[singerjn]

Hello, I’ve just joined and this is my first post.  I hope some of you find my situation and question interesting and respond with your thoughts.

I’ve owned, and been a huge fan, of Bryston products for decades.  I’ve met James a few times at events sponsored by the LA Orange County Audio Society and have always appreciated his involvement in the events, his knowledge and candor as it relates to Bryston products and the industry.

My system is designed around my speakers.  They’re very different, a somewhat controversial design and have the most amazing capability of reproducing bass, especially mid-bass.  Essentially, they move so much air in the room that you feel the impact of the bass almost more than you hear it.   I have found that Bryston amps not only provide the power and headroom needed for this but also the speed that allows this impact to be incredibly lifelike – you feel like the band is right in front of you.  The soundstaging, both depth and breadth along with the clarity of almost the entire frequency range is awesome.

That said, my speakers are made up of four cabinets.  Two subwoofer cabinets that house 12 inch subwoofers and two satellites that house 6 inch mid-bass drivers, the midrange and tweeter.  Now the controversial part is that they’re an omni-directional design where the satellite speakers are mounted parallel to the floor … the mid-bass plays against a sound disbursing pad that directs its sound 360 degrees around the room, the tweeter has a cone mounted above it to disperse it’s output up and out 360 degrees and the midrange is mounted on the top where it simply disburses up, filling the room while bouncing off the walls and ceiling.



Now that you have an idea of my speaker design … I drive them with a BP26 preamp and a 4BST amp.  My question is this … I’d like to increase the power to the satellites.  Due to a budget of around $5,000 my choices seem to be adding a preowned 4B cubed where, in a horizontal bi-amping configuration, it would drive the two satellites leaving my 4BST to drive the subwoofers or replacing the 4BST with a pair of preowned 7BSST2s where they would drive each set of speakers as my 4BST does now, one subwoofer and satellite with the right channel amp and the other for the left channel.

I’d love to hear your thoughts as to which configuration you all think might work and sound best.

Thank you and happy listening!

[James Tanner]

Hi Singer - welcome

Your speakers remind me of the original Stewart Hegeman speakers.

james

https://www.stereophile.com/content/hegeman-model-1-omnidirectional-loudspeaker

[sfraser]

If you are happy with the current sound , but are looking for additional lower end impact, I would suggest adding a pair of 7B's for the sub's. If you are happy with the lower end, but would like more transparency throughout  , i would suggest the 4b3 for the Sat's . You may want to look at the pro model which I assume still have gain controls to allow adjustments for any possible gain deltas between the lower and upper frequency amp's.

[R. Daneel]

An unconventional design to be sure! What about the crossovers, all passive or? Was this a DIY project and if yes, which drive units does it use?

Your primary concern should be to establish what is it exactly that you’re trying to accomplish with a different amplifier. What is it that you don’t like about your system or think that can be improved upon?

Cheers!
Antun

[singerjn]

Thanks for the responses …

James: I have heard of the Hegerman speakers but obviously have never listened to them.  Similarities I’ve found in todays market are the MBL's Radialstrahler 101 X-Treme, (https://www.mbl-northamerica.com/en/loudspeakers/101xmk2) although to my ears these have mediocre bass response and the German Physiks Emperor MK II (https://www.german-physiks.com/emperor-mk-ii-loudspeakers).

Sfraser: I’m extremely happy with the current sound but always looking to improve, especially at lower volumes.

Antun: These are not DIY, in fact the lineage is quite a story.  In the mid 70s and early 80’s popular rock bands were taking their own speaker systems to stadium performances.  The original designers of these speakers built stadium speaker systems (towers of 30 inch subwoofers, arrays of mid-bass drivers and horn midranges and tweeters) for a variety of bands performing in Southern California.  Their production facility was located in the same industrial park as a machine shop owned by a friend of mine.  We kept hearing very load bass music and wandered over to see what it was.  We met the designers, a father and son team of ERD Soundsystems. They shared their story and designs with us and we became incredibly interested in designs that could be used at home.  They then introduced us to their ERD surround system.  We each purchased a set and to this day, they are the only two in existence.  Mine are finished in Madagascar Ebony, my friends in classic honey oak.   After a few decades of enjoyment, the surrounds and crossovers began to break down so I went back to ERD for help finding the most appropriate repair shop.  That’s when I met their friend Guy.  He headed up JBLs R&D group back in the late 60s and through most of the 70s where he oversaw the creation of JBL Pro.  Guy has upgraded and customized my speakers by completely rebuilding the Altec Lansing subwoofers, designing and had built new Skaaning mid-bass and midrange drivers and had Gauder Akustik build custom Isophone tweeters.  Guy then set out to design, build, install and tune the crossovers, something he’s done for Meridian, Wisdom Audio, Daedalus Audio, Avalon Acoustics, Innovative Audio, BG Corp, Infinity, KEF, ATC and many others.

As mentioned above, I’m really wanting to improve the overall listening pleasure at lower volumes.

[singerjn]

sorry ... autocorrect changed the name of the veneer, it should be Macassar Ebony

[Ron D]

I can't personally speak to the benefits of introducing a cubed 4B never having owned one but what I can offer is what I found occurred when I moved from a 4B to a 14B - low volume detail retrieval.  There was so much more details at lower listening volumes with the larger amp. IMHO this was the largest gain for me when the 14B was introduced into my system. Maybe it was the inefficiency of my speakers needing that oomph factor, don't know but it was there.