I've been listening to my new gear for a few weeks now and have concluded that it's the best sounding stereo equipment I've ever owned. Typically I'm most enamored with preamps and somewhat less interested in the power amps. Probably because the preamp is the control center, and power amps are seemingly just the muscle of a system. While I love the Vision SLR for it's practical beautiful appearance and sound, for the first time the amp in my system fascinates me. It has more power than I'm ever likely to need, which is a good thing ultimately, because it's true when you have more power than you need the sound is effortless.
The sound of these two components must be a particularly good match and for that reason I'm surprised to find little talk about it even here. Anyway, this amp simply doesn't get hot, in fact it barely gets warm even in 80 degree summer weather which is something that blows my mind given it's 250 wpc power rating. I had a Hafler 100 wpc power amp when it came out in the early eighties which also had very large heatsinks, but which unlike the Set 500 you could use as a stove. I don't understand it, because I would think if an amp runs hot it's because the designer thought it would sound better because of the design choices made. I've never heard anything that sounds better than the AVA amp, so the notion I had about heat equaling better sound clearly isn't the case.
When I listen to the sonic qualities of these two AVA components for relatively little money in comparison to other brands with comparable sonic attributes it makes me wonder. What are people thinking when they invest hundreds and sometimes thousands more. At one point I had considered pairing the SET 500 with another preamp and was hard pressed to find more than a few in the same price range. Apparently preamp prices have skyrocketed in the years I wasn't paying close attention. Incidentally, this power amp isn't a lightweight, to the point I reinforced my eighties vintage stereo cabinet with bolts on the selves just to be 100% sure it wouldn't collapse which would obviously be a drag.
Yeah, so long story short I'm a happy camper with this set up, and would appreciate anyone who understands the design explaining to me how the amp runs so cool compared to other amps I've owned. Also, anyone else on this site who might have either, or both of the components I'm talking about feel free to give me your opinion on what I've said.
