Lavardin IS Reference or IT - anyone heard?

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.

Ah! Excellent insight, Prfont...

I recently bought a 2nd hand but nearly new IT, only, I am afraid, because I could'nt cope with the heat from my 845 SET in the Summer. I was expecting it to be good, but it is quite as good, though different, than the 18watt SET. The latter has more drive but the IT more air and delicacy. I plan to keep both and can't see myself changing either. The SET will be for winter use. The family can gather round it and toast marshmallows.
The IT seems a bargain to me, its a minimalist design and the output is only 50watts, but that is enough for a lot of speakers these days

Another boutique brand with very little bang for the buck.