First off I would like to make clear that I was ( fortunately ) unaware of the 'difficult' relationship that exists between the owner/manufacturer of NVA and the owners of this and other forums before I bought the above amplifier.
I hope that people who know me and have dealt with me will accept that I am an honest and I would like to think a decent chap who just enjoys his music -- I have pretty high turnover rate of gear and so have advertised and sold a fair amount on here.
I have no axe to grind of any kind and do not want to become involved in any 'war of words' from either side
I am writing this thread simply to share my experience with the equipment bought ----- this is a very long intro I appreciate but the relationship does seem so poor unfortunately that I feel obliged to do so -- I am writing about hi fi amplifier (and cables ) not about personalities -- OK hope that's clear !!!
I have been on a gentle simplification of my system -- and the direction has been driven mostly by cost as I have not had full time work for a while and so cannot justify having several thousand £'s of gear however much I enjoy listening to it.
Therefore I was intrigued by the NVA offer of a passive pre with a 25 watt power amp, interconnect and speaker cable for £300 (!) -- I read up a little and gave it a go.
I have to say for the money ( and infact for significantly more new ) in my honest opinion the amplifiers represent tremendous value. They add no discernible audio signature that I am aware of but just seem to let the music play without being too 'bright'
I do not have the reviewers vocabulary and also am not sure I understand it when it is used by others (!) so I will just say I have just enjoyed listening and that is my only criteria.
Despite my best efforts the 'box swapper' within me is deeply ingrained and I admit I have been so impressed that I first upgraded the 'free' interconnects to a mid range 'super' sound cord (SSC) £55 for 0.5m pair and the 'free' speaker cable to LSA5 £125 for 1.5m pair --- both have made meaningful improvements ..... and as a result I have a 'soundpipe' digital interconnect and a stepped attenuator passive on order ( there is a like for like upgrade service ) ........
My system is now a Innuos/Zen music player (server&1TB NAS) > Ifi Audio DAC ( I miss the Sw1X but it had to go for financial reasons) > NVA amps > Kudos Cardea C2 speakers ( with mostly NVA cabling ) and I am very very pleased with how it all sounds
So I hope this 'review' is taken in good faith --- I can see there are some strong and possibly 'difficult/committed/passionate' characters
involved ---- I just didnt want the real important issue - the music and the equipment to get lost in it all
Feel free to comment (ofcourse !) but please dont try to drag me into anything other than a conversation about the hifi
cheers
chris
NB I am putting same review on the 'Wam' with same comments