Manufacturer's Comments
Editor: A review in Stereophile is very important to Bricasti Design and to our dealers and export partners, so we took our responsibilities in this matter very seriously. We did our best, in hopes that the process would be transparent and fair, and that Stereophile's reviewer would report on the best that our product the M15 stereo amplifier can sound. We don't think that is what happened, and are very disappointed.
When Jason Victor Serinus approached us at the 2017 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest while we were demonstrating the M15, we told him that in view of previous experiences we have had, for the review to go forward, our West Coast–based setup expert would have to deliver and set up our amplifier. Bricasti's amplifiers are designed to work directly with high-quality sources with true dual-differential balanced analog outputs. The M15 was also designed to sell at a price point half that of our M28 monoblocks.
Bricasti's US Sales Manager, Damon Gramont, delivered an M15 stereo amplifier to JVS and set it up. Damon connected the M15 directly to the balanced outputs of JVS's dCS DAC. Damon reported to me that, after careful setup, the sound was excellent.
At that time, JVS had no complaints about the way his system sounded with the M15 operating as we intended it to. For whatever reason, JVS then ignored our very strong recommendations that our amplifier be driven directly by a high-quality source with balanced outputs. For his review, he used a single-ended vacuum-tube preamplifier with our balanced solid-state amplifier. (Per the Lamm Signature's rear panel: XLR jacks have pin 3 dead. The jack legends say "Pseudo Balanced." True balanced tube preamps are very rare—footnote 1) As noted in the M15 User Manual, care must be taken when driving the M15 with an unbalanced source, as the design is a true differential circuit; otherwise, performance will be compromised. At Bricasti, we do not believe that our products need sonic Band-Aids such as unnecessary vacuum-tube circuits.
So, Damon set up the M15 to sound the way we intend it to, but JVS seems to have decided that he did not want to review that sound; he wanted to review some other sound. In the process, he added in excess of $22,790 to the cost of the system.
As if that were not enough, JVS then compared our $18,000 stereo amplifier to massive monoblock amplifiers, which cost $55,000/pair—and with 500W into 8 ohms vs the M15's modest 125W into 8 ohms.
We respect Stereophile's policies regarding not pestering the critics during the review process. Therefore, receiving the preprint of this review was a shocking disappointment. We have never heard anyone say that the M15, when set up properly, sounded "dull."
Bricasti's M28 and M15 amplifiers were used for stereo and multichannel monitoring during the mastering of the 2018 Grammy winners in the categories Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Album, Classical. That recording does not sound dull, and those engineers would not have purchased Bricasti M15 amplifiers for their studios if they thought the M15s sounded dull.
Bricasti's M15 amplifier is a great-sounding amplifier that has a very strong "family resemblance" to our $30,000/pair M28 monoblock amplifiers. We wish that John Atkinson would give the M15 a careful listening under the conditions we recommend and write a brief Follow-Up. If JA is willing to make Follow-Up comments that include comparisons, we would hope that he compare our $18,000 stereo amplifier only to similar products in that general price and power tier.
For the reasons we state above, we conclude that the review the M15 received did not meet Stereophile's standards, as we have understood them to be.—Brian Zolner, Bricasti Design
Footnote 1: I gave Brian Zolner my word that I would not change the text of his "Manufacturer's Comment." However, he is incorrect when he writes "Per the Lamm Signature's rear panel: XLR jacks have pin 3 dead. The jack legends say 'Pseudo Balanced.'" He is referring to a different Lamm preamp. The Lamm L2.1 has indeed a true balanced output, as can be confirmed by looking at the measurements section in our review.—John Atkinson
Footnote 1: I gave Brian Zolner my word that I would not change the text of his "Manufacturer's Comment." However, he is incorrect when he writes "Per the Lamm Signature's rear panel: XLR jacks have pin 3 dead. The jack legends say 'Pseudo Balanced.'" He is referring to a different Lamm preamp. The Lamm L2.1 has indeed a true balanced output, as can be confirmed by looking at the measurements section in our review.—John Atkinson
