Novatron studio lights - any good??

Anyone know anything about the Novatron line of studio flash systems?
I have a friend of a friend that may be dumping his set off for a "good price". (I think it is the D1000 three light kit).
I don't know enough about these types of lights, but I've read up on several models of Novatron and most state that although you can scale down the output of the lights, at least one must always be at full power or risk damaging the system. (haven't found much more info though)
I'm slightly more familiar with mono blocks which have no such limitations, of course. So I don't know if that is normal. Is that sort of limitation normal for studio strobes, or should I stay away from that brand??

Thanks for any advice,