SPL Performer s900 amplifier by Terry London

Two companies with superlative reputations regarding build quality, innovative design, and very competitive pricing compared to other high-end manufacturers are US-based Bricasti Design and SPL, located in Germany. Each has been in business for a long time, in SPL’s case, for forty years. What they both have in common is their prominence is historically rooted in designing and building equipment for the professional recording industry. Both company’s gear is used in some of the world’s most highly regarded recording studios. Then, twelve years ago (somewhat earlier for Bricasti Design), SPL started to build two-channel amplifiers, preamplifiers, and DACs for high-end connoisseurs of home-end stereo equipment.

I mainly learned about SPL from reading European forums and chat rooms filled with glowing comments and Internet reviewers claiming that SPL gear easily competed or bested in performance and build quality, some of the most expensive gear from other highly regarded European-based manufacturers for significantly less money. This led me to review the SPL Performer s800 amplifier, Performer m1000 mono-blocks, and the Elector preamplifier — the first American review ever done on SPL gear. These two amplifiers and line-stage were terrific performers. Then, I reviewed the excellent SPL Performer s1200 single chassis stereo amplifier, which became one of my solid-state reference amplifiers. I put the SPL Performer s1200 amplifier on the “Most Wanted List for 2022” because of its exquisite performance and reasonable pricing. I was informed about a year ago that SPL was working on a new single chassis amplifier called the Performer s900, which would be physically smaller than the Performer s1200, cost less, and bring most of the magic in its performance of its bigger sibling. I want to thank Hermann Gier, SPL’s chief managing officer, and Will Veber, chief revenue officer of SPL America, for making this review possible.

The SPL Performer s900 amplifier, which retails for $4,499, measures width 11 inches x height 4.5 inches x depth 13.6 inches. The Performer s900 weighs 32.2 pounds. The physical appearance of the Performer S900 is quite understated, but the essence of German build quality shines through. The Performer s900 amplifier comes in three colors: silver, red, and black. The unit for review was a black version. On its front plate, besides the SPL logo, there are three small red LED lights – PWR LED, which indicates power up, standby, or power down; PROTECT LED that will light up red if direct current (DC) is detected; and a TEMP LED which lights up yellow when the Performer s900 is getting hot.  On the back of the s900 amplifier is a switch for choosing between XLR or RCA inputs, the mains on/off power switch, a pair of high-quality speaker wire terminals, and the IEC for the power cord. Another interesting control situated on the back is a pair of gain trim knobs. This allows you to fine-tune the gain amount with your preamplifier of choice. The s900 is a small amplifier, but its power output is impressive. It delivers 200 watts into 8 ohms, 370 watts into 4 ohms, and 420 watts into 2 ohms. The SPL Performer s900 amplifier is based on a proprietary VOLTAIR technology design, which operates on an unrivaled +/- 60-volt loading compared to the standard +/- 15-volt loading. If you want more details and information about the sonic advantages of SPL’s VOLTAIR design, I suggest you go to their website which will give you the details about this technology in great depth.

To evaluate if SPL had reached its target of bringing the excellent performance of the Performer s1200 to the less expensive and smaller Performer s900, I used the same protocol I had used to compare the Performer s800 to the Performer s1200 in my earlier reviews. The Performer s900 was placed in my reference system with the same upstream equipment and wiring. I used the same music selections:

1. Arranger Marty Paich’s “The Picasso of the Big Band”
2. Tenor saxophonist Jimmy Health’s “Love Letters”
3. B3 organ player Ben Paterson’s “For Once in My Life.”

After many hours of intense listening to the SPL Performer s900 in the context delineated above, I concluded that the Performer s900 amplifier was the sonic clone of its larger and more expensive sibling, by $2000, the Performer s1200 amplifier. SPL had achieved its design goals of bringing the musical signature of the outstanding Performer s1200 amplifier to the more petite, more affordable Performer s900.

The same descriptors I used in describing the Performer s1200 sonic characteristics apply entirely to the new Performer s900 amplifier.

1. Beautiful natural timbres and tonality are delivered in an effortless, grain-less, silky, smooth, slightly warm mid-band presentation.
2. The three-dimensional imaging has been kept at the same level as the Performer s1200 in the Performer s900.
3. A much more open, airy, refined top-end that adds a natural “sparkle“ that blends perfectly with the upper mid-range vocals.
4. A non-existent noise floor allows micro-details to be more easily noticed, and the ambient cues of the original recording space fill out the space, making the sound staging more open and natural.
5. The Performer s900 has the identical extended, powerful, and controlled bottom-end foundation as its more prominent Performer s1200 sibling. Also, these bass frequencies are taut and accurate in their timbres and tonality.         

Could speakers that, because of some serious difficulties in both impedance and extremely low efficiency, use the Performer s1200’s more excellent power rating in watts/current for a better performance than the Performer s900? These types of speakers are getting rare in today’s market. If I did not already own the SPL Performer s1200 amplifier, I would find it very easy to purchase the SPL Performer s900 because of the above-stated reasons and take the $2000, I would save and use it for upgrades to other components in my Congratulations to SPL for designing the Performer S900 amplifier, which delivers reference level performance, exquisite German build quality, and a price that makes the Performer s900 accessible to many more music lovers for their systems.   

Specifications: SPL Performer s900
Price: $4499.00

Website: https://spl.audio/en/spl-produkt/performer-s900/

Analog Inputs: XLR (balanced), RCA (unbalanced)
Input impedance: 20 kΩ
Input trimming: 0 dB to -5.5 dB in 0.5 dB steps
Input sensitivity: 8 dBu
Loudspeaker Outputs: Binding posts with 4 mm ø cable hole (screwable) and banana plug
Output power (RMS, 2 Ω): 2 x 420 W
Harmonic distortion (1 kHz, 2 Ω): < 0.07 %
Output power (RMS, 4 Ω): 2 x 370 W
Harmonic distortion (1 kHz, 4 Ω): < 0.06 %
Output power (RMS, 8 Ω): 2 x 200 W
Harmonic distortion (1 kHz, 8 Ω): < 0.04 %
Output voltage (Peak-to-Peak): 112 V
Output voltage (RMS): 40.2 V
Output impedance (20 Hz – 20 kHz): < 0.035 Ω
Frequency range (-3dB): 10 Hz – 80 kHz
Amplification gain: 26 dB
Damping factor (1 kHz, 8 Ω):> 280
Noise (A-weighted): -123 dB
Internal Linear Power Supply with Shielded Toroidal Transformer
Toroidal transformer: 866 VA
Operating voltage (Input stage): +/- 60 V
Operating voltage (power stage): +/- 64 V
Operating voltage for relays, LEDs, AMP CTL: + 12 V
Mains Power Supply: Mains voltage (selectable; see fuse chamber): 230 V AC / 50 Hz; 115 V AC / 60 Hz
Fuse 230 V
Dimensions & Weight
W x H x D (width x height incl. feet x depth): 278 x 114 x 345 mm
11 x 4.5 x 13.6 inch
Unit weight 14.6 kg/32.2 lbs
Shipping weight15.8 kg/34.4 lbs

Associated Equipment:
Sources:
Pass Labs DAC-1
Audio Note (UK) DAC 4.1 Balanced Signature
Reimyo DAP-999EX Toku
Mark Levinson 31.5 transport
Pro-Jet reference CD transport & LTA power supply
CEC-3 belt-driven transport
Amplification:
Coda FET 07x preamplifier
Coda S5.5 amplifier
SPL Elector preamplifier
SPL s1200 amplifier
Threshold 550e amplifier
AricAudio Motherlode MKIII preamplifier
AricAudio Super 300b SET amplifier
Loudspeakers:
Tekton Design Ulfberth
NSMT System Two Design
Accessories:
Jena Lab’s symphony IC’s
Jena Labs reference AES/EBU digital cable
Kirmuss Audio Adrenaline speaker wire
Krolo Design reference rack & footers
Puritan Audio power conditioner & circuit grounding system
Audio Archon power cords