CES 2019 • Hot Product

Designing audio components is occasionally an act of finding something that works sonically for one product and then using it for others. Some of the design of VTL's new TP-6.5 Series II phono stage comes from work done for the company's less expensive TP-2.5 Series II phono stage. The '6.5 II incorporates a shunt-regulated power supply, which the '2.5 II uses, along with new capacitors and cascaded regulators, and a new rumble-filter circuit. In sonic terms, this all leads to "More drive, presence and excitement in the music," according to Bea Lam of VTL. The TP-6.5 II continues to accommodate MM and MC cartridges as well as offer gain and loading adjustment from the front panel. A step-up transformer is optional.

The TP-6.5 Series II will begin shipping in the spring. Pricing is not available at this time but will be higher than the $9500 of current version.