Price Paid:  $600.00 from Redgum Audio trade i

Summary:
When I first bought this amp as a used unit it spent more time in the shop than in my home. A very frustrating start to valve amp ownership. Then I found a Vietnamese guy who said he could fix the problem for $200Aust. He did!!!!!! (Hiep Le Audio in Footscray Vic. He doesn't speak much English, but the guy is a genius in my books.) I am so happy with this heavy little amp that I went and bought a ne turntable just to hear some old vinyl. I run a pair of very old Mission 770's off this unit, and the sound is superb. I recently bought a Proton tuner via Aussie ebay and it too is getting a flogging. If you want to hear something great, grab a copy of the Skids Joy album and crank it up. This amp handles the bass with ease. The sound stage is the thing that really gets me though. It is so real. One word of advice, let it warm up. I turn mine on at least 20 minutes before I send a signal to it, and leave the amp in the open, as it does get hot. It also looks so cool, so show it off. People cannot believe that the little black box can deliver such accurate sound through such crappy looking old wooden boxes. I love it ..... now.

Strengths:
Sound stage.

Weaknesses:
Can be tempramental, and you must have a good technician who appreciates fine valve technology.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I have had this amp for several years now - the older version that has soldered in tubes. It has never failed me and I love the sound (I do cross out 80hz and below to a sub/amp so I cannot directly address low bass performance). I have compared it to a Cary stereo integrated amp - it was darn close.

Strengths:
Price It's all there including tone controls (which can be bypassed) and a phono amp

Weaknesses:
None that I can tell - hell it's a 35w integrated tube amp with a phone stage for under $1k - how much do you want?

Similar Products Used:
Cary integrated Steeo Tube Amp forget the model#)

Price Paid:  $400.00

Summary:
I have been pretty much a Transistor Amp ( NAD, ME, Acurus, McCormack, Audiolab, Harman Kardon )listener thus far and have ventured out at times to try and find a valve amp that suits the various styles of music I listen to ( ie. Strauss to Smokey Robinson to Sting ). The issue with me has always been that many full valve amps I can afford to demo/purchase offer great response in the mids up to the highs and great soundstage, but fails when it comes to producing a fast and tight bass notes. In comes the AMC CVT3030a, an amp I first read about in 1993 and partly designed by Malcolm Blockley ( designer of NAD 3020 amp ). I was fortunate enough to loan the AMC CVT3030a from my local dealer for a home trial and I tell you what I'm glad I did. This unit is not going back to the store. The MUSIC it produces is quite stunning and smooth. Sure you'll be able to find better sounding integrated amps out there, but nothing for this sort of money and sonic return. In the real world where some of us have a large rang of musical tastes we hardly justify having one amp for one style of music and another amp for other styles. The AMC being a hybrid valve integrated amp I believe addresses this issue extremely well. It's at home playing Diana Krall, Jennifer Wearnes, Chris Isaak, Tracy Chapman, Brian Setzer, Nova Menco, Strauss, M People or Dire Straits. I must admit that vocals, jazz and classical appears to be this amps strong point, but it serves up rock extremely well too. Have a listen to track 11 of Nova Menco's Flight to Paradise album or Jimmy Barne's rendition of Bob Marley's "Is this love" off his Soul Deeper album and you'll understand. The funny thing about this purchase is that the AMC was bought to equip my spare room upstairs for when I don't feel like cranking up my main stereo system ( pre/power combo with hybrid ribbon speakers )downstairs. The sound is so seductive that I'm finding that I'm spending more time listening to this system of late !!!! If you like the best of both worlds and can't justify the extra dollars, give this unit an audition.

My system -

Integrated Amplifier - AMC CVT3030a
Speakers - Dynaudio Audience 40
CD Player - Sony XA-5ES
Interconnects - Tara Labs Prism CD
Speaker Cable - QED Qudos Silver Anniversary

Strengths:
Oooh so smooth top end and mids, very good soundstage, natural un-forced sound

Weaknesses:
Tubes soldered to PCBs make it difficult to change the EL34 valves. Bass may sound slightly "bloomy" with some speakers

Similar Products Used:
Contan ( full valve ), Jolida 202 ( full valve ), Thule, Denon PMA 1500

Price Paid:  $800.00

Summary:
It took me one year to find an amplifier that was able to reproduce the sound the way I like it and still be affordable. I decided to buy an AMC CVT 3030 integrated amplifier with a MOS FET pre amp and a valve main amp. It is both an affordable and an incredibe sounding amplifier. Anyway, If you are looking for an easy to use and stable amp, this is definitely not the amplifier you should look for. It had to be repaired four times until my dealer replaced it with a new one. In January 2000 it had to be repaired again because the amplifier got so hot that the valves got loose! But that wasn't the last problem. The reason for the last repair of the amplifier was that the right channel simply faded away till nothing could be heard anymore. The right channel created no sound regadless of the selected input source. I realized that the valves on the right hand side of the amp did not glimm anymore. The preamplifier seemed to work. I phoned up my dealer and he told me that AMC has got an upgrade kit, that will cost about 300 €. That was too much and I phoned up Eclectic Audio the german distributor of AMC products. The owner told me that this is a known problem of the old AMC valve amplifiers. The cable that connects the power board with the heating of the valves simply was designed too small (as well as the connectors). I could see that the connector of the heating on the right side has got a brown color as if it has become extremely hot (in contrast to the connector for the left channel). He told me to try to connect it with a new cable with a diameter of at least 1.5mm. I tried it out and that solved the problem.
Result: A good sounding amp with excellent phone-input but
it is unstable. Expect to send him to your dealer
at least once a year.
Juergen Keil
http://www.juergenkeil.de

Strengths:
Sound,

Weaknesses:
Reliability, Cable diameter too small for Heating of the valves

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo TX-7730 and Yamaha DSP E-800

Price Paid:  $600.00

Summary:
Sounds great; built like a tank. With a brilliant sound at low and middle volumes, the 3030 suits the city-dwelling audio enthusiast quite well. This unit is not for Dobly 7.3 freaks and other surround-o-philes. It pushes R and L only (the way Led Zep was meant to be heard). Pop the top and you'll see lots of independent components (transformers, capacitors, tubes, etc.) bolted to a pretty serious chasis. Theory of replaceable parts seems to be in full effect. One downer is that older models featured tubes that were soldered in place (not very user serviceable). I've just learned AMC will install sockets, replace the tubes, and upgrade a couple of other doo-dads for $135.

I've heard other amps that sound better, but they all cost more. Usually a lot more.

Strengths:
Price (to performance); rich, full sound at low volumes; AMC is a cool company to deal with

Weaknesses:
original cvt 3030 has tubes soldered to boards (this can be factory modified!)

Similar Products Used:
McIntosh, Jolida stuff, mass-market HK and Onkyo