Phil - that is a nice shot an system. Good side discussion.
Now back to my last question (above) for the tubers.
You're not getting answers to a loaded question, wow, ain't that a surprise!
Let's see.... who else SS or tube offers the Bryston warranty? NOBODY!
Who else commands the same resale? Umm, Mac (both SS and tube), Audio Research (tube), cj (tube), probably others, but I'm too lazy to investigate.
Who else provides the same drive capability? VTL, Manley, possibly Atma-Sphere, and of course others...
Who else provides the same accuracy to source signal ? Virtually all of them; you see the issue isn't input signal, it's the output stage and that's a function of speaker load. (but you knew that, right?)
Out of curiosity, in your poll, (I assume you took one, given your statement regarding what "many solid state owners seek in amplification") how many of this vast number were Bryston owners and purchased based upon the warranty? How many responders actually own Bryston vs. the myriad other high quality SS amps (Mac, Rowland, Krell, Goldmund.... you get the point)? Basically, how many users went theough a checklist similar to yours during their decision, or just bought something based upon some other criteria?
Those of you that own Bryston are a small subset of all SS owners, which is still another subset of all HiFi owners, thereby making you a minority. If everything was sooooo perfect, why are you not the majority?
Look, you love your Bryston, that's cool. But don't go generalizing about the rest of the world because they either don't follow your same wisdom or hear things differently than you.