It is written in the book of hi-fi that you cannot get truly transparent sound for so little money. Here's a product that rewrites the book.

This French high end manufacturer has surprised us before. Its Club Ten integrated amplifier was on the cover of UHF No. 56, which cover heralded what can only be called a rave review.
     But that amplifier was expensive. Not oh-my-gosh expensive, perhaps, but expensive enough that a number of direct competitors readily suggested themselves. This amplifier, at well below C$2000, also has lots of competition, but most of it is trash. We hesitate to say this about products with four-digit prices, but the fact that even if we fell on hard times we wouldn't buy one of these products. As well listen to a boombox.
     Oh, there are exceptions, and that's fortunate. But this surprising amplifier -- which easily earns that adjective -- has made us re-evaluate our view of economy amplifiers.
     Visually, the I-4 (known as the Club Six in Europe) rather looks like the Club Ten, with a large volume knob and tiny lights to indicate which input is selected (an equally small front panel button can select the inputs if you don't have the remote control at hand). At the rear (see the picture below) there is a striking difference from the Club Ten: the jacks. One of our few criticisms of the older amplifier was the ratty quality of the jacks. Vecteur pleaded cost controls, and made better jacks an extra-cost option. The jacks on the I-4 are far better. The binding posts are also very nice, and for good measure there are two sets, to allow easy bi-wiring. There are five high-level inputs, plus a tape loop (actually called "mon" for "monitor"). The curiously-labelled "DAT" input can be turned into a phono input with an optional module, not included with our amplifier. There is a "line" output for use with a second amplifier (for biamplification) or a subwoofer.

     The supplied power cord has a Hubbell hospital grade AC plug, though the IEC 320 connector at the other end is the usual molded type.
     Inside is a MOSFET output stage claiming 80 watts/channel into 8 ohms, enough for most modern speakers (there's also a more powerful I-6). The power supply is substantial, and so for that matter is the chassis. The power switch is on the rear, not intended for frequent use. You can put the I-4 into energy-saving "standby" mode from the remote control. When you awaken it, the volume knob will wind itself all the way down before the circuits come to life.
     We had lined up a series of LP's to try out this amplifier, and we were disappointed to find that -- despite what we had expected -- the phono stage was not included. Rather than switch to other recordings, we used the phono stage that is in our Copland reference preamp, feeding the Vecteur from the "tape out" jacks in order to bypass the preamp's volume control.
     The first one was the Dallas Wind Symphony's high energy Trittico (Reference Recordings RR-52), with its megawatt wind and percussion. The first thing we noticed was the sheer impact of the music, a clear indication that the I-4's power rating is not just spin doctoring. The brass was very good, without shrillness, and the woodwinds excellent. The snare drum was at once clear and realistic. This music, by Vaclav Nelhybel, is as rhythmic as it is dynamic, and the I-4 did well by it on both counts.
     In our earlier test of a Vecteur amplifier, we had praised its ability to translate tiny auditory cues into a sense of depth and space. This amplifier has a similar talent. The space of the Myerson Symphony Center was well rendered, with nothing added. So far so good...really good in fact.
     Our second recording is one we have often used, not only because it's fun to listen to (though that by itself could justify it) but also because it has solo roles for so many orchestral instruments. It's Walton's Façade Suite (Reference Recordings RR-16), and it was hard to hear much difference between the I-4 and our immensely more expensive reference. True, the piccolo (which has a brief passage at the beginning of the suite) was a little shriller, but everything else was exemplary. The greatly varied instrumental timbres were easy to differentiate, and sounded quite natural. That included the snare drum, which separates the different sections of the suite, and the always problematic cymbal.
     Music is more than just a collection of sounds, however, or it should be. What we like about this famous satirical suite is its sly humor, nicely communicated by the musicians of the Chicago Pro Musica. None of that humor was lost. Nor were the complex counterpoints. This amplifier was rapidly amassing points!
     From there we went to one of the world's most famous audiophile recordings, Jazz at the Pawnshop (Proprius 7778-79). From the first notes Gerard remarked that the sound was once again slightly brighter than with our reference, though not enough to be in the least disturbing. After that, none of us wrote much. When music sounds this good you just listen, and the serious work can wait!
     Still, we did strive to put together some reactions. None of the instruments -- the piano, the clarinet, the sax, the vibraphone or the ever-present crowd -- was reproduced less than flawlessly, each placed where it should be in that familiar 3-D space. The percussion sounded rather light...meaning fast not thin, and that's good. Rhythm was nothing less than magical. This was astonishingly close to our reference!
     By now we were eager to keep going. We put on the LP version of Spirit and the Blues (Opus 3 LP19401), cut at 45 rpm. We listened to one of our favorites, the Gospel prayer Needed Time. When it was over we discussed it a bit. And then we realized that over several minutes we had been talking about the song, but no one had said anything about the sound.
     Well...what was there to say? That Eric Bibb's folk guitar was gorgeous and natural? That Goran Wennerbrandt's bottleneck guitar was magnificent in its distinctively metallic tone? That Bibb's voice was clear, warm and detailed? That the instrumental textures were clear and coherent? That the song's sincerity was touching? All true...and that was why we talked about the music itself.
     Our fifth and last LP was from some years back, the original recording from Rickie Lee Jones (Warner BSK3296). There are a lot of novel voice effects in the last cut on the first side, Last Chance Texaco. and they came through wonderfully. Like several others of Jones' songs, this one plays with rhythm in an unusual way, and bad gear can destroy it.
     Not in this case. As with the previous recordings, we noted the clarity and the natural texture of both guitar and voice. The tonal balance was pretty well perfect, and the dynamics were impressive too. In this haunting allegory involving a woman whose relationships have all gone wrong, Jones uses her elastic voice to simulate the sound of cars racing by on the highway, past the service station of the title. A lesser amplifier would compress those effects and destroy their impact. "It's funny no one has mentioned the power available from this amplifier," said Gerard. "We've been just taking it for granted that there would always be enough."
     "I think," added Albert, "that I'm going to go home and listen to the rest of this record tonight."
     But one aspect of the test bothered us. Since we had done it with LP's, using our own phono section, readers would be left wondering whether the I-4 would work as well with CD's. We pulled out one of the discs that we had used in some of the other tests, an excerpt from the Handel opera Alcina (Analekta FL 2 3137). The sound on this recording is wonderful, but there is plenty on it that can go wrong.
     None of it really did. True, we did prefer it through our reference preamp and power amplifier. Karina Gauvin's voice had been warmer, the strings richer, the rhythm stronger. Yet the I-4's version was amazingly close, closer than we had any reason to expect. The timbres of Tafelmusik's instruments were natural, and so was Gauvin's voice. The explosive transients of both voice and orchestra were handled with ease. As with some of the LP's, the sound was ever so slightly brighter, but it came across as a difference rather than a flaw. Who can truly know which interpretation is the right one?
     On the test bench the I-4 did well, not misbehaving even at very low levels, where bad designers hide their mistakes. Noise was slightly higher than we had expected, though it was inaudible even under the most stringent circumstances.
     The output also included a small amount of DC, some 13 millivolts. Was this a sign of possible failure, we wondered? No, the manufacturer told us, just a fact of life when you use a MOSFET output stage, which can't be balanced as tightly as bipolar transistors can be. Then why hadn't we noticed DC in the output of other MOSFET amplifiers we had tested? Because, said the company, they use capacitors in the signal path. Capacitors do block direct current, but even the best ones aren't completely transparent. In order to get all of the musicality this amplifier is capable of, Vecteur keeps capacitors out of the way.
     So how bad is 13 mV of DC? If we assume an 8 ohm load (though at DC a speaker load is typically much lower), the amount of power transferred is a fiftieth of a milliwatt (0.00002 watt), not enough to worry about.
     Speaking of watts, the I-4 easily met its power rating, putting out just over 91 watts per channel into 8 ohms. Pushing it into clipping to 98 watts tripped the protection relay, which reset itself with no damage as soon as we backed off.
     Crosstalk between adjacent inputs is an extremely low -75 dB over most of the frequency range, rising to a still very good -56 dB at 10 kHz.
     We were so shaken up by this listening session that we called the distributor to confirm the I-4's list price. Surely it wasn't right -- we must have confused two models, no?
     Well...no. The price really is ridiculously low.
     What about availability, then? Was this one of those rare birds you can get only in tiny quantities, and you order it, and it takes six months to come in, and then you're told that one of the parts isn't made anymore, and a much more expensive part had to be substituted, and we're very sorry but the price had doubled? No, we were assured, Vecteur has lots of production, and the price stands.
     Let's put all this into perspective. There are amplifiers with (Canadian) three-digit prices that we have praised, because they respect basic musical values, and we were prepared to forgive obvious sonic shortcomings. In the range of $3000 to $4000, we have a number of favorite amplifiers that truly are high end products, and whose existence calls into question the wisdom of buying moderately-priced separate amps and preamps. But there's something of a hole in between, and in this price range it's rare to see an amplifier that doesn't sound grey and gritty.
     The I-4 is neither, of course, and indeed it is hard to characterize it with any particular adjective. It sounds like the music it is reproducing. If that's not the goal of every amplifier designer, it should be.

Model: Vecteur I-4
Price: C$1750, US$1190
Warranty: 2 years, transferable
Dimensions: 43 x 37 x 11.5 cm
Most liked: Nearly flawless sound at a mid-fi price
Least liked: On some passages, it can sound ever so slightly...aw, who cares?
Verdict: Sets a new standard

CROSSTALK

     Better start figuring what you'll do with the piles of money you'll be saving. Once you're through comparing other amps with the Vecteur I-4, you might very well be stuck with a budget surplus. And a huge smile.
     Talk about value! Everything I heard sounded so right that I often had to remind myself that I wasn't listening to the reference -- costing, dare I say, seven times as much (there, I dared).
     Well, all right, voices weren't quite as warm and round, strings weren't as silky and bass not quite as deep, but I still had to stop and notice the difference. That is rare...at any price.
     This amplifier handles everything with ease, from the softest whispers to thundering orchestral crashes -- and asks for more. There was air circulating among the musicians and no shortage of width and depth of stage. But above all, there was that unmistakable presence of the musical venue where the music, and the space where it actually took place, are inseparably reproduced as one entity.
     (Can't you just say you liked it?)
--Albert Simon

     Once again I enjoyed a listening sessions full of wonderful surprises. Surprises? Not quite, since I've been so far delighted by pretty much all of the Vecteur products I've heard. And for a cornucopia of qualities.
     This amplifier provided an excellent reproduction of the chosen recordings. In some music the humor and the whimsy come through in fine style, while in other works the more dramatic mood is also well served. In every case I noted the powerful impact, the communicative rhythm and the remarkable breadth of the dynamic palette...not to mention the impeccable clarity delivering a multitude of micro-information, the excellent depth, the solid bottom end, and the fine resonance of stretched skin percussion. Brass gleams but without excess, just the way I like it, woodwinds are warm, voices natural and pleasant.
     Here, then, at a truly affordable price, is an amplifier that can please the most demanding audiophile.
--Reine Lessard

     Mea culpa!
     More than my colleagues, I have been indulgent with low-cost amplifiers. I have, not long ago, made excuses for a $1500 amplifier, on the pretext that it cost "only" $1500. Only? I apologize. I do know how hard most people must work to earn that much after-tax money. I should have been made of sterner stuff.
     And I will be, now that I've heard what Vecteur can do with scarcely more money than that. The I-4 may be priced like an entry-level product, but there isn't anything this baby doesn't do well. And we threw some big challenges at it. If we had played these discs through most amplifiers in this price range, we would have turned half of them off before the end. So what does "entry level" really mean?
--Gerard Rejskind

(To read the entire magazine, just order issue 62 at our secure server.)

Complete articles from this issue:
Vecteur I-4 integrated amplifier, Antique Sound Lab passive preamp, State of the Art

Excerpted articles from this issue:
Copy Right!, DVD for Your Future, Vecteur L-4 player, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista amplifier, Moon Attraction processor, Creek OBH-12, Two Interconnects, Antique Sound Lab amplifier