[-Richard-]

The Signature 30 arrived on Friday afternoon...it was playing in my system
within 5 minuets of opening the box~

Out of the box the Signature 30 sounds perfect!!!!!

Come on Richard. Out of the Box...perfect?

Perfect...this does not sound like any amp I have ever heard.

Deb: "It sounds like a SET tube amp that is perfect!!!", "I never heard that
layering before in that musical piece", "I never knew there was a second voice
in that song" "Fantastic detail", "...smooth, very smooth..." "the horns sound
fantastic" and so on~

Deb is NOT an audiophile...but she does listen to music with extraordinary sensitivity~

I have several SET amps in my house...actually the best SET I have ever
heard...thanks to Roger Modjesky...and the best SEPentode I have ever
heard...even Roger likes it (he did not design it)...

I cannot take the Signature 30 out of the system...it is addicting...seductive...
beguiling...fantastic...

Here is what it sounds like with 7 hours of play time on it: imagine the best
SET tube design...but with every issue worked out to perfection...that is
what is sounds like...PERFECT!!!!!

The most emphatic characteristic is the BALANCE!!!!! extraordinary balance of
the entire gamut of the frequency...creating a thoroughly ORGANIC musical
presentation...fluid...palpable...prese nt...

The second most emphatic characteristic is its ability to pull apart any dense
musical fabric to reveal the complex layering in a 3 dimensional holographic
presentation...and yet still hold everything together as a single continuous
flow of music...

The third most emphatic characteristic is the upper frequency resolution...
delicate, lovely, easy, completely non-fatiguing...no glare what-so-ever...

For Deborah any hint of Solid State or push pull tube or unsophisticated
pentode tube implementations results in bleeding ears...her tolerance is zero...

Deborah LOVES THIS AMP...SHE IS TRULY IN LOVE WITH IT!!!

The bass on my double B200 Open Baffles is startling powerful...full, rich, musical...

The next characteristic I would like to point out is what the British call pacing or
rhythm...this amp latches onto the rhythm of any music and allows it to gather
incredible momentum...the Signature 30 gets out of the way...there is no amp
there...only...MUSIC...THROBBING...PULS ATING...in a thoroughly NATURAL
presentation...

The Signature 30 is a revelation...and it is straight out of the box~

The remote control works flawlessly!

I will report back after I have had a chance to allow it to burn-in for at least
100 hours~

Congratulations, Vinnie...the Signature 30 is a masterpiece!!!!

When reviewers get ahold of this amp they are not going to believe the level of
refinement it exhibits...it is the best audio bargain on the planet...

Warmest Regards ~Richard~

[Grover]

Well, yeah OK.  But did you like it?  

[ndpjr]

Richard,

   It's great to read your comments on the Sig-30, especially with the amps you have to compare it to. It sounds like Vinnie really nailed this one with it's sound and appearance. Mine is supposed to ship Monday 06/12 and you've made me even more anxious to hear it. It will now seem like a long wait. I'm really happy you and Deb are enjoying it so much and I look forward to sharing the same experience.

[Dmason]

I think it is interesting to note that right out of the box Richard and I both notice that there is no disconnect in refinement shifting gears between the Signature 30 and the other amps, Music Reference 45 in Richard's case, and Korneff 45 in mine. That this thing can hang with those amplifiers right out of the box should tell you something, and the 45 tube is well known as audio crack, it is that addictive, and it is also well known that Roger Modjeski, and Jeff Korneff dont exactly suck at amp design either. This a compari example right out the gate is probably the best review one could offer. Off to a VERY impressive start here.

 Glad you also hear what I am hearing, Richard. The best solid state amp I have ever heard, methinks. Dense mixes such as full orchestra, forte, ala Williams, Prokofiev, etc., are like staring through a clear window, such is the resolution, and ease of the brain making sense of it all. Piece of cake for the brain to disseminate bucketloads of instrumention and arrangement information with this thing. It has opened up quite abit just being left to play most of the day. It may possibly be in line to offer a new standard of resolution, who knows. Different, that's fo shoo!!

[-Richard-]

I forgot to mention...that the quiet of the Signature 30 is uncanny~

A strange quiet really...as if it had just rained...and the rain has stopped and
the wind has finally disappeared...everything outside is sparkling...
and because everyone ran for shelter the streets are empty~

You open the window...and the clean air enters...but there is this quiet...
this uncanny quiet that makes you linger by the window looking out into
the lovely light that is gathering now...

That quiet suspends the music as if the players were transfixed by what they
were playing...as if they were playing in their own dreams...a playing not possible
in normal time...as if they are playing out of time...dream time~

Dmason is right yet again...no preamp necessary with the Signature 30...
Vinnie has created a fully realized amplifier that is totally self-contained...
nothing to add but the music!!!!

It is strange Dmason to think of you and I listening to the same magic amplifier...
this is a wonderful year for audio...Vinnie has distilled the millions of hours
he has spent solving circuit problems and developing his "inner" ear for
what he knew he was capable of, but needed time to bring to fruition...and now
he has done it!!!! I am very very proud of him...and thrilled with his accomplishment!!!

Hi ndpjr...you are in for an amazing experience...this amp has it all...and something
else besides...it is so right...it is so beautifully realized that you finally find yourself
wishing for nothing else but to listen to music...of course...I do not know what
speakers you have...I have a simple Open Baffle panel with 2 Visaton B200
drivers on it...the lower driver has a simple inductor "choke" that cuts off
frequencies above 100 Hz at 6 db's per octave...and it is a perfect match...
PERFECT!!!!

Let us know your experiences, ndpjr...you will not be disappointed.

Warm Regards ~Richard~

[beatdownvictim]

Rich, you're insanely good with wordplay! reading your review made me wanna get one pretty damn badly, even though i haven't had time to spend with my current setup.  

Rich, do us all a favor and go write reviews for some magazines.  Please do!  

I wanna hear this thing so badly!!!!!!!!!

carson

[Vinnie R.]

Out of the box the Signature 30 sounds perfect!!!!!

Come on Richard. Out of the Box...perfect?

Perfect...this does not sound like any amp I have ever heard.
...

Hi Richard,

Thanks for posting your (and Deb's) initial impressions.  I just responded to Dmason's post about his initial Sig 30 impressions as well....sounds like you guys are happy campers and there is nothing better than waking up to reading such posts!  

The DACT remote control stepper motor kit is designed and built by AC Manufacturer Bent Audio (John Chapman) and while it isn't cheap, it is brilliantly executed!  The controller board for it is only "ON" when you actually use the remote....otherwise it is in sleep mode.  It is also nice and responsive (as is doing business with John....he is a class act!).  I'm glad it is functioning as it should....flawlessly!  

Thanks again for making the time to post your initial impressions, and please keep us informed as you acquire the burn in time on your Signature 30 with your B200 OBs!

Mine is supposed to ship Monday 06/12 and you've made me even more anxious to hear it. It will now seem like a long wait. I'm really happy you and Deb are enjoying it so much and I look forward to sharing the same experience.

Hi ndpjr,

I will try my best to have it shipped out today, but I'm off to a slow start because I have been hit hard with emails and phone calls, so it not today it will ship out tomorrow.  Either way, you'll have it by the end of the week.  Thanks for your patience.


To everyone else who pre-ordered.....I am going in the order in which I received your pre-orders.  I do not see a reason why they won't all be shipped out by the end of this week.  I really appreciate all the pre-orders and your patience.  

As always, I will email each and every one of you once it ships.

Thanks again!

[-Richard-]

Hi Carson/Beatdownvictim,

Vinnie's new Signature 30 amp really is a revelation...its pairing with my
double B200 Open Baffles...the bottom driver using a simple 100Hz inductor...
is deeply seductive...and addicting and EXCITING, EXCITING, EXCITING!!!!!

The lightening speed and organic gestalt of the Signature 30's presentation
suits the Open Baffle's room loading characteristics...

Listening today to stringed instruments and piano...one clearly hears the resin
sliding along the surface of the bow and resonating violin or cello strings...
the "attack" of the piano as the keys are struck...or the use of the pedal to elongate
the vibrations of the struck steel strings inside the piano's wood cabinet...

The human voice is warm...and human...as Dmason said...this is not hifi!!!!

"You can tell a great deal about an amp by the way the piano sounds"...Deb remarked
today..."sometimes it sounds false...artificial...dimenished...this sounds totally real
to me...like a real piano..."

Agreed...Deb studied the piano when she was a child~

I want to point out that Deb loves the way the amp looks...she is a highly sought after
graphic designer with an enviable client list...her word: "elegant"...

Deb loves the remote control...when you press the plus or minus sign the
volume control moves...very c-o-o-l !!!!! Now Deb does not have to get
up to change the volume during the day...her design "studio" is part of the
living space where our audio resides...

Music is so compelling with the Signature 30 that Deb and I are rediscovering
our entire collection of CD's...

One more thing I would like to share with everybody...and this is the least
believable thing I have ever said about any audio product: I don't know why yet...
but every performance I am hearing sounds perfect to me...I am not exaggerating...
it is as if the performers came together during one of those magical confluences
of creative synergy...as if they were on fire with tremendous energy perfectly
matched by a precision of skill that is strangely uncanny...surreal sounding~

I am going to guess and say it is the dreamlike quiet that pervades the music
merging with the astounding speed and clarity of the dynamic presentation
that is creating these preternatural musical events...even the spaces between
the notes sound "real"~

Perhaps Dmason can expand on this~

Once music lovers discover this amp, Vinnie's life is going be a living hell meeting
the demand for it...this is a world-class amplifier that sets a totally new standard
of performance...high priced tube or solid state or digital amp designers will
shake in their shoes when they hear this~

The revolution in audio continues...and Vinnie is leading that revolution...

I am most interested in hearing the feedback from others with the same
and different systems from my own as they acquire this audio treasure.

Warmest Regards -Richard-

[Dmason]

Agreed. I have just spent the entire day listening to music. What a loser on such a nice day? Sorry, I couldn't find it in me to go anywhere outside the livingroom. I like Richard's comment about every performance. Every performance is suddenly like it is for me, happening live, in real time. Spacial cues are obvious as hell, and check this: the ambience and space of the sound stage for orchestral are thrown up as if an image from a projector, by the dipole effect, and the effect of control exerted on the B200's. The resolution has been jacked up into an area I personally have not heard. Folks, this amp is green and is therefore at its worst right now. At its absolute worst, as new, it is beginning to astound me completely. I almost want to quit my job and see where a six month listening adventure takes my psyche. I know that sounds dumb and soooo SoCal, but I was thinking such thoughts this aft. So much fun to listen to. The old usual warhorses are a total thrill. Listened to Telarc "Pix at an Exhbix" and weeeooo! Highly musical, with dynamics right out the window. Massed strings and that low bowing are truly organic sounding, all the harmonic cues per note in the low register of the cello is RIGHT THERE WITH YOU. Fascinating perspective this thing allows. I could immediately identify whether a piano was a Steinway or Bosendorfer in orchestral recordings, and could tell the difference between Steinway and Baldwin, rather quickly, in American jazz recordings. It is almost like my musical ear now has eyes. There is a thought for you.

[rajacat]

No, you guys don't sound So Cal .... more like Marin County ! How about some free verse now?

[Dmason]

Raja

Let me clarify: I wouldnt JUST be listening all the time. There would be time to surf, bike, meet girls, weave some new straw, find my avatar, all that other stuff as well. Dude.

[mca]

My Zu Druids just read this post and they are now dying to get paired up with the Signature 30. Sounds like I may have to do what they say  

[opnly bafld]

Richard and Dmason,
Hey guys, I don't have a Sig 30 yet, but I still get the personal performance sometimes.
Last night, a certain IMO very attractive female singer, seemed so real, so in the room, on the Bs x 2, that I almost, out loud, asked her what she was doing after the show.
I think I need to start saving my pennies for a Signature 30.
Lin

[mca]

Richard and Dmason,

Are you guys using the amp with or without a seperate preamp?

Right now, I am using the Druids with a Modwright pre and a Wavelength 300b amp. And I'm just curious how the 30 would fair straight with no tubes.

[Dmason]

It fares best on its own merits, in my opinion. I pulled the tube pre amp out because it seemed to get in the way and I love the added flavor of that thing. With the non oversampling battery powered Monica DAC and the Signature 30, I am into a new sound now that I honestly could live with long term. Noise floor is a moot concept at this point in it all, and lends this dreamlike ease to the music, which just floats along.

I have zero interest in anything but music at this point, and could say my system and ears have had an epiphany of sorts. I am feeling that the new amp fills all the major corners, and I always love tube amps sound, but to get this kind of jump in an SET type amp, one word: Kronzilla. ex: The KR tubes would take six weeks to get to you and cost you more than the Signature 30. It is a virtual SET sound. With real crunch, real visceral power, like a velvet hammer. SET of the gawds. Two dimensions, not three. A killer compromise in this way, and likely the best solid state amp this tubehead has yet heard. Heard em all. Listened all day and all night today. Lovely. Exceedingly happy. Thank you Vinnie.

[-Richard-]

Dmason's prose are so concentrated and full of energy and clarity that
I find it hard to think of anything to add to his sage insights~

There is something that emerges from Vinnie's Signature 30 that I am not hearing
with my admittedly highly refined and texturally rich SET tube amps...and that is
this thrilling sense of energy that "supports" and infuses itself within the musical
fibers...as if the music was being heard under very unusual circumstances...
such as heightened awareness~

It is not just a matter of presence...that is there of course...a visceral palpable
presence that you could easily touch with your mind~

It is an energy that wafts off the music...like a powerful undertow in the crashing
surf...that pulls you out into itself...an energy that translates as thrilling...you
have no choice...you sit there spellbound by the thrill of the sound~

It is surreal...more than real...and that is what is so terribly seductive...after
a short time you feel you cannot live without it~

It is like qualities of light...have you ever noticed that there are days when the light
is so penetrating...so full of energy...that everything appears as if you are in a dream...
every object shines with a unique vibration that sets it apart from everything else...
and yet the world of vibrating forms appears as a single radiance...it is like that~

The music vibrates with a radiance that is almost not of this world...you hear the
music the way the music wishes you could hear it all of the time...but rarely do~

Please keep in mind that both Dmason and myself are trying very hard to give
everyone a clear insight into what we are hearing...it is not easy finding the words
to describe something inherently new...a new kind of presentation...

It is not simply a matter of which amp is "better"...having lived with the Signature 30
amplifier for 3 days now I find it impossible to want to give it up...it is terribly
seductive...it is like a lover that always appears fresh and young and vibrant~

And the synergy with 2 B200's per OB panel is also at work here~

I am not hearing a sum of parts here...I am not hearing a series of additions
that are adding up...rather it is totally organic experience...a gestalt...the music
comes at you as one radiant thrilling experience~

The Signature 30 sets the music in motion!

Warm Regards ~Richard~

[Dmason]

I had mentioned 2 dimensional.

Richard suggested I try an upsampling source at about the same time I watched a movie DVD last night. The high rez DVD source added the third dimension. The ambient synth soundtrack was more interesting than a very good film, "Fire Wall," and now I am going to find a decent universal player to try. Even the CD convertor in my warhorse Sony sounded fantastic, the Signature 30 had some way of enhancing its sound, which is somewhat a mystery to me. Highly dimensional sound, upsampling, and DSP applied to a single B200.

[enzo]

So Richard...

I gather you like the Sig 30 almost as much as the JVC F10 you were shilling this time last year??? LOL

[launche]

I am speechless.

[ndpjr]

Richard,

   I'm not that experienced in the fact that I have not listened to a large number of amps and preamps. The first step I took early in 2004 on amps that were not mass marketed was a Korneff 45SE. Compared to what I had listened to for years and had heard before and pairing it with some efficient speakers by Bob Brines, FT1600 MKII's, I felt it was the best I had heard.
   Since then I've gotten a Clari-T that had a similar sound to me in the mids as the Korneff and really stood out because of it's black background, speed and detail. It was different in ways from the Korneff and better in some ways. I could say the same for the TAD-60 that I had as far as sounding different in ways and better in some areas. I had Vinnie make a dual mono Clari-T that I later had Jensen copper PIO caps installed in and with its battery power and the Jensen caps it was "very" close to the sound of the Korneff and is still the amp I play most of the time.
   If I had the Jensens installed in the Teac that Vinnie modded for me instead of the Mundorf Silver Supreme then I think I would of had an amp that may have topped the Korneff in all areas and I would be touting that amp as the best that I personally have heard. That's why your report on the Sig-30, since it uses the Jensen PIO caps, is interesting. The 45SE is a sound I really like and to think of that sound with 30-watts instead of 2.5 watts is something I look forward to hearing.
   I'm just looking for that extra little detail, bass, tone or a particular sound that I personally like. I'm sure there are amps that a person can hear that will always be the best they have heard no matter how many others they will listen to because it just had that right sound for that person. If you are fortunate enough to know it at the time and hang onto that amp then you eliminate a lot of expense and time. As I get more experience by listening to other amps and equipment I know that a particular amp that sounded great to me may be bettered as I'm more aware of what really appeals to me and more experiened in the different sound and tone of various types of amps and speaker combinations. That's why audio is so interesting to me.
   I enjoy your reports and your enthusiasm and wish I could express the sound of amps and speakers in such a way as yours.