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"Off the record". These three little words are like Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility when flashed before a member of the press. What if what hides beneath that cloak is severe impropriety? Imagine my shock when Mr. Ming Su, in the wake of an e-mail in which I complained about the lack of documentation, proper packaging and my prototype suspicions, finally confessed that this amplifier is indeed very much a prototype. As it turns out, it's prototype #2.
Worse, he approached 6moons under the pretext of a formal review to quietly determine whether this amplifier should go into production or not. As the future importer for Verdier and considering the reemergence of interest in 45-based amplifiers, Mr. Su had thought it a good idea to approach J.C. Verdier with a request to modify the existing Triode Spirit 2A3 to take the 45 valve instead while adding the convertible AC/DC feature.

Now I'm told that the launch of the Triode Spirit AC/DC 45 is not only contingent on the outcome of this review and what kind of statements about its competitive mettle it might net but equally on whether Mr. Ming will even be able to satisfy Mr. Verdier's minimum order requirement for a custom amplifier that is not presently part of the lineup.


This, dear reader, is a clear abuse of the formal review process. As we have plainly stated in our "How We Review" article, any manufacturer is free to approach any of our writers if he wishes to pay for a private consultation. In that case and after payment of a mutually agreed upon fee, the chosen writer will deliver a confidential report with the express intent to assist the manufacturer in determining whether his product's appearance, build, features, user interface, packaging, name and performance are considered "ready for prime time".


However, we do not review prototypes nor will we be tricked into providing free consultations under the guise of a formal review. That's neither fair to us nor to our readers who, rightfully, assume that if they read about an amplifier from an established maker, said amplifier is for sale and available to them.
With this amplifier, that's not presently the case. This fact is further suggested by visiting J.C. Verdier's website. Nowhere is that amplifier even listed there. Mr. Ming Su's belated admission now explains why.


I must confess to being a bit confounded by this turn of events. It shows respect neither for us nor J.C. Verdier nor you. Neither should it be any grave revelation that formal reviews of production gear and paid-for consultations -- to determine whether something should even go into production, at all or as is -- are two distinctly different subjects. With apologies to our readers who expected a full review, I'm herewith returning the amp to Mr. Su. Consider that the end of this story while I shake off my disbelief.


I briefly debated whether to simply delete what had already written by way of introduction to the J.C. Verdier brand and this particular amplifier. After all, certain things are better left unsaid. In the end, however, I hate to throw away good hard work. Also, if I labored under any misapprehensions that this particular matter should be obvious and self-explanatory to emerging importers and distributors, making the above statements seems very much necessary. Let's assume that Mr. Ming Su learned a valuable lesson and proceeds with his new distributorship in ways that make the J.C. Verdier brand proud. It is, after all, quite a legendary brand in France. More than one American audio enthusiast must long since have quietly belabored the point that we have not been able to access these goods here in the US. Best of luck to Mr. Su and J.C. Verdier then.
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