Affordable Integrated Amp, Seriously Transparent! 

I use the AVA set 120 control amplifier with the LRS+ maggies and this combination is just audiophile heaven. Both beautiful American brands that provide exceptional value for the money.

I love the system of the day. Just what I couldn't afford when I was in college. I'd love to hear it. So nice that companies like Van Austin and Belles are still out there and making great products.

my CA-1 and I spent some time today at a hi-end boutique dealer listening to Rosso Ferentino Stand Mounts powered by the well regarded 8 grand Canor Virtus I2 Integrated amp, a KT88 tube design. When I swapped in the CA-1, the dealer's jaw dropped, as the CA-1 was every bit the equal of the Canor. The dealer said, "Wow, I guess I won't be selling you an amp ever! I know a great amp when I hear one, and that's a great amp." Guttenberg undersold the CA-1 in his review.

One of my special memories as an occasional audio journalist back in the late 70s was trekking out to a Minneapolis suburb to interview Frank Van Alstine. I recall that he did very well regarded mods of Dynaco preamps and such; Haflers maybe, not sure As well as Grado cartridges. I remember him as quite an interesting guy, holding forth in his bathrobe in the basement of his suburban rambler. I couldn't afford one of his amps, but I did buy one of his Grado mods and it was really good.

Was always curious about this brand’s products. Thanks for giving them some attention.

Wow, I've been looking at AVA since the mid 80s. Glad to see some recognition.

I’m glad they hit this price point. Very much needed for an American made amp. A big consideration for my first amp.

Everything AVA I’ve owned has been extremely enjoyable. Currently have their top tier tube preamp, excited about this new amp architecture. The SET120 is lovely and sounds insanely natural.

Thanks Steve, appreciate your commens here. This is also available as a stand alone amp for anyone who can use that or wants a preamp/line stage with more controls.

Another fine piece of equipment out of the Twin Cities. Audio Research, Magnepan, Van Alstine...

My highschool band director introduced me to the world of Frank Van Alstine back in 1974. He picked up Frank's Double 400 along with a modified PAT5 preamp for his amazing Magnaplanar system. While in college my roommates and I would occasionally hang out at Frank's on weekend nights. Frank tolerated us well and never hesitated to clean up our substandard soldering in the Dynaco gear we built. I bought a turntable, cartridge, speakers and had a ST70 mod'd by Frank. Great times.

Wow, one of my favorite “viewers systems” segment. What a beautiful rig. I enjoyed seeing how they have a mixture of vintage and more current production gear. I do the same, and it can absolutely work out beautifully.

All the Van Alstine are terrific bargains, if you're looking for purist design....

Talking about Gill-Scott! Love your observations about music.

I really like the viewer system of the day.

Alstine new to me, thanks! Love these smaller HiFi companies that keep chugging along! Gil-Scott, "Pieces of a man" 1971 is a well recorded classic worth a listen! The prisoner features Ron Carter on bass. Ron begins piece using a bow which is rare for him to do so. "Home is where the hatred is" cut, speaks on addiction; very relevant today.

Love that system of the day and that room looks very cool. I had an AR XA turntable with a Pickering Cartridge back in the early '70s.

I recently purchased the NP1 power amplifier from Van Alstine. I can't wait to get it into my system.

I bought a Van Alstine AVA Omega III (1980s Dynaco chassis) amp “needing repair.” I contacted Frank thru his Audio Circles forum, and received assistance with documentation and was able to solve all issues. A very well designed and built 85 watt /8ohm amp. Top notch products in their current lineup, worth checking out.

awesome shirt!

I have a Van alstine super pas 3. It is a great preamp. Frank is a great guy.

Keep spreading the news about affordable audio components!

Steve. I've said this before. You're my favorite reviewer. Thanks. I may buy this!

Amazing Shirt! Great week Steve!

They’ve been great for 50 years too.

Steve! , Thanks for posting this video.

"Mongo Santamaria"? "Hey, you can't park that horse there! It's illegal!"

In my honest opinion after all these years of reading and watching his You Tube channel i can honestly say i trust Steve Guttenberg enthusiastic assessment of these products !

No sales reps. No dealer mark-up. No expensive ads in Stereophile and TAS. No rooms at hi-fi shows.

I've had the pleasure of going to Frank's house in Woodbury to audition some pieces. I ended up buying a pair of his M225 monoblocks.

Great to know about this amp!

Great review… love the affordable price…

No frills… a better world indeed. But… Nice shirts 4ever!! Cheers.

good review Steve! i've purchased two speaker brands you reviewed, and they are wonderful, BUT ,90% of the newer amp ,preamps or dacs just do not evoke beauty, emotion, or a sense of pride of ownership. I look at these cheap flat black or flat silver painted boxes and they just turn me cold. For example. on this amp , look at minute 2:22. the speaker terminals look like they cost five cents! on the top left rear side, the panels don't even line up....right? I am about your age (70) . For my daily driver im using a yamaha A-s1100 integrated with beautiful VU meters ,real wood side panels and the rear panel is a work of art! I still think Yamaha still exudes that real 70's vibe. I found this open box deal on ebay..$1,500.00 bucks 10 years ago and never looked back. Steve , you gotta admit late 60's - 70's was the best..These components had gravitas! thank you.

Built in DAC is not a deal breaker. No frills unit. An amp worthy of saving my lunch money with.

That Is a fun shirt you're wearing

Red Clay Strays... is a religious County group. The song mentioned is about wanting divine love not a lost lover. No judgement here, just not as Steve interpreted it.

Audio by van Alstine’s flagship preamp (fet Valve CFR), along with CA-1 would form my retirement from audio, system. That dac from Denafrips, the Enyo 15 would also definitely be on the list as well! Although Parasound’s JC-3+ phono stage would get used FAR more than that Enyo, Initially! As dinner gatherings progressed, I’d play far more Cd’s of course. An excellent job as always, Steve! (We dread the time if you retire).

YESSS makes sense that LP, cartridge, and table isolation/ motor quality are about the same difficulty as CD or stream quality, and DAC ability, or Tape quality, motor/machine and or deck rebuild quality Here as with LEAK you get the sufficient stages of amplification for all but moving coil? 55w solves so many issues IMO My bet, half the market is TT only - wonder what per cent uses reel to reel, maybe TT - but no DAC?

What a great system!

Care to dare? Steve compare with Rogue Audio Sphinx V3. I’m pretty sure the Rogue is better at same price, with more power, and an excellent phono stage. You even reviewed the Sphinx!

Noticed the Ciccone Youth LP next to the Maggies. !

Although there isn't a pre out or sub out, SVS has come out with their SoundPath Speaker Level Subwoofer Adapter in the event, the inputs and outputs of one's sub isn't up to par as a pass thru option. Still, would like to have seen an XLR input on it. Either way, tempted to try it as an upgrade that still has a reasonable sized footprint and weight.

How does the CA1 compare to the Van Alstine Set 120 integrated amplifier you reviewed just 2 years ago? They seem to be very similar. Would be nice to know the differences. Thanks.

I have an AVA SET 120 power amp and Transcendence 10 SLR preamp driving Spatial Audio M3 Triode Master speakers. A match made in heaven.

Steve, I think you reviewed the Van Alstine SET 120 control amp a few years back. That one doesn’t have a remote or phono input but presumably has 60/120wpc into 8/4 ohms. You liked that one quite a bit. If you are able, can you comment on any differences from your notes or memory as it is still offered?

1600.00 is not cheap but it’s a reputable old brand and American made still. So it’s a good buy.

Yo Steve, I got a 10yr old Denon AVR-1613 from the thrift (with remote) for $10. That's affordable. $1600 isn't that easy to come by for all of us. Very nice unit. Had it been below $1k I might agree with you.

Frank Van Alstine is awesome. So are AVA products.

I watched many audio equipment reviews. It seems to me you have to have different audio equipment for different songs to be completely happy.😆

Nice Shirt math.

Lucinda Williams Wakin' Up belongs in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Has Steve ever called out any gear?... everything is smooth, Musical, magical... cmon man

I bought the power amp only version (NP1) after watching this. Plan to pair it up with a LTA Mz2

Hello Steve from Meaford Ontario Canada : Steve, Angela Gilbert Yeung here in Canada is a super genius audio electronic engineer, This gear can outperform equipment three times it's price the features Angela Gilbert Yeung puts into there pre amps and amps is outstanding with a tube dial and upgrade abilities that bring the gear to top audiophile sound ....have you reviewed thsee products ? If not highly recommended

I've had 10+ amps, some way more expensive, and this is easily my favorite running Zu Soul 6s.

It has a phono section!!!!! Yay! No DAC? Who cares?

I wish my amp had a remote like that. Keep the remote simple.

AVA says on their site they're happy to ship international orders, so that likely should be corrected.

America first Make audio great again

Used to have an AVA upgraded dynaco ST-150 and it was an impressive amp

Great review Steve 👍

My friend has the CA-1 with Zu DW6 Supremes, and to my ears it's a great match. It's her third and least expensive amp she's had with her Zus and easily the best match in her room, but maybe Steve doesn't have the Supreme model which migh effect matching.

Hi Steve, Are the PAP speakers MIA? I bet that would be an interesting combination. I need to hear some Maggies looking forward to your thoughts. Do you have your 3 room dimensions and listening position from each speaker? This is super valuable info to extrapolate all of your reviews into our own set ups. The room is as important a component as any other in evaluation. l saw Lucinda live at House of Blues here in Atlanta. All star band and a fantastic show. She has a double live album ( Live at the Fillmore) from that period about 20 years ago that is 115 minutes of bliss. Very well recorded.

Love its classic looks...any chance you can review a similar looking amp, the Vincent Audio SV-500? ATB, Gerlach Sven.

Thank you for nice informative video's You never mentioned car or portable speakers, could you recommend portable speakers or car audio

Is this the unit you mentioned in the Caladan video I believe

Love my enyo. At least until I play a record..

I wish Van Alstin had EU sales and representatives. On this Mongo Santamaria's album there played two great flutists as soloists, Dave Valentin and maestro Hubert Laws, didn't they?

I make new upgraded crossovers for the Altec Valencia 846.

I would suspect the select buttons are for input selection?

Ran 1.7is w SOA ll AB 350w@4ohms 😊

LM3886 chip tripled? Looks like.... thus sound similar to LEAK 150 which has it for sure....

It's a shame that the CA1 doesn't pre outs or or a sub out (for those of us that don't a high level input on our subs),

Has anyone else spotted 6 (most likely tda series) integrated amplifiers mounted onto 2 skinny heat sinks ? They could at least have used 2 pairs of mos-fets at the output stage ….just saying …

dang, I own an AVA set120 amp and their tube amp, but my current setup are DW6's, I almost ordered it but ......

Steve, I usually don’t make requests but I hope that you will be reviewing both Galion amplifiers in the future. I purchased his solid-state power amplifier and holy moly… $1495 going on $8,000 to $9000.

Can you please put a better set of binding posts for heavensake?

CA1 vs the Rogue Audio Sphinx v3 driving the LS50 meta?

Steve, where do you stash all these speakers😂😂

The Spkr terminals are too crowded, poor design.

Why review an amplifier that's unavailable to MOST PEOPLE?

Which one is better? This or set 120?

I live in the EU and buy EU gear. Over the pond try and do the same thing......

Affordable, lol

for the millionth time stop calling things over $1000 affordable. most people have to save up for months to muster up that much money to burn. affordable is more like saving up 2-4 paychecks of spare cash.

Rather boring in appearance

$1600 is not affordable

1600 dollars for 55 watts no digital inputs 😅😅 nope

They’ve been great for 50 years too.