Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 8658 times.

zybar

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 12081
  • Dutch and Dutch 8C's…yes they are that good!
Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)
« on: 16 Apr 2004, 03:46 am »
Before I actually talk about the Hot Box, let me say that Chris is a pleasure to deal with and is another good example of a vendor who gets it right (like many of the vendors who participate on AC).  Chris obviously cares about his customers and his service has been top notch.

Ok, I originally bought the Hot Box when I didn't have enough funds to get a top notch power conditioner but needed a way to connect to my system to the dedicated lines that has been installed.

At the time I was using a Monster HTS 5000 and thought that the unit was impacting the system in a negative fashion.  So in comes the Hot Box....

No big suprise...when I compared the Hot Box to the Monster HTS 5000,  the Hot Box was the clear winner.  The system was more dynamic, provided better detail, and was just more there.  The HTS 5000 by comparison sounded like a wet blanket was put over the system.

So out went the HTS 5000 and in came to (2) Nickel 20 amp Hot Boxes w/ Auricaps and 15' power cords.  

After a bit I was able to get in an Exact Power EP15A and compare it to the Hot Box (not really a fair comparison, but I wanted to see if the money would be well spent for the Exact Power).  In this comparison, the Hot Boxes didn't fair well and now they sounded like they were throwing the wet blanket over things - hmmm... (shows you how bad the Monster unit was)

Well, a call to Chris and we couldn't figure out what was going on.  Chris suggested I send things back and he would check them out (of course he sent me my money back).  It turned out that some wire had gotten loose on one set of receptacles, but that wouldn't explain things.

But the story didn't end there...on his own dime, Chris wanted to send me a new Hot Box in brass, without the Auricaps and with a shorter pc length (9').  He was thinking that the results might have been a combination of the filtering and long pc length (15').

Well, the new Hot Box worked very well and didn't sound any different than when I plugged things directly into the dedicated line or into the BPT 3.5 Sig.  So I bought one to keep handy for those times I need a little extra length.   :lol:

So if you need an extension cord, I highly recommend giving the Hot Box a try.  Not much to lose since Chris offers a 60 day return policy and is great to deal with.

George

TheChairGuy

Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)
« Reply #1 on: 16 Apr 2004, 06:35 am »
George,

How much was the Hot Box with the 9' cord in it's last iteneration?

lonewolfny42

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 16918
  • Speakers....What Speakers ?
Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)
« Reply #2 on: 16 Apr 2004, 06:50 am »

StevenACNJ

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 398
Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)
« Reply #3 on: 16 Apr 2004, 09:43 am »
Chris VH is a real pleasure to deal with. He is very responsive. A real credit to the audio industry.

I have purchased all my after-market power cords from him.

Kim S.

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 188
Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)
« Reply #4 on: 16 Apr 2004, 10:58 am »
I agree that Chris  is great to deal with.  I have a hot box with auricaps which I like and have reviewed here.  I built a one outlet variation of the hotbox using his flavor 1 power cord design.  I plugged this into the digital side of my system, MSB gold dac w/powerbase,Monarchy Dip, Phillips 963 player.  I immediately heard greater detail.  On some rock music did not hear any difference.  On more complex music I heard minor passages from secondary instruments that I never noticed before.

Chris was very helpful and guided me with this project. I recommend looking into his hot box and other products,

maxwalrath

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 2080
Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)
« Reply #5 on: 16 Apr 2004, 01:12 pm »
Ditto to Chris being a good guy in my limited dealings with him. His photography is pretty amazing too...

eico1

Review of VH Audio Hot Box (kind of long)
« Reply #6 on: 16 Apr 2004, 02:38 pm »
never bought a piece of wire from Chris, but my wife got me a nice desert print for our anniversary! Definitely improves the sound stage when listening to my Sonoran classics cd... Check them out.

steve