Upgrades - Freedom from obsolescence!

Are you afraid that an investment in a stereo system today will be a waste of money, another frivolous purchase on the credit card? That your stereo system will be obsoleted by surround sound entertainment systems? That next year will bring new designs, new breakthroughs, and you’ll have to start all over, throwing away the money you spent?

Fear not! Yes, we likely will have better circuits in the future because we never stop innovating. But that doesn’t mean you will have to start over from scratch.

We have clients using the same amp and preamp chassis they first bought and assembled as a kit in the ‘60s. Same metal, same heatsinks, transformer, knobs, screws, wires, jacks, hardware, faceplate. They have renewed the electronic circuits, the heart of the system. Some clients have had their equipment in to Audio by Van Alstine for circuit upgrades every 10 years or so over 40 years, each time getting current state-of-the-art performance at a fraction of the cost of buying entirely new equipment.

We continue to support the Dyna and Hafler chassis—we have since we started 40 years ago. And we don’t plan to stop.

But it’s even easier for those clients who have purchased new AVA electronics. We had decades of experience working with the Dyna and Hafler pieces, and we learned from their successes and mistakes. When it was time to engineer our own chassis, we were careful to put together rugged and attractive metal enclosures that we knew would last for years. Our chassis are easy to get into for accessing the circuits, changing tubes or fuses, doing any needed maintenance, and updating in the future.

Our designs aren’t garish styling exercises; we never tried for that. We want to give you a rugged, reliable, sturdy, long-lasting home for your circuits—the ones you buy now and the ones you will want in the future.

Currently available upgrades for AVA chassis equipment:

Fet Valve Ultra amp upgrades for all earlier Fet Valve amps. Includes new or upgraded audio circuit boards and new output devices as required, and new regulated power supply circuits.
Insight amp upgrades for all earlier AVA solid-state amps. New or upgraded audio circuit boards as required and new EX series high speed output circuits.
Ultra series preamp upgrades for all Fet Valve SL, Fet Valve EC and Transcendence Seven series preamps. New or upgraded audio circuit board configuration, new multistage high voltage, high current power supply, and new mute circuit.
Transcendence Eight SLR preamp upgrades for all Super Pas 3i, Super Pas 4i, Transcendence Eight , and preamps built in any previous SL chassis. New or majorly upgraded audio circuit boards as required and upgraded regulated power supplies.
Insight preamp upgrades for all earlier AVA solid-state preamps. New or upgraded circuit boards and power supplies as required. New mute circuit.
Insight DAC upgrade for all earlier AVA DACs. Includes re-engineered audio filter stage, digital circuit enhancements, and new mute circuit.
Ultra hybrid DAC upgrade for all earlier AVA DACs. Includes new Ultra hybrid vacuum tube audio filter stage, digital circuit enhancements, new regulated high current, multi-stage high voltage power supply and new mute circuit as required. Not all changes are necessary for all previous circuit configurations.

Currently available upgrades for Dyna and Hafler chassis equipment:

Insight amp upgrades for all earlier AVA solid-state circuits in Hafler or Dyna chassis. New or upgraded audio circuit boards and power supply, as required.
Insight preamp upgrades for all earlier AVA solid-state circuits in Dyna Pat-4 or Pat-5 preamps. New or upgraded circuit boards and power supplies as required. New mute circuit.

Note: Control, jacks, and switches will be cleaned, renewed or replaced as required. Many at no charge, some at extra cost depending on the age, condition and origin of the chassis.