Guys,
Thanks for chiming in. Man, this bull gets tiring, and really shouldn't be worth my time.
Anyway,
1. Anton, as far as aggressiveness is concerned, I'm pretty much returning your tone of voice.
2. As for the casing, it's been explained by Mark, etc. A smaller case is indeed more usable in the real world application, so if anything, it's a bit of a handicap, but still necessary for teh different models.
3. As far as your comments in regards to us and overall importance of specs and your apparent personal tastes are concerned, I'd like to encourage you to check out and buy another amp than ours, maybe the Coda that Neil likes so much.
4. As far as the Coda is concerned, keep in mind that it's also several times the $ than the Stratos., and yes, it's a decent amp for the $$$, but in stiff competition to others in that $$$ range. If one is so hung up on #'s, how about the capacitance rating of 80,000 uF, which is the other part of the ps. It's tit for tat, don't forget.
5. Throwing VA ratings of transformers in the ring as an absolute shows complete ignorance. There's so much about transformer design, efficiency, burst capacity, secondary, etc. it's ridiculous. We experimented with much bigger units, and the amp simply sounds best with the 400 + unit. That simple. Putting in a 1000 VA + transformer for maybe $ 5 more would have been great for our marketing indeed, and I could go around and throw this number at anybody to make a stupid claim about superiority, but it wouldn't have anything to do with the sound quality.
6. The Coda, btw, is 55 lbs, one shouldn't shortchange the unit either. BUT, it's completely wrong to say that the transformer is and should be the heaviest part of the amp for a couple of reasons, a. because transformers are not that heavy. Even very large ones rarely exceed 10 - 12 lbs., and I've seen 800 V units (especially on switching ps's) that barely weight 4 lbs., and b. because that doesn't take into account the other areas of design, such as thermal control and vibration control.
7. As for our Plitron unit, it has been designed together with the top designers from Plitron. Yes, we've had complete access to them, and they helped out tremendously. The unit ended up being very large, efficient, and heavy at 8-9 lbs.
8. Finally, as for our web site. Read it again boys. There's no claim as for performance superiority or even design superiority. It simply , as intended by Sam Tellig in the first place, points out that some amps out there that cost a lot of money weigh relatively little as to compared with less expensive $$$. Solidity. After all, wouldn't you rather get more solidity for teh same $$$ than more plastic and lightweight ??? We have lots of metalk, a heavy and large transformer, and solid steel bottom plates in the amp, and I'm very proud of the fact that we can offer all of this solidity for artound $ 1,000. NEW !!! Off the mark ??? Only if you're used to buy 20 lbs amps for several K's. Where does all the money go then ??? Certainly not in the circuitry or ps, more into the pockets of some other manufacturer. AND, I don't mean to imply that heavier amps automatically sound better. Of course not. And no, Anton, putting some pieces of electronics into a heavy case does not make a commercially viable product. Ridiculous.
Bottom line is that there's a ton of value not just because of the 1 k price point for a Symphonic Line amp with 20 years of world wide (50 + countries) heritage, but also because I don't cut any corners and put an extra 30 % in my pocket by cheapening the parts quality. Instead, I'm always looking to pile on to the value of the amp. If you don't understand this logic, then you're completely off the mark indeed with any other industry (other than micro or nano industries, of course) as far as solidity is concerned. Even in the sportscar industry, where weight is the enemy, solidity is king. Solidity in amp design is best achieved by solid and heavy materials, within the design envelope. Now, if you can achieve that with a superb price / solidity ratio, then bravo !!!!!
Enough of this bs,
Klaus
