Synthesis Amplifiers: One of High End's Best Kept Secrets?

Given clear instructions, I don't think it is hard for anyone to bias their amp themselves.  But, the problem is that it is hard to gage how experienced is the person attempting this, how much experience they have with a multimeter, and there is always a concern that someone might poke a probe where it should not go.  I can understand the reluctance to encouraging people to do this on their own.

I was at a pet store once where the owner got a call from a customer who just bought an air pump and could not get it to work.  The customer lived nearby and brought it back to the store a few minutes later.  When she took it out of the plastic bag, water was leaking from the pump.  The dealer asked about how she used it.  She said she plugged it in and just threw it into the tank.  I bet that was not anticipated.

Yes, the problem is under that bottom cover you have some 400-500vdc at your fingertips and one better know what the heck they are doing. A wrong move and serious injury or death is possible. So this amp is really not bias capable by most folks.

If the internal bias points are well away from high voltage and “safe” then ignore my comments. Not sure this is the case however.

l strongly suggest the amp maker simply provide bias slots on top of the chassis where one can plug in their multimeter. This is simple to do, not costly, and so needed.

Wonderful amp for sure, but this bias issue is a real one. Not my intent to be negative or hyperbolic here, but simply sharing the realities. Hard to find techs in most places nowadays making it a hassle to bias when needed. I have to think this could be addressed and rather easily.  

Yes, the Synthesis rep mentioned in his email the need to be careful about the voltage exposure.

It is highly unlikely I will do this myself. Then again, the tech for Deja Vu told me that the KT66 tubes in the Synthesis last an average of six years. I'm not exactly fretting over it. I have a tech twenty minutes up the road who could do it, or I might send it to Virginia to have them do it when the time comes for tube replacement.

For context, I just sold an amp that retails for more than twice as much as the A100. If I also end up selling the DAC, interconnects, and digital cable as seems very likely given the quality of the onboard DAC in the unit, I will be pulling about $10K out of the system and still have sound I much (much!) prefer. For me at least, that's worth the nuisance of having someone else setting the bias on the output tubes when the time comes for that. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

Agreed.  I would also own the same amp. No issue for me. I am sharing something folks living around the fruited plan should think about.  Also hoping the company or dealers read this so future product has probe locations on top of the amp.