Gabriel: I've not been much of a tube person in the past either. I have owned a couple of tube preamps, an ARC LS 16 and a Cary, and now two tube hybrid amplifiers under my belt. If you can afford it the Blue Circle is also an excellent amp. In my opinion the AVA amps are the better deal.
The hybrid amps offer the advantage of not needing any maintenance or biasing of the tubes. The tubes are also inexpensive and last for 6 months ( according to Gilbert at BC) to two years(AVA). These are two attributes I like as a pure tube amp can cost from a couple hundred to a grand to retube. For 25 to 50 bucks I can retube the 550.
Also pure tube amps are small space heaters. Some pure tube amps I've heard are overly mushy to my liking. The bass is typically a weak point with the ones I've heard. I've not heard the megadollar tube amps though. So yes, I'd look at a hybrid before a pure tube amp.
One problem is that many cd's aren't very well recorded and have artifacts that are obnoxious. With the hybrid amps I tried these issues are gone completely. At the same time you get all the good attributes of the ss amps. This is the reality.
I've not even tried the AVA amp full range. I'm sure though that it will work at minimum very well. Van Alstine doesn't like specs and won't even tell you if you ask him for most specs. Upon looking at the power supply in this amp though it's obvious it's upto the task of handling a difficult load easily. The transformer is huge, easily dwarfing the Rotel's transformer which is one kilowatt. I found that interesting as the Rotel is rated at 200wpc and the AVA only 50wpc more.
The only downside to the AVA amps is that you pretty much are stuck having to buy a new one. I was fortunate and was able to get a late model, a 550exr Rev 5, used for a decent savings. Typically I find used amps and preamps the smarter buy, especially if I have to resell it because I didn't care for it. That can be more time than the return period allowed.
Even at full retail though the Fetvalve amps are a bargain. Frank's been at this for several decades and I suspect knows things that many of these younger guys haven't thought of yet. Now that I know how good this amp sounds in my system I wouldn't have hesitated to buy a new one.
The person I bought the AVA amp from and who's opinion I respect also liked the Parasound HCA 1500a on the bass drivers. I tried both and kept the Rotel but I think the 1500a is probably just as good. For 500 you can get either on the used market.
It's very difficult to describe how good the RM 30's are. Your speakers will give you world class sound if you do your part. This will of course mean that room acoustics MUST be a priority. This is true of all systems but with these speakers it's more important than usual. It's kind of like driving a funny car in the city, the performance capability is there but there's no way you could appreciate it.
If you want any help with setup please feel free to email me. Audio is my favorite hobby and I've been in it since the early 70's. It says I'm a dealer but it's not what I do for a living as it's only part of my hobby. I don't make any money to speak of. Some people think you make all this money and I can assure you that if my time is worth anything the money I make is less than wages. Fortunately I enjoy it.
This forum is also full of knowledge. The combination of various Vmps owners' knowledge is worth more than any one person's. Most Vmps owner's are quite knowledgeable with a good amount of experience. The combined experience here is substantial, you won't find this knowledge base on the Polk forum
.
The dealers for Vmps are friendly and helpful whether or not you ever bought or plan to buy anything from them. I think we all enjoy this hobby. We also like to make sure that we help as much as we can for people to enjoy their Vmps speakers. Vmps speakers are so good they're a great bargain. It's what's in my listening room and what I've owned since 96. When you get yours be sure to share your thoughts.
Another option for you is that there's a dealer list at the Vmps site with our phone numbers. If you'd like please feel free to call me.
