Hello everyone!
Ingvar Öhman here.
Firstly:
I have a man on the job of translating the article, and I will of coarse check the translation before it will be official.
Also I have promised sending the translated version of the article to Chris, and I will do that before I'll make it official.
Thus Chris (and/or James) will be ready for any questions from anyone of you guys regarding anything in the article.
Good for everyone!
Secondly:According to the info I've got from Chris Russel the modification includes 12 components (tree on each halve of each
channel of the amplifier - i.e. it includes changes in the whole output filter, L, C and R in four places).
However - compared to the first amplifier I had for test (much older) there are also changes made to parts of the rest
of the amplifier,
reducing the bandwith, and improving the intrinsic output impedance properties (output filter not
included).
But if I understood Chris right, these changes was done by Bryston
before I suggested them / before I did the test,
but after the time where my first amplifier on test, was produced!
Amazingly enough, these other (non output filter) changes are exactly what I suggested to be changed after having
experience of the older model only (don't remember the serial number of it, but I think it was a bit over 000 100).
I'd like to think of it, as an indication that great minds think alike!
But probably a truer way to describe it, is that
my thought, was thoughts already old, when I had them...
Thirdly:To sum it all up - the SST 14B (serial number later than 000 505) is (in my opinion, from my experience) the best
amplifier I've ever seen and heard! A true reference for what "transparent amplifier performance" is.
But - both performance and prize of it, is at a level that makes me want to remind any prospective buyer, that if the
rest of the HiFi equipment is
not of equally superb quality - the same money invested in other parts of the chain (meaning
the parts usually the weakest links of the chain) would probably often be better invested - every time actually...
When everything in the chain is already reaching true peak performance however - I believe that the SST 14B is the
way to go, every time, for anyone having curiosity in music as main drive force for beeing an audiophile. People searching
for "nice colorations" should probably be searching somewhere else though.
In my >30 years of close encounter with the task of accurately reproducing real life music, I have not yet seen the
equal to the SST 14B, or even anything that comes close.
But on the other hand - performance 3 times worse than that of the SST 14B is still very good performance - and might
not be to a significant practical disadvantage compared to the performance of the SST 14B in most setups, since the
colorations of the SST 14B is not only low enough to be fractions of fractions of the total coloration in any normal high
class system - but also probably way below the threshold of hearing!
I can not escape the question insisting on being considered in the back of my head - is performance of this level really
necessary? I guess that the answer depends on who's answering it. My answer is that it is a partly question of attitude.
The "size of the marginal to the threshold of hearing" can not be heard (per definition!), but - it can be thought about!
And thinking of it makes me feel good! And when I feel good - everything sound better!
Best regards, Ingvar
