[ablefire]

Greetings to the virtuous. I need a power amplifier to drive some 89 db speakers (Aerial 10Ts). I am considering using a Virtue amp as a power amp. I don't need gobs of power since I live in an apartment in NYC with relatively little sound insulation between me an my neighbors. My question is which of the Virtue amps can I get away with? For instance would a Two.2 be dramatically better than a One.2 "classic"? How about one of the Sensations? I am thinking of going with the Dodd battery supply in all cases, unless there is a better answer. Thanks in advance.

[momini1]

I use a Sensation M901 with Usher 718be speakers in a 15x20 space and I can drive them to any volume level I can stand. They have roughly the same sensitivity as your speakers (87db). I am using the 30/130 power brick. I don't think you would have trouble driving your speakers with any of the amps as long as you seek less than stadium level volumes. I considered the virtues as alternatives, but I decided I wanted the flagship product.  It also turned out to have the benefit of being  upgradeable with the Dodd tube mod, which I feel greatly enhances the amp and gives you the ability to tune the sound to your  music tastes, equipment and room situation.

[eclein]

I use a TWO.2 with 30/130 PS in a 12 X 18 ft room and get plenty of power, my speakers are like 91db efficient and I use the TWO as an amp with a separate DAC/Passive Preamp...I rarely get the pre-amp volume knob past 1/4 turn up...by the way I found out that these units really sing when used in Amp only mode so thats a great way to go in my opinion. Enjoy, and they do break in-took mine about 40 hrs to start really shining.

[saisunil]

Sensation 901 is an integrated amp - with an option for a tube buffer ... Two.2 with a choice of power supply (battery ...) would make a simple power amp ... with a jumper to bypass volume pot ...

[ebag4]

Greetings to the virtuous. I need a power amplifier to drive some 89 db speakers (Aerial 10Ts). I am considering using a Virtue amp as a power amp. I don't need gobs of power since I live in an apartment in NYC with relatively little sound insulation between me an my neighbors. My question is which of the Virtue amps can I get away with? For instance would a Two.2 be dramatically better than a One.2 "classic"? How about one of the Sensations? I am thinking of going with the Dodd battery supply in all cases, unless there is a better answer. Thanks in advance.

I have a Two.2 with batteries that is ready to ship to the next person on the tour.  Please see this thread if interested:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=81783.msg823150#msg823150

Best,
Ed

[ablefire]

Thank you all for the advice. I neglected to mention that I have an upgraded Counterpoint pre-amp so the Dodd buffer is not so tempting. With the jumper set on the Virtues, is there a significant difference with a Sensation turned all the way up and acting as a power amp?

[dvenardos]

I have compared the Classic One to the Classic Two and currently have the Classic Two, Two.2, and M451 here. I use them all as power amps. Currently running the 5AH battery kit.

The Two.2 has sonicap Gen I with Gen 2 bypass caps. I prefer the auricaps in the classic Two to the virtue caps in the Classic One. I prefer the sonicaps in the Two.2 to the auricaps in the Classic Two. Even though the power output on the M451 and Two.2 are the same the M451 seems to have bigger sound, however, the virtue caps in the M451 seem to hold it back. I would like to hear the M451 with sonicaps or auricaps, but it isn't mine. I have a hard time deciding if I like the Two.2 or the M451 better. I think with upgraded caps I would like the M451 better.

The best deal would be get the One.2 and upgrade the caps, but you won't go wrong with any of the options as long as you upgrade the caps. I would say probably go with the Two.2, it just bugs me that you can't bypass the pot on the Sensation (even though the sound is great). If it doesn't bug you go with the M451 with upgraded caps or the M901.

[ablefire]

Thank you for the superb answer: It's a great help. Any thoughts on the power supply options? Have your tried the 130W PSU?

[eclein]

I use 30/130 power supply with my TWO.2 and love it, batteries are cleaner I'm told but for me the 30/130 was the correct choice, no regrets at all.

[saisunil]

Just would like to mention that batteries on any reference level audiophile equipment is rare ... and quite expensive usually accompanying equipment costing ... thousands or 10's of thousand $$$ ... (of course I am not including portable headphone amps in this category)
 
The battery option with Virtue is super cheap and a no brainer    - the way the kit is set up it is really plug it and forget it option ... at least for people like me who live in an apartment building with polluted AC ... you don;t have to worry about AC Conditioners, filters etc. Getting off the grid for this price is so cheap ... and that is what made the Virtue so attractive for me - besides all other goodness folks have shared ...
 
Cheers

[dvenardos]

I ran the 30v/90w power supply that is not available anymore and that is a fine power supply. For the $10 difference between the 30v/130w and the battery kit I just can't see going with the 30/130. If I was going to pay extra for a power supply I would want one that would get the full power out of the amp. This isn't a Virtue approved option, but for an SMPS I would ask JT to build this SMPS. On paper it is a perfect match for the Virtue amps, although, I haven't tried it.
http://connexelectronic.com/product_info.php/cPath/25_46/products_id/68?osCsid=v05kujhklab1147bnpktbev7l7

Thank you for the superb answer: It's a great help. Any thoughts on the power supply options? Have your tried the 130W PSU?

[cynan]

If you are looking for a best value Virtue "power amp" I would also suggest a One.2 with upgraded input capacitors. I'm slightly regretful I wasn't a bit more savvy myself as I went with a M901 over an M451 with upgraded caps... But not that much

I also went from the 30V/130watt to an inexpensive homemade battery kit for the M901 and haven't looked back. Really worth it. If you haven't already shelled out $$ on the 130 Watt PSU, then batteries are a no-brainer (that is if you can stand the moderate increase in clutter if you go with one of the simpler kits - ie not the nice looking ones as from Red Wine Audio).

[ablefire]

Thanks again for such helpful answers. Looking at the Virtue site, I can't find a way to specify the Auricaps for the One.2. How do I specify these?

[eclein]

ablefire- I'm thinking you have to go TWO.2 to get Auricaps but I could be wrong. The website is up to date as far as I know with the options, I think the Auricaps are what make a ONE.2 into a TWO.2 and the TWO.2 is the upgrade. Virtue is on holiday according to the website but others here may know more than I.

[ablefire]

eclein, thanks for the info. Perhaps Cynan upgraded his own? Looking at the footnote on this page (http://store.virtueaudio.com/category-s/27.htm) it looks like the Auricaps explain $35 of the price difference between the One.2 and Two.2. Perhaps Virtue can shed some light on the matter upon his return.

[dvenardos]

This amp differs from the outstanding ONE.2 in three significant ways. Larger and slightly smoother bulk reserve cap. All-copper signal path, right through speaker outputs. Ultra-transparent Auricap input-caps standard (2.2uF). Note that if using the high-pass filter, the caps will be VirtuCaps (0.1uF).

Jason T should be able to hook you up with replacement input caps on the One.2 it just isn't a standard ordering option. Send him a PM.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=profile;u=52302