“I want to say that I bought this amp to build a stereo system for my 28 year old daughter. The tube aspect of the integrated amp for a $1000 really intrigued me. The speakers I intend to push with this are the Polk Audio flag ship speakers, which I believe have an efficiency of 88 db at one watt and are recommend between 20 and 200 watts to perform. Although the amp does make the speakers sound fairly loud, it does not have the power to make the speakers sing to their potential. Hence I took a Yamaha power amp, rated at 200 watts, and just used the preamp section of this integrated amp, and wow, what clarity and smoothness this preamp brought to the Yamaha. This Yamaha never sounded so good with a (Marantz CD 6006 also from Audio Advisor) playing through the dac of this Vincent preamp. If I hook up smaller and more efficient speakers, the 50 watt amp in this integrated amp sounds fine and pushes the smaller speakers nicely. The moral of this review is the preamp in this unit is exceptional for a $1000 integrated amp. The way it makes the Yamaha Power amp sing with the Polk Audio LSIM 705 is amazing. However, I feel this unit is best matched with it's 50 watt amp inside with more modest efficient speakers, maybe mid grade towers or high end book shelf speakers. The 50 watts just is not enough to push the Polk Audio Flagship speakers. Nevertheless, it sounds great through some smaller pioneer speakers I have. This does not take anything away anything from the quality of the sound or the product's value. Matching equipment pieces is sometimes an art in itself. I am grateful Audio Advisor has a great policy for us to try with our system so we can decide if the equipment is right for us.”
“This is the best piece of stereo gear I have bought in years!! Even, my wife, who normally doesn't come into my listening room, came in the other night and even she could tell how good this little hybrid tube amp sounds! This product just oozes with "quality", You can tell it the minute you unpack it out of the box!!! I like this little hybrid amp so much, I may buy another one for my downstairs man cave system. It sounds that good!!!”
“This is the best piece of stereo gear I have bought in years!! Even, my wife, who normally doesn't come into my listening room, came in the other night and even she could tell how good this little hybrid tube amp sounds! This product just oozes with "quality", You can tell it the minute you unpack it out of the box!!! I like this little hybrid amp so much, I may buy another one for my downstairs man cave system. It sounds that good!!!”
“This is the nicest piece of stereo gear I have bought in many years!! From the minute I opened the box, I could tell it was a quality made product! It sounds so smooth and rich, it has restored my interest in music! Even classical music on FM sounds so good, you would swear you are listening to a CD!! I couldn't be any happier with this integrated amp!! It is "First Class" in all respects!”
“First amp I've kept in my system for more than two years ... great amp with lots of power and very clean, detailed, musical sound plus very wide soundstage. Excellent construction quality. That was the first thing to impress me. I keep changing my speakers - now owning B&W - but the Vincent amp stays put. Recommended.”
“Love the warm, emotional, very rich musical performance. I'm using mainly my Marantz CD player into the digital input and find it sounds better than using the DAC in the CD. Must be a better DAC chip in the SV-500. The remote control is well made, metal instead of plastic. Love the sound of voices and big sound stage. Very happy with this amp.”
