Question about Class A

At 3X the price the Sugden A21SE had better prove an improvement over the Vincent SV-500.  Actually any of the A21 series should be.

I would not advise the purchase of an amplifier with intentions of using your Vincent as a pre unless you are planing on replacing the Vincent with a higher end preamp in the near future.

Keep your eyes open for a used Sugden A21 series integrated. Should you find one you could purchase it, compare to your Vincent and keep the one that fits best into your system. Sell the other. 

As an aside to your original quarry, have you considered the purchase of an external DAC to replace the one internal to the Vincent?  Improvement in your source may prove to be a better expenditure.

If your speakers are truly 92db sensitive (sometimes mfg's over-rate them), I'd recommend the Pass-Labs 30.8 stereo amp.  Definitely punches way above it's 30WPC rating and has plenty of power-supply for 4-ohm speakers.  My 94db speakers 6-ohm impedance would play very loud and they seldom moved the meter needle !  Great sounding amp and does 30WPC in pure class-A, and I believe 60WPC into 4-ohms in class-A.  Really a power-house amp and highly recommended...  

Jay, if you can find one, the Luxman L-550AX should run around $2500/3000, used and in very nice condition. They're 20W class A, then switch to A/B. I own an L-590AX, which is 30W, I bought it used for $4300, and it looked like new. That amp is one iteration older than the newer, but recently discontinued L-590AXII. Prices vary, some folks ask pretty high prices for a used L-590AXII, but they come up at times for more reasonable money. I believe the models, from oldest to new are A, AII, AX, AXII. Hope this helps, they're great amps.

Jay ,

You can spend yourself blind sorting through the different class A components that are available. There are some great suggestions in this feed but consider the efficiency of your speakers and go to your dealer to listen on a few options. Some dealers even let you take items home for a test drive which may be best. I personally settled on a small flea wat amplifier that only puts out a couple of watts per side, but this is married to a set of really high efficiency Klipsch speakers. Unfortunately it's going to be different for every user. For your budget however I would encourage you to consider Schiit Freya+ and a pair of their monos! They can drive most speakers and they put out pure class A to a point. With class A you will find that you only are using the first five or 10 Watts anyways so don't worry so much about having a ton of power. The nice thing about this company is they are a US company and they will let you test drive in your home no questions asked. Hope this helps and happy Sonic Bliss

Well Folks, I did it, I done did it.

As mentioned earlier, I had heard the A21 yesterday at a local dealer but he didn’t have the A21SE in stock and his price was too much for me.

So I came home and searched around and found a dealer in TX selling through eBay.

Well I took the chance and bought it!

The A21SE should be arriving around 2/23. The dealer offers 30 day returns.

Looking forward to this Amp.

As I mentioned before, my speaker are 92db sensitive (at least according to the Martin Logan), so I am hoping it will be a good match.

@mesch , I have a external dedicated DAC, the Questyle CMA400i, which I feel is a really nice piece.

Once the amp gets here, of course I will be comparing to my Vincent. I am really hoping it’s going to be on another level then the Vincent.

I will let you know how it goes.

I really appreciate all the feedback.

Any owners of Sugden Amps, please also chime in.

Thanks