One of our local dealers, Manny Aguilar of The Sounds Of Excellence (West Covina, CA, just outside Los Angeles), invited me to hear his new set of Pass Labs XA160.5 mono-blocks last week. A few months ago, I had listened to his Pass Labs XA100.5 mono blocks and felt they were a great match for his VR-9SE (now in Mk2 version) speaker system on demo. However, Manny was convinced that the larger XA160.5 might sound better, although they have only 60 extra watts over the XA100.5 version. I had to admit that the XA160.5 seem to be a really good match to his speakers. The Sounds Of Excellence is our first dealer to receive the VR-9SE "MK2" upgrade, which consists of a new midrange driver and new crossover boards for the midrange and treble frequency ranges. The upgrade also adds our Triple-Laminate Wall construction to the M/T unit, along with an improved vibration-damping coupling system to replace the old rubber isolation pucks. Custom-built copper foil and Teflon capacitors are used, along with custom copper foil inductors. Last, but not least, the Delphi Aerospace Single Crystal solid core copper wire is used throughout. This is an extensive upgrade and cannot be installed "in the field," it has to be done at our factory.
The upgrade is priced at $8,000 and Manny said "the Mk2 upgrade transformed his system." We've put quite a bit of time and effort to design this new upgrade to the VR-9, since it is one of our favorite speaker systems of all time. The current MSRP of the VR-9SE Mk2 is $100,000 and we have three pairs on order at this time, with two pairs going to our new dealer in Dubai.
The Sounds Of Excellence will also be featuring the new Double Kronzilla tube amps (40-watts per mono-block, using T1610 "stacked" 300B SET tubes) until T.H.E. SHOW in Newport Beach June 3-5. Several reviewers who have heard the rare Kronzilla amplifiers have stated that "they're the best tube amps I've ever heard," so the comparison of one of the best solid state amplifier designs against one of the best tube designs should prove to be highly entertaining. All audiophiles living in the LA area are welcome to hear this shoot-out, call for reservations.
Manny's demo system now consists of the Wadia 581 ISE CD player and the First Sound tube preamp. All cables are made for this system by Delphi Aerospace and are marketed by VSA as "Master-Built" cables. In addition to the Wadia, Manny can also demonstrate the new Eera Tentation CD player, which is highly regarded in Europe as one of the world's best CD playback systems.
If anyone in the LA area would like to hear either the Pass Labs solid state Class-A amps or the amazing KR Kronzilla amps with the new VR-9SE Mk2, don't hesitate to give Manny a call to make reservations to hear his incredible system. Manny has sold several large and extremely expensive systems to producers in Hollywood, as well as having supplied speakers to several TV shows, so he is very well known locally for his sound quality and great service. He can be reached at (626) 919-5453.
