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Beneath the bonnet sits a cleanly executed circuit with quality parts dominated by a massive toroidal power transformer. Vincent specifies 250wpc into 4Ω and 150 into 8 Ω. The decorative display window only shows one of the three 12AX7 twin triodes which preamplify the incoming signal before four bipolar transistors per side take over for current buffering. Bias current is set for ca. 10 watts of pure class A operation. This might sound short but in normal practice is quite sufficient to have most of us rarely leave this thermally more intense output mode.
It also explains the opulent heat sinking. Depending on the size of your listening room you might even do without additional space heater. Should your electricity bill reflect it, that’s your price for sonic fun in the sun.
Whilst still on levels, the included remote was somewhat fussy. Even a small prompt would advance the volume too far, a return would skip the desired level. Lacking patience I quickly did what our forefathers did. I got up and twiddled manually. ‘twas faster to get just the right settings.
Relative to personal expectations the specifications were promising but prior brand exposure didn’t necessarily have me a complete fan. Earlier models tended to be a bit heavy handed. I’d never have recommended a Vincent to listeners who concentrate on chamber music and filigreed romantic piano concerts, i.e. material which hinges on musical intimacy conveyed by micro detail and advanced microdynamics. The early Vincents additionally played it dimensionally a bit flat. Though offering apparently unlimited power, I found them tuned for the successful quickie audition. Admitting all of that to a colleague, he assured me that my longstanding brand image was due a serious overhaul.
What remains however is power. In my digs the Vincent never left any doubt about its potency. Take the 9-minute title song of 10 Year’s The Autumn Effect album. That’s its own hybrid of alt heroes Tool and Incubus and develops a nicely dramatic arc. It kicks of with a heavily reverb’d guitar loop for a trancy atmosphere before the crystallized foreground-mixed vocals of the front man cut right through it to herald the first refrain where the whole band enters. This scaling toward the first peak had the Vincent merely shrug its shoulders. Pace quickened, SPL scaled up but overview or demeanour never altered.
