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As a ferociously hot-burning tube -- the far smaller 6C33C can take dissipation lessons -- the T100 on this amp benefits from a heatsink chimney with solid top plate to which the valve is literally wedged from below with an inset rubbery cap.


Apparently deliberate, this chimney is a pain to remove. It doesn't come off in one piece as competing designs manage with banana sockets. The three master rods are instead bolted firmly to the steel cover. Then each stand-off between metal ring to metal ring screws individually to the master rod. To remove a T-100 without the cover is possible. There's a larger spacing between the rings half-way up. However, it does require a bit of dexterity and fumbling. Naturally, one then also pulls out the valve by its glass envelope and not the base as is usually recommended.


Elephantine by 211/845 standards, the T-100 is dwarfed only by its double-decker T1610 stable mate. An unusual construction feature is the inverted glass nipple built into the thick glass envelope on top. It centers the internal metal assembly and prevents any possible rattle, move or eventual Pisa stunt during the valve's quoted life span of 10,000 hours.


Like its Czech cousins at Euro Audio Team and Emission Labs, this bottle's build quality is extremely stout and tank-like. The same applies to the amp. Its black-paint octagonal output transformer covers are potted, the larger one with the toroidal power transformer and filter choke behind it is not but vented out the back.


Additional heat sinking flanks the cheeks but barely gets warm unlike the output iron. The tube chimneys themselves go infernal and can't be touched for more than a split second. They morph into true space heaters and are a natural-born nemesis to air conditioning units, tropical climates and kiddie fingers.


Lovers of long-wearing deep chrome will be disappointed by the scratch and stain prone polished steel deck. Over time, it will never again look as perfect as it did upon delivery. In these elevated leagues, that's a consideration.


The included remote works fuss-free but is of the generic plastic type and here joins the general cosmetics by not winning marks for high style. Everything is functional and of true substance but accompanied by an industrial, somewhat drab utilitarian specter that's outshone by most of China's present imports.


The innards show widely spaced circuit boards connected by standard flying leads and ribbon cables. The inputs are relay-switched, the auto bias is microprocessor controlled.

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The liberal use of micro processing in a no-feedback single-ended triode amp demonstrates further that KR Audio's chief designer Marek Gencev has little patience for the n
th stock iteration of old-timey me-too SET concepts.


Parts quality seems solid but non-exotic. The critically important output transformers elude normal inspection of course and are KR Audio's own.


Unlike the servo-biased Ancient Audio Single Six 6C33C monos with their deliberate 3-minute turn-on delay, the VA350 snaps into action surprisingly fast as indicated by the power LED going from red to green. Flashing red would indicate lock-down by the protection circuitry and most likely tube death. While the master mains sits on the rear, the frontal (and remote-activated) stand-by switch seems to effect a pretty comprehensive power-down. It will likely become the de facto on/off control for all but the first session.


Here are the relay-switched four single-ended inputs (XLRs can be custom-ordered).


These are the external accessible impedance-setting screws at 4 ohms. 8 ohms requires that two screws occupy the center positions and the upper and lower positions be vacated.


Here is the motor-driven blue Alps pot flanked by the 4-pin tube sockets. The T100 runs two smaller and two bigger pins. Beware proper orientation. The wood-crated amp of course ships with the tubes installed so this refers only to eventual tube replacement. As expectedt from its S/N spec, the VA350i betrays no transformer hum, tube hiss or other audible indicator that its output devices are one-of-a-kind, over-dimensioned vacuum tubes. Brad Morricab, Swiss satellite dealer of the German importer Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Milkovits at Ami-Hifi.de, drives big Accustat panels with this amp. He reportedly has not encountered yet a 'normal' speaker beyond Baby Kronzilla's grip.
(The hatch for the impedance adjustments screws. The back panel also sports international 115/230 voltage selectors.)