Audiophile customers with a want for vacuum tube-based AV components should be interested in the latest from Balanced Audio Technology (BAT)-- the VK-3000SE integrated amplifier, the REX II preamplifier and the REX II power amplifier.
The 2-channel VK-3000SE amp combines a vacuum-tube preamplifier (based on the 6H30 SuperTube found in Special Edition BAT tube preamps) with a 150W per channel solid state stereo amplifier. Balanced circuit topology amplifies audio signals and blocks unwanted noise, and it includes symmetrical output with ultra-fast bipolar transistors and an optional phono module.
It ships with an aluminium top cover in either black or two-tone silver/black, and includes a remote machined from a single block of aluminium.
The REX II reference linestage preamplifier also carries the 6H30 SuperTube vacuum tube, inside a two-chassis design with custom-designed amorphous core output transformers and a power supply with positive and negative phase. It has fully balanced circuitry, a single Unistage gain stage, BAT SUPER-PAK custom oil capacitors and proprietary shunt volume control with 140 steps of 0.5dB resolution.
The final BAT offering is the REX II power amplifier, an all-triode vacuum tube number the company claims is like having "two single-ended amplifiers per channel, with their waveforms summed at the output transformer. No direct current flows through the latter, allowing the output transformer to be a truly wide-bandwidth design while reducing low-frequency distortion."
It is available in an 80W per channel stereo version or a 160W per channel monoblock.
