2 Plinius SA-102 Bridged VS Plinius SA-250 IV

A year ago, I purchased the Plinius SA-102 together with the Plinius M-16 preamp. The amplifier is very natural sounding, warm, but definitely not colored, have power reserve as long as your speakers are relatively efficient. I lived with that system for a year, and although I have experienced very good gears in the past including solid state like Boulder and tubes like Conrad Johnson premier series, I can say that the Plinius gear combine the very good of both worlds - solid state and tubes in a relatively low retail price, and definitely as used, so just to conclude the point – you can’t go wrong. I’m a pianist, and as a musician, I listen few hours a day to classical music, and more specifically to piano sonatas and concerto that I’m going to perform in concerts. The Plinius SA-102, is a great powerful amp, however, I missed the sound stage and air of the instruments, so I called the dealer and bridged two SA-102s. It was obvious that there was more power to drive my speakers, although extra-power, was not necessary. Bridging Two SA-102 neither improves the sound stage nor does it better separate the instruments. I was so satisfied with the Plinius sound, so I looked for another solution. The next step I tried the SA-250 IV. The SA-250 IV immediately answered most of the “faults” I encountered with the SA-102. Everything became more alive, more realistic. The soundstage became huge and focused, there was so much separation between the instruments and basically one could feel the music here and not there. Although the SA-102 is called the small brother of the SA-250, these amplifiers are may be sonically close to one another, but the SA-250 is the real ultimate Amplifier. I called Plinius NZ, and they actually confirmed my impression. The SA-250 is not just more powerful, it is better build, it is their reference amplifier. However, it is harder to market such an expensive amp. These days, so dealers try to push the 102. To conclude, the SA 102 is a fine amplifier, but the SA-250 IV is the real thing. It’s not about the extra-watts, it is a much better and refined amplifier.
(My comparison is between the SA-102 and the updated version of the SA-250IV, so if you are looking for used one, look for a 1-11/2 year old amplifier).
David Yanai