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When I first took receipt of the VA350i, it retailed for €8.300. Two months later, the price was raised to €10.200. That's far from insignificant. For €10,000, you can buy a pair of 130-watt Octave MRE-130 monos with better finish, four times the power and as we'll see, superior performance. For €10K, you'd also expect Burmester-quality chrome, not discolored 'stainless' steel. And you definitely should expect an active preamp stage rather than passive pot (yes, Baby Kronzilla sounds demonstrably better with an outboard preamp - Esoteric's C-03 set to zero gain proved the point).


To my mind, the VA350i occupies a very tough spot in the middle of no-man's land. From a power perspective, it sits between the 45/2A3/300B direct-heated brigade; and real bruisers beyond 100 watts. Listeners with speakers suitable for group N°.1 won't buy into the notion of needing more power than their low-power SETs provide - unless of course the VA350i made an unavoidably persuasive sonic argument to "out-300B" real 300Bs like the Emission Labs 300B XLS in my rather cheaper Yamamoto A-09S. It does not. It's flatter, more staid, damped and fixed, lacking the inner fluidity and glow of the A-09S. Additionally, over my 98dB Rethm Saadhanas, the
VA350i was noisier. For just $2,500 and on the Rethms, the FirstWatt F5 was clearly superior, a far better buy and its transistors sounded better than the pseudo transistors of the big KR tube (I say pseudo since they sonically lean in that direction).


In short, the VA350i is no 300B-on-steroids replacement for ordinary but first-class 300B amps or equivalents.
It's rather drier and more reined in by comparison. This continued to be the case over my 91dB ASI Tango Rs whose perfectly flat 6-ohm impedance below 1,000Hz makes them a dream load for high Z-out amps. The KR amp again sounded more solid-statish yet could not match the low-level resolution, depth layering and bass control of a real transistor amp like the ¼-priced F5. I was beginning to suspect that cruising for a truly convincing must-have rationale for this amp would prove difficult in Casa Chardonne. I was right.


On the other side of no-man's land are the listeners of group N°.2 who own '100-watt plus' speakers. They won't buy into the KR's 30 watts either. While the VA350i's drive really is unusually stout -- my 85dB/4-ohm Mark & Daniel Maximus Monitors with upfiring omni AMT would make the point -- the push/pull pentode/feedback Octave monos had more precision, clarity, low-end control and articulation (i.e. far lower output impedance) than the no-feedback single-ended Czech.
The meaty Zu Essence did mate well with the Baby Kronzilla for a well-damped yet still buxom sound but knowing how spectacularly well this speakers works off far cheaper amps rather put down any mondo-valvular excitement and the flag on half mast.


So far, my no-man's zone statement had found that from a performance perspective, the VA350i was neither as suave, holographic and sinuous as rather cheaper amplifiers fully embodying the usual reasons why folks go SETs; nor quite as robust, dynamic, colorful and load-invariant as real push/pull tube muscle amps priced the same. This second half was assessed by moving out my regular transducers and drafting into service the synthetic marble monitors
of the compact but serious Mark & Daniel assault at big full-range sound from a small box.


Obviously, the low-profile German tanks standing by did not merely pack heavier ordinance. They also
are monoblocks with truly dedicated power supplies per channel. And for those desirous or in need of full-on 2-ohm happiness, Super Black Box capacitance banks can be added optionally without any modifications but a simple plug & play connection of an umbilical. For these tests, I did not add those silver boxes but ran the MRE-130s 'unfortified, au nature'.


It quickly became clear that this was rather more the kind of speaker Baby Kronzilla longed to drive. To get out of first gear, the load had to tickle it into action and these synthetic marble boxes with curved AMTs performed the wake up call. But output impedance being what it is, the Octave monos had even more low-end control, crunch and brutesse (to coin a term combining brute force with finesse) and overall better articulation and clarity. The KR suffered a bit of fuzz or indecision by comparison and lacked ultimate grip on the lower frequencies.


The completely mindboggling potential of the latter is a calling card of this particular speaker. Arguably voiced bottom heavy as though designer Daniel Lee meant to impress upon us the utter improbability of enclose size and woofer diameter producing such output and extension, my original pre-Plus version really benefits from the counter balancing output of the optional upfiring AMT above 3kHz. Then it's a quite linear speaker with shocking spunk.


Alas, if I had €10,000 to spend and owned speakers like these (expand their category to include larger multi-way floorstanders like Aerial, Dynaudio and Thiel), I'd unhesitatingly recommend the Octaves over the KR. It's an altogether more reasonable proposition. If I had speakers like the previous three, I'd not recommend the KR either. If somebody wanted a high-class text-book SET sound, I'd steer them to the Yamamoto or Emillé Labs equivalent with nice spare change in the pocket. If somebody wanted higher resolution still, even better noise performance and was willing to sacrifice some tone density, I'd point them at either the F5 or F3 in the Nelson Pass FirstWatt lineup while saving our imaginary shopper some very serious coin. And yes, you would need a preamp. But then €1.150 for something like the Trafomatic Audio Experience Head One already outclasses the passive pot in the VA350i.


These might seem heavy-handed statements but the overall state of the economy demands an unflinching look at the bigger picture. All around there's less room for excuses, for excessive spending, for running hot as sin, for
not being fully competitive to make a persuasive argument to any well-informed shopper who is careful with her money. This does not invalidate KR Audio's achievement of an unusually powerful SET with a proprietary output bottle. But for what it is, it's become too expensive. More importantly perhaps, it's a peculiar case of neither fish nor fowl. Those willing to buy into this type of inefficient operation with its huge dissipation of heat into the room will want more tube-typical audible traits to sweeten the bargain. Those wanting real power but tubes will go for Octave or VTL. Everyone else has endless choices in transistor land. Where does that leave the KR Audio VA350i? I'm honestly not sure.
Quality of packing: Delivered unpacked by Swiss importer.
Condition of component received: Stainless steel showed discoloration and scratches from normal use.
Completeness of delivery: Includes power cord and full-color brochure. Tubes arrive preinstalled.
Website comments: More product information and better photos would be welcome.
Human interactions: Quick responses from the Swiss importer.
Pricing: With the recent price increase, no longer competitive.

Application conditions: Unusually potent SET that will drive speakers well beyond the 300B brigade. Sonically, it's no stand-in for 300Bs but veers more into solid-state sound.
Final comments & suggestions: Should include active line stage and better finish on the pseudo-chrome polished metal chassis. A more convenient tube cage removal solution would be nice as would be biwire terminals.

KR Audio website