"Blogging on Audio" allows us to give a behind-the-scenes view of the reviewing process, which is an ongoing thing around here and sometimes has some hiccups along the way. This entry is about the JE Audio VM60 mono amps that I just finished writing the text for, which will be published on May 1 on SoundStage! Hi-Fi. They sell for $6400 USD per pair. The review has been a long time coming; in fact, way too long.
What happened is this: some time after I reviewed JE Audio's VL10.1 preamp, John Lam, the company's owner and chief designer, asked if he could send me the VM60s for review. He stipulated that he didn't expect me to rush with the review, since he was the one initiating it. He also knew that I have a huge backlog of gear at any one time. Since I really liked the VL10.1, I said, "Sure, why not?" Then I took what he said at face value about the no-rush thing -- and didn't rush one bit.
The amps were here back when the Vivid Audio Giya G2s were, which was a long time ago, and they remained here through a host of other speakers that came in and out for review. Frankly, the VM60 review took way too long to finish -- something I take full responsibility for, since I put it off way longer than I should have, despite the "no rush" orders -- but there was a benefit at the end. When the point came that I said to myself, "Doug, sit your butt down and write this review," the Tannoy Definition DC10A speakers had just arrived. The VM60s and DC10As were a sonic match made in heaven, with the amps singing better with these speakers than with any of the other loudspeakers I had here before. So after all that time, I could finally hear the full potential of the amps, which means there ended up being a silver lining to this way-too-long review process.
When the review comes out, I hope you read it because the amps are of the caliber of the VL10.1 and will certainly be appealing to some. The pictures that accompany this article are the "raw" images of a VM60 that were taken on April 5 and will be sent to our art director, Karen Fanas, to have the backgrounds cut out, shadows added, and little dust particles removed before we put them in the review. I thought it might be interesting for readers to see the pictures of the VM60 before she gets them.
Doug Schneider
Publisher and founder, The SoundStage! Network
