The Balanced Audio Technology VK-76SE tube power amplifier is design without compromise. Many upscale components profess such claims but fall short on the promise. Not the fully symmetrical VK-76SE. As the highly anticipated successor to VK-75, this empire-building component features a completely revised power supply, fuse-less protection circuit, active current sources for its two gain stages, intelligent auto-bias circuit with LED indicators, and high-current, all-triode, zero-feedback, fully balanced topology. BAT realizes serious listeners want unique technology, user-friendly experiences, and faithful-to-the-source sonics when considering luxury high-end equipment. The equivalent of having two single-ended amplifiers per channel, the wide-bandwidth VK-76SE meets these lofty demands and more—and sounds mesmerizing minutes after being plugged in. VK-76SE means there are no tubes to bias. No fuses to replace. No pentodes imitating triodes. No direct current present at the tube output stage.  Why cede to lesser traditional audio engineering when you can own a tube amplifier on the forefront of the cutting edge? VK-76SE is the sound of the future—and musical truth. 

Fully Symmetrical, All-Triode Circuit Banishes Conventional Drawbacks

In a world of cookie-cutter pentode/tetrode designs and frail single-ended counterparts, VK-76SE is uniquely different. Its design is fully symmetrical from beginning to end. You can think of it as two single-ended amplifiers per channel, with their waveforms summed at the output transformer. Since no direct current flows through the output transformer, the latter is truly a wide bandwidth design that also reduces low-frequency distortion. When you combine VK-76SE’s fully symmetrical circuit with its high-current, all-triode, zero-feedback, fully balanced topology, all of the drawbacks of push-pull and single-ended amplifiers are banished.

Intelligent Auto-Bias Circuit Eliminates Traditional Tube Hassle

VK-76SE eliminates the traditional headaches associated with most vacuum-tube power amplifiers: The constant need to set and readjust the proper bias of the output tubes.  VK-76SE features an intelligent automatic bias circuit that adjusts for changing line voltage and aging tubes. For convenience, the intelligent automatic bias circuit contains LED indicators that show the status of each individual output tube. It also ensures VK-76SE power amplifier sounds wonderful within the first few minutes of listening, entirely different from manually biased designs that must be adjusted for their thermally warm set point—and which sound cold and clinical before their tubes are warmed up.

Fuseless Electronic Protection: It Doesn’t Get Any Easier

Based on decades of research that culminated in BAT’s reference-setting REX Series,  VK-76SE extends plug-and-play simplicity with a novel fuseless protection circuit that eliminates the power supply rail fuses to provide both a more refined sonic performance and user-friendly experience. Just flip the power switch in the event of an output tube being over-stressed. It doesn’t get any easier!

Active Dual Stage Current Sources for Improved Linearity and Accuracy

VK-76SE substantially improves upon the VK-75SE gain stage architecture by extending the benefits of active current sources to include both the first and second gain stages of the circuit design. The current source is an integral part of a differential circuit.  Its quality primarily determines the ultimate performance of a gain stage. As opposed to a more common resistive solution, the active current source is much closer to an ideal model. There are multiple benefits to implementing active current-sources (solid-state as well as tube) for the first two stages of VK-76SE’s design. Specifically, the linearity of the gain stages improve; the adjustments for the first and second gain stages become independent and therefore more easily optimized; and the active source components operate at much lower stress level, improving reliability. The final result is an impressive improvement in the linearity of the design, yielding a more accurate representation of the output signal to the original input signal. That, in essence, is the measure of any amplifier. 

Even Drives Low-Impedance Loads With Aplomb

VK-76SE offers a robust 75 watts per channel in the stereo version and 150 watts per channel as a monoblock. Its 6C33C-B triode output tube provides many times the current delivery of the more common 6550 tube used in traditional push-pull designs. High-impedance vacuum tubes like the 6550 require far more complicated output transformers than the low-impedance 6C33C-B. Consequently, VK-76SE is quite comfortable driving low-impedance loads.

Obtain Even More Power by Easily Converting to Monoblock Configuration 

VK-76SE carries on the BAT tradition of being easily upgraded from its stereo version to monoblock configuration. Unlike competing designs, there is no need for you to trade in your amplifier to obtain more power. With VK-76SE, you can simply convert your existing VK-76SE to a monoblock and then order a second VK-76SE monoblock to match. The stereo-to-monoblock conversion is accomplished by simply paralleling the inputs and outputs of the two channels. Thus, the monoblock sound only gets better as the current delivery doubles and the noise floor drops.