This is certainly one of the most self-effacing, natural amplifiers I've heard, almost regardless of price.
But beware, once you've heard it, returning to run-of-the-mill solid-state which has a memory is a difficult task.
WORLD VERDICT : OUTSTANDING 4 out of 4 globes.
The IT has clarity in spades and an extremely rare tonal purity.
Outclasses transistor alternatives at the same price easily...
Jon Marks discovers transistors that sound like valves in Lavadin Technologies' Model IT Reference integrated amplifier.
On of the oldest questions to puzzle hi-fi designers is why valves and transistors sound so different. Glass bottles have a tonal sweetness and lack of artificiality which, at best, is a revelatory experience. Unfortunately, the circumstances for this revelatory experience tend to include silverwound output transformers the weight of a canon ball and horns the size of a potting shed. Speakers on a smaller scale which provide smoe of the speed and impact of such horns often don't fulfil their promise unless driven by a huge black box with enough heatsinking to cool the Gobi desert and a power output approaching the requirements of a small city. In the world of amps, it seems, you can have natural and sweet or grunt and control but not a combination of the two.
Despite the efforts of a legion of Hi-Fi designers, this riddle has remained unsolved. Until now, , thatis, if you believe the claims that Lavardin Technologies make for their IT Reference integrated amplifier. Naming a component "IT" is possibly not the brightest start in life from a nomenclature point of view, but this French company are rather confident of their large box. A brief rifle through the literature explains : "The elegant flagship of the Lavardin Technologies range, the IT is of minimalist design utilizing a highly accurate, high-performance Memory-free design... This is the secret of "tube sound". We are proud, at Lavardin Technologies, to have a full control on that which remains "the mystery of tube musicality" for previous audio designers (sic)."
Lavardin believe that "Memory Distortion" is what gives transistors their characteristic hard, mechanical edge. Like many others, LT suspected that the vacuum inside a valve's glass envelope, which allows electrons free passage, was at the root of the more fluid, relaxed presentation of thermionic amplification. In contrast, an audio signal has to battle its way through silicon, leaving behind an impression of its passage which affects the electrons which come after it.
The goal of eliminating Memory Distortion set LT on the path to 12 year's research which revolved around developing a measurement system which would permit them to quantify MD and thereby to eradicate it. The result is the S and Reference series, each of which includes an integrated, pre, stereo power and monobloc amplifiers.
ACTIVELY SEEKING AMNESIA
Look inside the IT and it's obvious there's somethig a little out of the ordinary going on here electronically. For a start, many of the transistors and some of the ICs have had their numbers filed off to protect their identities. Then there are the parts potted inside the four mystery black boxes, each about 1.5in. square, a pair of which sits in each channel. The IT's internal have a look of purposeful high-quality akin to what you might find inside the pricier products from smaller japanese companies where the character of every single part is examined before its use is contemplated.
AMP ANONYMITY
To determine if Lavardin were either guilty of Gallic hyperbole or discoverers of a major step foward in transistor sound, I lined the IT up against a modified, battery-powered DPA 50S (which is on par with pres at around GBP 2000). Power amplification was provided by Musical Fidellity's X-A200 monoblocs. Loudspeakers were Magneplanar SMGas, refurbished Quad ESL 57s and Kelly KT3 floorstanders. Sources came from Trio (L-07D turntable with SME V arm) and Pioneer (tweaked DV-505 DVD player).
ANTI-POLLUTION SQUAD
Powering up the IT for the first time, I was greeted by a clean but not particularly earth-shattering rendition of Tori Amos'Boys For Pele CD. However, within 10 minutes the IT was beginning to unveil its true capabilities as the sound became ever clearer and more natural. After about half an hour it had evidently warmed though, judging from the outstanding clarity and purity of the music emerging from the Quads.
The ESL 57s are renowned for their pollution-free midrange and treble, which makes them a great yardstick of what an amplifier is doing to vocals especially. The answer with the LAvardin was very, very little indeed. When you compare what'normal'transistor amps do to the signal next to the impact of the IT, Lavardin's assertion that they've succeeded in eliminating transistor nastiness has a ring of truth to it.
Running from its four lead/acid batteries, the DPA 50S and the X-A200s are smooth, detailed performers by standards of most transistor amps, but the IT made them sound coarse, grainy and very coloured. These abberations stood out like sore thumbs on vocals, harpsichord and cymbals, which all had a tonal naturalness through the Lavardin which made sitting back and listening to the music an addictive activity.
On the other hand, switching back to the DPA and MFs in the wake of the French challenger was hard work, a husky nasality on vocals and a bright, spiky 'break-up' on percussion (neither obvious before listening to the IT) making it difficult to relax.
Other areas where this skilled integrated pulled well ahead of the pack were imaging and soundstaging. Where the DPA and MFs can produce an image of a vocalist which would cover about three pages of A4, the IT's focus was roughly twice as precise, as Tori Amos'head and shoulders hung lifesize between the Quads.
The same was true of orchestral pieces, the IT yielding a much more coherent and convincing overall picture. Strings and woodwind had a smoothness and harmonic richness close to valves are capable of, but I suspect the best of thermionic would still leave the Lavardin with some catching up to do. The tables would turn when it came to coloration, though, the IT sounding fabulously neutral without ever being clinical or mechanical. Heavyweight Dance albums like Johnny Magnetic's L, Asian Dub Foudation's Rafi's Revenge and Axiom Dub's Mysteries Of Creation benefited from what the IT had to offer as much as more acoustic recordings. The purity of hi-hats and synths had me reappraising the production quality of some of these discs, as did the crisp bass and effortless control of the IT.
Lavardin Technologies have made some bold claims for their IT amp, but on the basis of what flows from the 4mm binding posts on the rear panel, they're putting their Francs firmly where their mouth is.
This is certainly one of the most self-effacing, natural amplifiers I've heard, almost regardless of price.
But beware, once you've heard it, returning to run-of-the-mill solid-state which has a memory is a difficult task.
WORLD VERDICT : OUTSTANDING 4 globes out of 4.
The IT has clarity in spades and an extremely rare tonal purity.
Outclasses transistor alternatives at the same price easily...
