Affordable Valve Company valve amplifier review

Affordable Valve Company make wild claims about their valve amplifiers being better than any other amplifier, even ones they haven’t tested! So we thought we would put their claims to the test and review one of their valve amplifiers. We purchased a EL34 Triode Connect Valve Amplifier from Limm at the Affordable Valve Company in April 2005 and reviewed it against a Separo E34i.

Valve Amplifiers Reviewed

AVC, Affordable Valve Company Triode Connect Amplifier______price £650
Separo E34i Valve Amplifier_____________________________price £395

General amplifier build quality and description

The Affordable Valve Company amplifier is slightly smaller and lighter by about 2kg than the Separo. Both amps have a similar appearance, the controls on the front and the input and output options on the rear are exactly the same. The Affordable Valve Company amplifier does not have the valve biasing adjuster terminals on the sides that the Seraro does, meaning the Affordable Valve Company Amplifier has to be returned to AVC to change any valves otherwise your warranty is void, more on this later.

The Affordable Valve Company amplifier safety cage cannot be removed except by unscrewing some small screws which are covered by stickers warning you that if you remove them your warranty is void.
On looking at the insides, again the Affordable Valve Company amplifier has stickers over the securing screws which warn your warranty will be void if you undo them.
On peering inside, we can see the Separo amplifier has no printed circuit boards and is built by hand using point to point wiring, whereas the Affordable Valve Company amplifier does use printed circuit boards.

Sound Quality

On firing up and leaving to warm up for around 30 minutes we found both amplifiers produced a very smooth natural sound. We listened to a range of music from classical, female vocal, acoustic through to jazz and rock. Both amps produced plenty of base and the base was subtle and deep. Silence was silent with neither amplifier producing any audible hum.
The Affordable Valve Company amplifier was let down a little in its musical quality, it was a little flat and un-engaging compared to the Separo. The Separo also had a much wider and impressive sound stage than the Affordable Valve Company amplifier. The Separo imaging was clear and precise and really drew you into the music in a way that left the Affordable Valve Company amplifier a little flat and dull in comparison.

Sales Support and warranty

On the face of things the Affordable Valve Company amplifier has a longer warranty and return period, however, in practice this may not work out to be the better supported amplifier. Affordable Valve Company seem to be very suspicious of anything that an owner does with the amplifier and it seems that almost anything will void the warranty. There is also the issue that any work, even a simple valve change requires the amplifier to be sent back to Affordable Valve Company and a not inconsiderable postage cost to the owner, for example £30 each way).

Conclusions

The Separo amplifier beats the Affordable Valve Company amplifier in every aspect from build quality to sound quality and it is nearly half the price. This coupled with the growing amount of bad press the Affordable Valve Company receives from unhappy customers we feel it is an easy decision to make.

Test Equipment

Speakers: Yamaha NS1000
CD: Shanling CDT100
Cables: Van den Hul