The interactive touchscreen has been designed to take full advantage of the feature set the SP20 offers, and operation is intuitive and easy-to-use. Numerous adjustments allows customization to the performance and display of the SP20 for seamless system integration, including input naming and gain offsets, volume presets, and tube hours. System checks have been put into place to alert when tubes have exceeded standard serviceable hours (4,000), and a low line auto mute function engages in the event of a power brown-out.

The SP20 is fully balanced, pure Class-A with zero feedback. There are seven levels of voltage regulation, a large power supply, and a very low-noise R-core power transformer. Both the line and phono stages feature low-noise JFET inputs and 6H30 (2 per section) outputs. The latest high performance coupling and bypass capacitors are used in both stages. Both the line stage and phono preamplifier offer extraordinary frequency response and low noise. The phono section provides 58dB of gain, so the SP20 can be used with a wide variety of phono cartridges, including moderately low output moving coils.

The headphone output is no mere afterthought; it is a low-distortion, high-performance vacuum-tube headphone amplifier designed to comfortably drive a wide impedance range of headphones. The button next to the headphone jack switches off the main (amplifier) outputs for headphone listening, or it switches off the headphone jack for speaker listening.

All of these developments would be for naught if the SP20 did not delight sonically, which it does with ease. The presentation is so relaxed and natural, transparent and solid with great dynamics and impact. Never threadbare, sonic images have texture and a luminous 3-D quality. The SP20 delivers musically, with an ability to effortlessly drive your tube or solid-state amplifier.

Technical specifications

FREQUENCY RESPONSE
Line: +/- 3dB 2 Hz to 80 kHz; -3dB 0.8Hz to 220 kHz
Phono: +/- 0.1dB of RIAA 10Hz to 20kHz; +/- 0.4dB 5Hz to 80kHz
Headphone: +/- 0.05dB 20Hz to 20kHz; -3dB 0.8Hz to 220kHz

THD+N
Line: <.003% at 2V RMS, Bal output
Phono: <.005% at 3V RMS output, to Record output
Headphone: <.009% at 1V RMS output

GAIN
Line: 13.8dB, Processor: 0dB
Phono: 58dB @ 1KHz to Record output
Headphone: 11.3dB

NOISE
Line: <-101dBV volume at max.
Phono: <-77dBV to Record output
Headphone: <-88dBV volume at max.

CHANNEL SEPARATION
Line: > 105dB Balanced output
Phono: >76dB to Record output
Headphone: >62dB

SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO
Line: >125dB Balanced output
Phono: >94dB to Record output
Headphone: >110dB

RATED OUTPUTS
Line: 2V RMS (1V RMS SE) into 200k ohms balanced load (maximum balanced output capability is 18V RMS at less than .5% THD+N at 1kHz.).
Phono: 0.5V RMS into 100k load at Record output (maximum output capability is 25V RMS).
Headphone: 6V RMS maximum into 30 to 300 ohm load.

INPUT IMPEDANCE
120k ohms Balanced, 60k ohms SE; Phono impedance programmable (100, 200, 500, 1000 or 47k ohms w/200pf unbalanced).
OUTPUT IMPEDANCE
500 ohms Balanced, 250 ohms SE; 1000 ohms Record Out SE; <.05 ohms Headphone SE.

OUTPUT POLARITY
Non-inverting.

MAXIMUM INPUT LINE
19V RMS Balanced, 9V RMS SE. Phono: 70mV RMS at 1kHz.

CONTROLS
Rotary Volume (104 steps), Rotary Input selector. Push

BUTTONS
Power, Mute, SPKR Off. Interactive Touch Screen. Rear RS-232 control and Remote IR input.

POWER SUPPLIES
Electronically regulated low and high voltage supplies. Automatic 30 sec. warm-up/brown-out mute. Line regulation better than .01%.

TUBE COMPLEMENT
4 6H30 dual triode.

POWER REQUIREMENTS
100 - 135VAC 60Hz (200 - 270VAC 50/60Hz) 77 watts maximum. Standby 2.7 watts.

DIMENSIONS
Width 19" (48 cm)
Height 5.25"(13.4 cm) (standard rack panel)
Depth 16.5"(42 cm) D.

WEIGHT
17.8 lbs. (7.4 kg) Net;
27.8 lbs. (10.5 kg) Shipping.

Finishes: 

Natural, Black