Balanced Audio Technology BAT VK-6200 2 Channel Massive Amplifier 200W 8ohms/ 400W 4 ohms, MINT, Beautiful, "SIMPLY OUTSTANDING"

Perfect condition 2 channel amplifier from Balanced Audio Technology, BAT, the VK-6200 can accommodate more amplifier modules to use with home theater if desired. This unit has been tested and is 100% functional and sounds fantastic-- one of the best SS amps available. See reviews below for more details on that. No marks or issues that I can see. Very nice amp. Will be safely packed and shipped in original shipping carton with manual. Paypal adds 3%. Longtime trustworthy seller.

I am also an authorized dealer for Legacy Speakers, Auralic, Resonessence, and Triangle Art. Coincident, and NAT Audio.

From BAT Website:

THE ULTIMATE IN FLEXIBILITY

In its two-channel configuration, the VK-6200 often outperforms reference-level audio amplifiers. In multichannel mode, it serves as an ideal solution for power bi-amping, tri-amping, or multi-room audio systems where exacting sound quality is required. Imagine matching a three-channel VK-6200 with our VK-655SE or REX II monoblocks to create a five-channel home theater. Or, apply the VK-6200 in a four-channel configuration for the ultimate in power bi-amping for two-channel stereo. Want to fully load the VK-6200 with six channels to create a standard-setting 6.1-channel theater? No problem. Such extraordinary versatility and rational upgrade path mean you’ll love the VK-6200 in every imaginable application.

DESIGN ACCOMMODATES UP TO SIX DISCRETE 200-WATT AMP MODULES

Balanced Audio Technology’s groundbreaking VK-6200 multichannel power amplifier satisfies the demands of the most sophisticated home-theater system while simultaneously playing music with the characteristic open, uncompromised sound that has become a BAT hallmark. Until now, the compromises required to fit several channels of amplification into a single chassis have restricted sound quality—even for high-end components. Competitors’ best designs often require an expensive commitment to buy a “fully loaded” configuration. The VK-6200 is different. Its modular design accommodates up to six discrete 200-watt amplifier modules. Fully balanced, the VK-6200 can also be purchased in any configuration—from two to six channels.

POWER TO SPARE: DEDICATED POWER SUPPLY FOR EACH POWER AMP MODULE

In most home-theater amplifiers, all amplifier channels share a single power supply transformer to conserve space and parts cost. Not so the VK-6200. Each of the unit’s power amplifier modules bears its own dedicated power supply with a huge, 700VA toroidal transformer. Driven by this rock-solid power source, BAT’s zero-feedback, balanced topology furnishes consistent and captivating performance no matter how the amplifier is configured. The sound is open and delicate, with effortless dynamic capability. Delivering 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms, and 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms, the VK-6200 is a genuine state-of-the-art product.

VK-6200
Amplifier
Output per channel at 8Ω/4Ω 200W / 400W Conversion to Mono? 2,3,4,5 or 6 channels
Output in Mono Configuration 8Ω/4Ω n/a Frequency Response 2Hz to 180kHz
THD at full power 0.1% Input Impedance 50 kΩ
Gain (Nominal into 8Ω) 23dB Balanced / 29dB Single-Ended Tube Complement n/a
Number of Power Cords 1 Remote Control 12V Trigger Input & Output
Power Consumption (Idle/Full Power) 80W/1800W (w/ 6 channels) Dimensions (WHD) Inches 19" x 10.5" x 23"
Dimensions (WHD) mm 480 x 280 x 580 Weight 100 - 180 Lbs

From Reviews:

Secrets of Home Theater:

I started my listening sessions with stereo music. I have the greatest familiarity with this format, so am able to focus my most critical ear here.

Those who know me, realize that I'm a fan of planar (ESLs and ribbons) transducers. They have an openness and clarity that few dynamic (cones) transducers can deliver. When I started working with the VK-6200, it was clear very shortly out of the box that things weren't quite the same anymore. In trying to avoid the clichés, and will say that the open sensation I heard from the system was very like the time I went from dynamic to planar loudspeakers. Note also that using planar speakers with an amplifier puts the amplifier at a disadvantage because they tend to have low impedance and only modest sensitivity. So, when an amplifier does well with such speakers, it is even more impressive.

Disc after disc was placed into the spinner, with uniformly excellent results. This doesn't mean the VK-6200 is sugar coating the output. On the contrary, it's a very authentic presentation. My bad recordings sound bad. My great recordings sound great.

An example of a bad recording that I enjoy is a re-mastered version of Styx' Greatest Hits. The recording quality is fairly dreadful, but my formative years of that era developed an affection for their music. Without disguising the fact that this is a lousy recording, I had a much clearer "Grand Illusion" going on in my room. Lead vocals from Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung had quite a bit more open quality to them than I had experienced in the past. Perfect? No. Still pretty noisy, and lacking in clarity. More listenable and enjoyable? Indeed. Sometimes you stick a disc in because you like the tunes!

Some other recordings that exemplify this openness include a sampler disc from Audionet in Germany. This disc contains 7 or 8 tracks recorded in 24 bit/192 kHz DVD-Audio. A rare treat that is, and with my system prior to the inclusion I was startled by the sonics of this disc. Imagine my surprise when the VK-6200 started to show me even more improvement with DVD-A, especially at its highest encoding rate, over traditional compact discs. It's a jazz quintet, with Vocalist, Tenor Saxophone, Piano, Bass and Drums. This singer has a very unusual accent, so I wondered if she was singing phonetically. Maybe so, as some of the phrasing was a bit unusual. Regardless, the illusion of reality was quite convincing.

At times, I'd keep the music going and head into the kitchen. Even outside the room, the clarity and openness of this amplifier was nothing less than first rate.

Dynamic

My favorite selection for showing the capabilities of a multi-channel setup is Blue Man Group's DVD-Audio disc, mystically titled "Audio". Two tracks running one after the other, PVC IV and TV Song are both superb for showing the ability (or lack thereof) to deliver both transient dynamics (via all the percussion) and dynamic contrasts. The tracks start slowly and build, build, build to their conclusions. You're immersed on the stage with the musicians and you've got PVC instruments (tubulums and PVC equivalents to the marimba) drums and guitars. This recording is dynamic as all get out, and the VK-6200 doesn't come up short. It has to be the spaces in between the notes during the higher SPL sections that helps this amplifier deliver the dynamics so well. You get all the contrasts and then some. It's as if another letter at each end of the volume scale that musicians use (p (piano) for soft, f (forte) for loud) is made available. Wow!

Stick a film into the silver disc spinner, and try the opening battle scene for "Gladiator". Oh my word! Dynamics everywhere. The horses, the metallic clangs of sword on sword, the mechanical sounds of the catapults being loaded. The whistle of arrows through the air. There's a battle all around you, and you want nothing more than to duck for cover. I'll talk about this aspect later.

So far, I've been talking about the big dynamics. Range and transients and all that, but there's more to the world than just the big stuff. What about low scale dynamics, the difference between an accented note, and a regular note? Diana Krall's "When I Look in Your Eyes" has lots of little dynamic points of interest, and take for instance the track, I Can't Give you Anything but Love. This is a piano, guitar, drums trio (with Diana on vocals naturally). If you listen to the guitar chorus taken by Russell Malone, he's mixing mostly 8th notes with 8th note triplets throughout. You get an excellent feel for the rhythmic punctuations of the modern swing style.

This is going to sound like a bit of jazz education, so if you want to skip to the next paragraph, feel free. If we split the two halves of the beat up, the bottom half (on the beat) is slightly recessed, and the top half of the beat is slightly emphasized. So, it looks something like this in a run of 8th notes one and two and three and four. These little emphases on the top half of the beat are what gives the music its rhythmic impetus. In the triplet runs, the emphasis is still away from the beat. It's these small scale dynamics rendered clearly that separate the good from the great. Here the VK-6200 does an exceptional job of delivering.

Sound and Vision:

From the first notes, the VK-6200 was impressive. If I were asked to pick a single word to describe its sound, I'd pick dynamic. The VK-6200 was one of only a handful of amps with that elusive "jump" factor that brings all kinds of music alive, and not just where you'd expect it—like with Telarc's foundation-activating timpani whacks, which, sure, sounded great, but they usually do. No, it was with the small stuff that the BAT's dynamics could be a bit scary. "Tear," from Michael Kroll's Ether Country CD (Mersea NG0005-2), features vocalist Nina Nastasia, whose voice comes in during the chorus. Every time it did, I jumped—as if someone had walked undetected into the room and spoken to me. Even after many playings, the effect never completely went away. Very freaky. There—it just happened again. Knock it off!

But the BAT was no one-trick pony. It was also endowed with excellent resolution and depth. Simultaneously issued staccato attacks from different instruments arrived still distinguishable to my ear, with no sense of smearing. Multilayered guitar parts from the Lovin' Spoonful's Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful (LP, Kama Sutra KLP-8054), separated not by the usual left-right channel spread but only by their different depths in the soundstage, came through clearly and individually distinguishable. "Summer in the City" blends traffic noise and jackhammers during the musical interludes, but the lack of space around those city sounds clearly relayed their origins in stock sound-effects libraries. Contrast that with the guitar and its studio-recorded reverb—both uncannily accurate, intimate, and successfully conveyed.

The ability of the BAT to "reset to zero" between notes might have been responsible for both the impression of resolution and its aforementioned dynamic abilities. No room looks brighter than the room that, an instant ago, was cast in darkness. The VK-6200 seemed to operate on the same principle, be the source LP, CD, or a DVD soundtrack. Music emerged from a dark, velvety chasm where the absence of sound was black and the only colors were the notes themselves.

The VK-6200 also easily produced prodigious bass, the type sure to satisfy admirers of "Lonely Road," from Driving Rain, Paul McCartney's first release of original material in four years (CD, Capitol CDP 5 35510 2). Running the MartinLogan Prodigys through the 2-channel stereo mode of my Krell Home Theater Standard surround processor meant the BAT was getting a workout. But even more important than its ability to deliver a sustained pummeling, the VK-6200 dished out some really tuneful bass on more balanced recordings.

One such example involved another gem from Michael Kroll's Ether Country, "These Wings," which combines Kroll's acoustic steel-string with Janie Scarpantoni's sonor-

ous cello. Kroll's 1933 Gibson is a deeply resonant cavern of a guitar; its open bass strings ring richly and with force, but always sound realistic. Scarpantoni's cello never attains the level of low-down growl that might have been possible with closer miking, but the juxtaposition of the instruments works well nonetheless. Still, she draws her bow across the strings with a subtlety that the delicately detailed BAT easily brought out.

"These Wings" also preeminently displayed the BAT's monoblock nature. The sense of separation between the guitar and cello, clearly destined for different channels in the mix, was in stark contrast to the firmly centered vocals. The center image was so un–phantom-like that I can be forgiven for thinking the center channel was turned on. The better the recording—i.e., the less processed or compressed or manipulated in any way—the more impressive the BAT was in this regard. This is definitely the amp for people who love their 2-channel recordings and place as great a priority on music as on film. The VK-6200 was simply outstanding in all things 2-channel.