If you are expecting the usual PR-based clap-trap that abounds on this page, I'm afraid you will be disappointed (come back Andy Giles, all is forgiven). The comments that we are usually subjected to - `thank you, you're wonderfully perceptive' if the reviewer likes a product; `you're cloth-eared and deaf' if he doesn't - have undermined the purpose of this page, which should be used as an unbiased vehicle for a manufacturer's viewpoint.

Regarding the review, I accept and respect the views expressed, apart from the comment from `a highly respected amplifier designer' who either hasn't understood the concept and application or is exercising the wrong orifice. You no more need to match transformers on the TDS (Avel Lindberg's wall-to-wall Essex girl will love to be described as continental) than you need to match them on a pre/power amp: we just take the concept of splitting the cicuit up to the ultimate. A hi-fi amplifier is not a single amplifier, it's a series of amplifiers (gain stages) that have subtly different requirements that are not necessarily mutually compatible. As to being a new concept, we have been using a lesser version of it for eight years in the current A80 and previous A50TDS, so it is well proved and understood (at least by us!). I believe the comments about loudspeaker compatibility are misleading, the amplifier will not be phased by any loudspeaker, unless if has a high frequency notch filter, a crowbar protection circuit or a predominantly 2ohm or lower impedance. What it will do is show them up for what they are and accentuate the prevalent characteristics. I am not sure I agree with the comment about us avoiding high impedances, this is too simplistic. Basically, impedances have to be matched between stages, whether high or low. But within stages the circuit has to be clean and simple. Power supplies do need to be very low impedance. Low capacitance loudspeaker cable is a must and you really won't know what these amps are capable of unless you use Sound Pipe interconnect. Bi- and tri-wiring are out and will invalidate our guarantee (which is for the life of this product). NVA amplifiers do not need artificially contrived high frequency boost in order to perform, and a passive preamp is also essential due to the gain and matching requirements of our power amplifiers.

If you wish to listen to these amplifiers you will probably have difficulty finding them. This is not an indictment of the quality of the amplifier but an indictment of the quality of the majority of UK hi-fi dealers. I spend a lot of time abroad as over 80 percent of our turnover is exported and to see the amount of choice customers have in a country such as Taiwan is incredible: products we have not even heard of, and good products too. The profit margins are the same and yet customers are not led by the nose or treated as unqualified oafs if they can't hear the tunes! In this country you are lucky if you can find more than two products to compare at a price point, whereas in Taiwan, France, Germany, USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore anything up to ten is the norm and the market is not controlled by Linn tunes, Naim balls or valve sweetness. Take a selection of Audiophile reviewers' reference amplifiers: Malcolm Steward - Naim: Alvin Gold - mostly Audio Research: Jonathan Kettle - Audio Note (perhaps NVA now): Dave Wiley - NVA: Jimmy Hughes - Audio Innovations. If you can find a dealer where you can compare these products at the moment in the UK I will give you a set of these amps FREE! In fact, you are unlikely to find a dealer where you can hear even two or three of them. But I know of at least four dealers in Taiwan where you can hear them all. Do you hi-fi enthusiasts get the dealers you deserve? Only you can change it. Vote with your pockets.