Lavardin IS Reference or IT - anyone heard?

TAS also awarded one of the Lavardin integrateds a Golden Ear award about 3-4 years ago.

I was looking into them myself at one point but now am so happy with my Audio Note Soro SE so if you have an interest in tubes at all I recommend one.

I've heard the whole Lavardin line, my local dealer is the importer/distributor. It's quite good, I'd rank it above the Plinius integrateds (which he also has), and definitely a cut above the (Spark/Cayin) Prima Luna. The ASL Leyla is nice, as I love the 845 tube, but the Lavardin is better made, and quieter (no hum). Sim, Edge - they seem to spend a lot of $ on the casework, probably less on the internals. Lavardin seems to be the other way around, and they have been doing it a LOT longer than edge/sim from what I can tell. Worth a listen, IMNSHO.

-Ed

Ed Sawyer, I like the 845 as well. How would the Lavardin compare to an 845 SET (roughly speaking). In case one ever had to move away from tubes for child safety reasons.

Budrew, perhaps you should get your tubes tied!

Seriously, thanks for the input Ed, Phil, Budrew.

I own the IS reference and use them with Devore Gibbon 8's and currently using an Ayre CX-7e as a front end(also considering the RA Opus 21).

The lavardin replaced a pair of welborne drd 300b' mono's and a Korneff pre. It goes without saying that you lose some of the harmnic warmth of the 300b(the welbornes are fairly clean btw), but I picked up an octave of bass, pace, and finer detail. The music lifted off the speakers and just flows. Similar in feeling to my PS Audio HCA-2, but better at low volumes, and clearer.

Pretty much a no brainer if you can find one used as they sell VERY quickly when they come up.

My only nit to pick - lack of remote.