[James Tanner]

Wanted to share an interesting little issue with the SP3. Finally just arrived from my dealer. I had requested a 19 inch rackmount version. Out of the box, the front face plate is 19 inches (as expected) with mounting holes for the the rack on the face plate. There is also a set of rack ears mounted behind the face plate. I assume this was for additional mounting support, which makes sense.

However, the screw holes on the rack ears do not align with the holes on the front face plate. They are off by 1/8 inch or so. This was right out of the box. Who ever installed the rack ears at Bryston had to notice this. Gotta say, I was a bit disappointed. Any ideas? Did Bryston simply install the wrong rack ears for the 19 face plate? Only thing that makes sense.

Please contact Mike Pickett at Bryston - new one on me?
mpickett@bryston.com

James

[adidino]

Thanks James. Seen this before? Simple fix? Hoping it's simply the wrong type of rackears installed.

[So There]

Greetings, SP3 fans:

You might find Scott Wilkinson's Home Theater Geeks interview with Paul Hales of Professional Home Cinema quite interesting. Mr. Hales makes very good points on the problems with auto- (and even manual) room EQ systems, noting many of the points presented by James Tanner and other highly respected professionals in the audio field. From my view, this is an interesting and provocative argument. The podcast is available on video and MP3 (also from the iTunes Store).

http://twit.tv/show/home-theater-geeks/164

Best fishes,

Rich
________________
Whiney Napa Valley

[Buseto]

Thanks Rich.

Indeed, very interesting and reassuring us in our choice of the SP3.

[So There]

Thanks for your comments, Buseto:

I doubt that the 2EQ or Not2EQ debate will be resolved, and it's unfortunate that in some forums participants are stridently pursuing their mission to prove that they have The One True Answer. There's lots of noise but little listening.

It seems to me that user satisfaction is the essential point of high-end audio gear, and I'm highly satisfied with the SP3 and my other Bryston gear. It brings the life and engagement of music and film into our home, and I can't ask for more than that.

Best fishes,

Rich
_______________
Whiney Napa Valley

The means — Bryston SP3 | Bryston 6B-SST(C) - L/C/R; 4B-SST(C) - surrounds; 4B-SST(C) - rears | Bryston BDP-2 Digital Player; BDA-2 D/A Converter; Oppo BDP-105 | Paradigm Reference Signature S8 fronts; C5 center; ADP surrounds; S4 rears; two Velodyne DD15 subs | APC S20 | Pioneer Elite PRO-1130

[mv038856]

Hi everybody,

a couple of weeks ago, I joind the Bryston SP-3 owners club!

Found myself a used unit in Florida and I am very happy with it.

So my oberservations so far are:

- display noise: As with the first SP-3 I laid my hands on, this unit also has some display noise.  It might just be a standard "feature" of the SP-3 and I seem more susceptible to this peculiarity than others. Placing the unit further away from my listening position and selecting a short display timeout, makes this flaw bearable to me.

- dissipation of energy: My unit really gets hot. Hotter than my bedroom SP-1.7 and hotter than the Onkyo PR-SC885P that the SP-3 replaced. The SP-3 is mounted in a 19" rack that is open in the front and the back and I have a 1U space above it to enable heat dissipation. Still it gets very hot, even heating up the Lumagen Radiance XE-3D and the Radiance Mini-3D that are placed above it in the rack.

- built quality: Here the SP-3 starts to shine! The haptic quality of the SP-3 is unique. Built like a tank,  I feel "at home" when working with the unit. That is how a high end unit should feel like!

- sound quality: What really really amazed me is the sonic improvement, the SP-3 brought into my multichannel chain! The SP-3 is doing a fine job with movies, but especially with music, I feel like having a completely new system! I am experiencing my Dynaudio Contour S1.4 and Contour SR speakers, all driven by 6B SSTs, like entirely new speakers. The improvment in transparency and liveliness gives me the goose bumps, e.g. when listening to Adele at the Royal Albert Hall (DTS HD Master multi channel from Blu-Ray). Also, feeding the SP-3 via AES/EBU from my Logitech Transporter, stereo high res material sounds so much better than before that I have to re-listen to all my HD music and experience it anew!

Being a Bryston aficionado, I have to say that only Bryston could get a away with a, imho unnecessary,  flaw like the display noise. The halo effect of the built quality and above all the sound quality make this flaw more and more disappear for me. Maybe Bryston was counting on that...  Why am I so predictable!? 

Cheers!

Markus
Happy SP-3 owner 

[Buseto]

Congratulatons!

- display noise: best thing if to turn the display automatically completely off after a certain time (see menu, shortest time is 2 minutes)

- dissipation of energy: no problem, says James T. It's meant to be, so there is no need for a vent.

Enjoy!

[James Tanner]

Hi

Yes the SP3 runs pure Class A discrete analog circuits (no ic's) and the whole chassis acts as a heat sinc.

james

[dminches]

Greetings, SP3 fans:

You might find Scott Wilkinson's Home Theater Geeks interview with Paul Hales of Professional Home Cinema quite interesting.

Thanks for the link.  I found it very interesting.  I am curious what people who use room EQ thought of his comments.  Like anything else, it is just one person's opinion.
 

[Buseto]

Like anything else, it is just one person's opinion.

Just a remark in general (because I don't agree with that everyone's opinion has the same weight:
it's the motivation that's import: i
t can have a scientific experiment as base or a well constructed pro and contra analysis based on - up to now and thus not falsified - known facts.

[kostisgva]

Hello,

Could you please tell me how to force the output to be the exact same(pass thru) as the input and not 7.1 or another surround mode ? For the DTSHD 2.0 it worked but i cannot find a way to do when in 5.1 surround mode (DD or DTS)

Firmware is the latest u2013.08A uploaded today. James, are there any differences from the SP3F(u2013.08F) file?

Thank you!

Kostas

[James Tanner]

Easiest way is just push the STEREO button on the SP3

james

[kostisgva]

Thank you James!

I agree and this is what I am doing for stereo soundtracks, but what about 5.1 that outputs in 7.1 ?

I have a 7.1 setup but I would like to have the original output.

Easiest way is just push the STEREO button on the SP3

james

[dminches]

Thank you James!

I agree and this is what I am doing for stereo soundtracks, but what about 5.1 that outputs in 7.1 ?

I have a 7.1 setup but I would like to have the original output.

You cannot do that with the current, official firmware.  However, the release notes for the beta firmware says it allows you to do that.  I have not yet tried it.

[James Tanner]

Thank you James!

I agree and this is what I am doing for stereo soundtracks, but what about 5.1 that outputs in 7.1 ?

I have a 7.1 setup but I would like to have the original output.

Hi

I am not sure on that as the number of channels in each source is a specific setting so to get 5.1 to 5.1 I believe you have to defeat the BACK channels under SPEAKERS in the source menu for that particular source?  I will check with Stan at Bryston.

james

[assafl]

Firmware is the latest u2013.08A uploaded today. James, are there any differences from the SP3F(u2013.08F) file?

As far as I know, the f2013.08 and u2013.08 are the same firmware. The f version is intended for the factory version (a backup version only upgradable by a Bryston technician) while the u version is the user upgradeable version. If for some reason the SP3 can't load the firmware it will revert to the factory version (i.e. the version which was current at the time of purchase).

[assafl]

Hi James -

My SP3 was from the first batches SN36 and I'd like to keep it reasonably updated.

What are the latest firmware versions for the MDS boards (DSPA/DSPB and the HDMI boards).

DSPA FIRMWR   DAE6503B
DSPA VERSN    02110000
DSPB FIRMWR   DAE6503B
DSPB VERSN    02110000

HDMI VERSN    00001026

Thanks,

Assaf

[James Tanner]

Hi James -

My SP3 was from the first batches SN36 and I'd like to keep it reasonably updated.

What are the latest firmware versions for the MDS boards (DSPA/DSPB and the HDMI boards).

DSPA FIRMWR   DAE6503B
DSPA VERSN    02110000
DSPB FIRMWR   DAE6503B
DSPB VERSN    02110000

HDMI VERSN    00001026

Thanks,

Assaf

Hi Assaf

No idea on that one - sorry. You would have to email Stan on that one.

James

[spotlightaudio]

Hi guys, can someone tell me what (PCM ZR) is for ? This shows up under source setup-other. Thanks

[srb]

Hi guys, can someone tell me what (PCM ZR) is for ? This shows up under source setup-other. Thanks

ZR stands for Zero Run Detection algorithm and detects when a source (typically DVD or BD) that outputs a Dolby Digital or DTS compressed digital signal, reverts to outputting uncompressed linear PCM during pause or fast forward, causing silence or spurious noise resuming play.

It apparently doesn't apply to USB or HDMI inputs, but for S/PDIF coaxial or Toslink inputs, different ZR algorithm settings can be selected for each input.

There is a PDF that describe the settings for firmware 2011.92 and earlier, (ftp://bryston.com/pub/firmware/sp3/doc/sp3_track_start_silence_20111214.pdf), but the three settings (Disable, Auto, Gapless1) detailed don't quite match up to the five settings (Full, Gapless, Disable, Auto , Default2) listed in the later SP3 Owner's Manual dated 3/28/2012.

Steve