its most notable features is its speed, very fast ampflier no problems handling any kind of transient tones.

Yes, you want the Bat-pak, I would pass on one without it, this greatly increases the energy storage. Bat uses many smaller oil filled capacitor's to achieve the tone and speed, I think its a value in high current amps. The build quality is excellent, the amp is a beast weighs like 110 lbs. CS is the best I have received from a component dealer, they pride themself on getting gear back to you if something happens in just seven days and yes, they did do this for me when I had a problem with my pre.

Hope that helps a bit.

RT1

[tom t]

the batpak would be nice but if i pick up one without it i think i can have the factory do it for me. the thing that i dont understand is why would they build the amp in stock form and have a batpack option. in stock form wouldent the amp be able to proform its job without any problem. if i use the amp to run midrange/tweeter panel of infinity 1b's where it wouldent be needed for bass,wouldent a stock 500 be able to handle the job.

[reeltrouble1]

I suspect it would do fine in stock form, but for the cost of a used one with the bat-pak and one without it just does not make sense not to get it, they come up frequently on the Gon, the BAT upgrades at the factory are not cheap.

RT1

[tom t]

thats what i was afraid of. would you believe i am using a B&k 202+ on my mid/tweeter panel's now and the sound is just great. very smooth and plenty of volumm if i need it. its like they were made for each other. why i want to buy another amp ill never know. i guess its that upgrade bite.

[reeltrouble1]

Tom,

Nothing wrong with B&K, nice gear, I use a B&K amp in my HT now, used to use it for music and it was great. The BAT is just plays in a different ball park.

RT1

[tom t]

smart people would say stick with what you have if it works. i just might do that.
i use a parasound 3500 for the bass columns. if strong, tight,powerfull bass is what you are looking for,this is it!!. i hooked it up the the mid panels the other day just to see how it would work with them. i must say,not bad. it was alot smoother and better sounding then i thought it was going to be. with all the hear say out there that these amps are alittle bright and foward sounding it sounded quite good on the 1b mid panels. if there was any roughness going on i sure dident hear it. was better sounding then the adcom 5500 in mid panels. there you did hear alittle grain in the midrange. but the 5500 was a good bass amp and did well on the 1b bass colums. i would actually dare to say two parasound 3500 amps would not be at all that bad. but if i was going to do that i would just go for a halo a21 amp. from what i understand,these are supposed to be a big improvement over the 3500.