Price Paid:  $850.00 from direct

Summary:
I have been looking for an amplifier to upgrade my system for quite a long time. I had visited all the major audio stores in Montreal to no avail. The attitude of some of the dealers turned me off. So I decided to try to buy direct from the manufacturer through the internet.
I contacted SAS Audio Labs and discussed with Steve Sammet what he would recommend.
I ordered a SE 7.0 w SET amp upgraded to be a SE 11.0 W and their 7A Line preamplifier.
The service was excellent. Steve Sammet is extremely knowlegeable and enthousiastic about his products. He was very helpful and answered all my emails and phone calls not sparing his time. Also, they had to rush production so that the delivery could be on a certain date for me and did so beautifully.
The amplifier is beautifully built and with attention to what counts, the sound. There are no frills or gadgets and the amp looks austere and beautiful like a Zen rock garden.
The sound was amazing.
The amp sounded very natural at a moderate level. The inner detail was awesome but in a not obtrusive way. The instruments and players were breathing. The distance between the listener and the performers was again natural, not the in your face type of presentation.
I am a former bass player so I should know something about bass. The bass produced by the amp was not thundering but full of life and space, not compressed and artificially powerful. It was natural, like a double bass compared to an electric bass.
Of course, vocals were beautifully rendered. Listening to the Renee Fleming Shubert Album was very moving because you could hear the human being behind the voice and not just a voice coming from nowhere. There was flesh on the bones.
Violin was in the same way made real, like wood and strings. Vaughan Williams Lark Ascending with its beautiful violon solo would transport you in a field on a sunny day.
What this amp does is to create the illusion like a good magician, not like a physicist explaining the details of a theory. There can not be any listening fatigue with this amp.
Matching the amp with the speakers is crucial in my experience. The Newform Research 630 Ribbon speakers are extremely revealing with no coloration whatsoever. The matching would have worked well if the speakers would have been less power hungry.
This amp comes with a 45 day trial period and excellent support from SAS Audio Labs.
If you have efficient speakers (92 db or more) and are looking for a sweet and natural (again!) sounding amp you should try it in your environment. You don't have much to loose.
System:
Arcam Alpha One CD Player
Arcam Alpha 7 Integrated Amp.
Newform Research 630 Ribbon Speakers
LAT International Biwire Speaker Cables
LAT International Interconnect.

Strengths:
Inner Detail. Natural sound. Breathing soundstage.

Weaknesses:
Not enough power for my speakers

Similar Products Used:
Arcam alpha 7 integrated amp. Listened to a wide range of other amps (Naim, Audiomat, Audio Refinement, VTL...) in several stores.