Recent content by Cayman

A Big thank you all the wonderful people who kept this thread going and provided amazing insight. I have been away traveling for a while, but just dropped by to say I managed to secure the 85kg behemoth, a Vitus SS-101 (2 generations behind the current model SS-103, but still a very capable...

Rampant increase in tube prices is one of the reasons why after 20+ years with tubes, I am moving to SS amps to drive my Logans. Imagine the cost of re-tubing triode monoblocks! Besides, similar to how Digital has closed the gap with vinyl over the time, compared to 20 years ago, SS sound today...

Talking about cost of living in a forum dedicated to pricy high end audio may sound like a cliché, but this really is concern here in the UK as well with rampant inflation running at 11+% and the tax burden at its highest since WW2 (highest in 70+ years). I always try to buy new equipment on...

Thanks RAH for the detailed account of your experience. Having read that, I am not sure if "parallel imports" is exactly the correct technical terminology for the type of cases I explained. The ones that I refer to are dealers based in Japan advertising brand new, factory sealed components...

I am not exactly sure if there are any exceptions, but every electronic device I imported since moving here attracted the 20% VAT irrespective of country of origin or location where the import originated from. Things were different for European products before Brexit, but since Brexit I see no...

SS-103 is from Vitus's Signature series which sits above their Reference series and costs £34,000 (USD 41,000). Clearly beyond my reach :) After moving here I found out that Vitus has almost a cult like following in Europe (not unlike the following for Pass amps in the States). I will keep...

In the UK 20% VAT applies to all electronic imports across the board, so it cannot be just the import fees.

Thank you again for your suggestions. Incidentally, I have listened to Vitus RI-101 Mk2 with Magico A3 and was mighty impressed with that Class AB amp. I have arranged with a dealer up North to listen to 13As with Vitus RS-101 (same amp as the one I listened to, but without the line amplifier)...

Thank you once again!

Thank you very much Big Dog for sharing your first hand experience. Pass XA series is definitely on my shortlist. With regards to tube front end, I am going to give it a try without a preamp first (by adhering to DACs that do not drop bits to attenuate the volume - such as the PS Audio offering...

Thank you very much Don for your advice. To be honest, the issue I have with all Japanese High-end brands (Accuphase, Luxman and Esoteric et al) are that brand new sealed pieces are parallelly imported to the UK (and I assume this would be the same for US as well) at exactly half the price we...

15 feet X 12 feet - One side opening in to the kitchen area along the longer axis.

Thank you very much codesx100. I have been suggested by a dealer to go with Pass XA30.8 stereo or XA60.8 monoblock amps. Any idea if these would be a good fit?

Thank you very much ttocs.

I started my ML journey circa year 2000 when I bought a pair of Aerius i speakers which I paired with a Sonic Frontiers (Anthem) EL34 based push pull tube power amp and never looked backed. Since then I have had different ML speakers including the great SL3s and five years ago upgraded to a pair...