One day before the Los Angeles Audio Show, Jason Victor Serinus, his fresh haircut, and I visited VTL Amplifiers, Inc. in Chino, California. We were given a tour of the factory by Bea Lam and Luke Manley, who were featured in this 2007 interview by Jason. While Jason has a certain sense of familiarity with Bea, Luke, and their amplifiers, I only became truly aware of VTL at the 2016 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, when Bea and I fatefully met in the women's restroom of the hotel lobby—a rare place to meet people at a hi-fi show! (I highly recommend it.)
It was interesting to see how small and hands on VTL's operation is (12–15 people) and learn about their quality control process—a concept frequently mentioned, yet rarely explained to the level of detail that Luke and Bea do in this video. With the factory's layout, we opted for an animated map of the space rather than a one shot walk through. Also, this will be interesting to any Pinoy audiophiles out there: Former President of the Philippines Noynoy Aquino III is a VTL fan.
