Vitus SM-101 Monoblock amplifier
The Thunder and the Silence
part One
January 2007
I promised myself some 10 years ago that once this endeavor of writing about audio stopped
being fun, I would recede quietly into the inky black night. After all, my enjoyment of music
was far too important, and vital to contaminate it with frustration, or even worse, benevolence.
Luckily, my inability to keep to such virtuous proclamations has kept me in the game, and
what a game it has been. This year has proven to be bottom of the ninth, bases loaded and a
full count for all the components that have come to bat. Like some dream team line up, there
has been one clutch hit after another. From the Focus Audio Master II loudspeakers, the Von
Schweikert VR7 loudspeakers to the Nova Acoustics Memory Player, I have been introduced to
a whole new level, a flier into what is possible in high end audio.
Coming off the review of another heavy hitter, the Karan Acoustics KA S450 which raised the
bar for both price and performance, I was presented with the opportunity to review the new
$50,000 Danish monster in the Vitus Audio SM-101, 100 watt mono-blocks. A relative
newcomer, I heard some pretty positive things about Vitus Audio from fellow instigator Dave
Thomas who mentioned them at the ‘06 CES. Being that the North American importer is Focus
Audio, it seemed a good fit, as I still had possession of the venerable Focus Master II. After a
protracted wait due to production schedules and over zealous customs agents, the SM-101
amps arrived. Uncrating these beasts really should be a two-man job, but for what I have lost
in the last ten years in brute strength, I have gained in the understanding of physics and
leverage. This enabled me to extract the SM-101s from their boxes and wrestle them into
position without hurting anything of significance. Lined up on either side of the Karan, they
made this otherwise brawny amp look down right diminutive.
