It has a special origin story. Many years ago, we were vacationing in Brittany, in a small village called Surzur in the Morbihan department. It was still very early in the morning. The sun was shining through the kitchen window, and a cup of coffee combined with a Galettes Bretonnes cookie inspired my soul to simply feel good without criticism. And as I let my thoughts wander, the idea suddenly popped into my head of what it would be like if my model 42 had a little brother.
A sheet of paper, a pen, another coffee, more galettes, and within just a few minutes, I had come up with an initial circuit idea and even a housing for the new addition.
I didn't have to think at all about the design of the housing, it was clearly inspired by the simple Bauhaus style from Dessau and the wonderful hi-fi equipment from BRAUN in the 1970s and their great chief designer Dieter Rams. The viewer's eye should not be drawn to the packaging but only protect the inner values of the new brother in a manner befitting its status.
And I tried to capture the mood of this morning of a model Surzur (no other name was even considered) in the cradle.
The special sunlight, the salty and rich air of the Atlantic Ocean, and the refreshingly friendly mentality of the Bretons, who are of course not French, but proud of their own culture. That's exactly how my model Surzur should sound. Listen for yourself to see if I've succeeded.
If you ever have the opportunity to enjoy Galettes Bretonnes, imagine how this delicious taste would translate into a musical sound, not easy but a very creative process, and then you'll be well prepared to hear a model Surzur for the first time. Breton sound in your home. Bones Appétit.
I can't explain it at all, but perhaps you could accompany your musical journey with a glass of dry white wine from the Loire. And if a smile crosses your face after the second or third record, then two things have happened: your right brain is simply happy – and – you don't care at all about the price of the model Surzur.
And if you ever come to Brittany, and perhaps even to Surzur, don't miss visiting the Artisan Boulanger Pâtissier “Annie et Jérôme Aubry” behind the church and enjoying the heavenly pâtisserie—but be careful, I recommend fasting for at least a day beforehand—and don't wait too long to visit—life is so short. A votre sante.
The inner values of a model surzur may be interesting from a purely technical point of view, but they play absolutely no role when listening to music. That's the developer's job, and I can assure you that he's a slightly crazy engineer who, in addition to the beguiling sound of his products, loves things like maximum precision (even if it's not always absolutely necessary). For example, a level deviation between the two channels of 0 - 1 mV at an output voltage of 1000 mV (at 1 kHz).
No one would hear “1 mV” (and the tolerances of MM/MC generators are many times higher...), but it's important to me, so that's how I do it.
The same applies to the tolerance of the selectable input impedances. A tolerance of 1% is considered very good in the audio sector. With an input impedance of 500 ohms, this would mean that one channel (worst case) has 495 ohms and the other channel has 505 ohms – a difference of 10 ohms. With a model surzur, you might measure 497.36 ohms in one channel and 497.12 ohms in the other channel – here, too, there is a deviation, but it is in the hundredths range at most.
And would it really bother you if the distortion factor were 0.015% or 0.0026%? I don't think so. you can hear for yourself how impressively quiet any background noise is – exactly – it's simply inaudible, and if you feel like it sounds like a master tape, then why bother with technical specifications – you want to be left in peace and immerse yourself in your music.
But as part of this overall precision, only resistors with a tolerance of 0.1% are used in a model surzur – which are, of course, also particularly low-noise.
And this black background, which suddenly gives voices and instruments a completely unfamiliar and breathtaking stage, is what does your right brain so much good and makes you feel relaxed after 1–2 hours as if you had been doing yoga the whole time. This is exactly what the BLUE AMP sound world is all about.