Dario,
Congratulations on your find. The brand is new to me, but I'm sure there are many brands I've never heard of. I glanced at the website, so I know this amp is rated at 50w/channel. Is this an Class A/B amp, D, or other?
Good morning
Lavardin is a French brand quite well known in Europe, it is approaching 30 years of presence on the market, it started with the production of integrated amplifiers, IS and IT, and then diversified with cables, accessories, such as electronic racks, and also particular speakers, you can see the products on their website Lavardin Technologies.
One of their inspiring principles is the harmfulness of silicon memory, that is, the fact that, while valves do not have electrical memory, solid state components do, and this according to them affects the sonic result.
Hence a minimalist ss circuit, but with some encapsulated parts, thanks to which the amplifier is not affected by this phenomenon and the result should be a more airy sound, less mechanical and not conditioned by the silicon components on the signal path, in summary , the valve-like sound but in a ss amp.
I would read the review that appears on their site, Lavardin IS Reference Integrated Amplifier by Pete Christie
Issue 13 - September 2001, very nice and explanatory!
Technically, it is a class AB ss amplifier, minimalist, a central LED that indicates operation, an input selector, which refers to RCA only connections with an optional mm phono input, optional remote control, only from the x models onwards, the mine doesn't have that, and a volume knob.
It is given for 45 watts per channel, so it is not an amplifier suitable for all speakers, I would not connect it to 88 Db speakers, for example, except for background listening. . . There are also more powerful models, and also separate pre and power amplifiers, but the true iconic objects of the brand are the first, IT and IS Reference without remote control!!
To understand their philosophy and delve a little deeper into the products, I would read the FAQ part on their site, which is quite interesting, furthermore the site is full of reviews of their products, to get an idea, and all the models produced since 1998 are present forward.
I hope I have been helpful, if the power of around 45 - 50 watts is enough, a used IS or IT Ref is worth all the money spent to buy it, and even more!! have a good day everyone
Dario