Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2

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werd

Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« on: 7 Jul 2012, 08:30 pm »
Hello folks

Just thought i would mention a new pre amp i just purchased. An Audio Zone T1 transformer volume pre amp.

Yup its a passive. The difference between a normal passive and this type is are the two transformers used to complete the circuit between the output of the Source and amp. Inbetween the two transformers sits a very fine volume control. The idea of two transformers  allows impedance matching from the volume into the amp. The two transformers also create an isolation effect between the source and amp. There is no connection between source and amp which means no ground loops. This pre amp is completely silent there is literally no noise out of my speakers. And that says a lot about my 14B being drop dead quiet also.

I bought this because i wanted to get as much resolution out my system with as little cash as possible. This does it. It also jumps up prat considerably.

So whats the drawback. Well its dry. But for me i like that. I am not and never have been into smoothing over and blossoming the sound stage. I have spent many hours with preamps that have and i have always been on a path of cabling and tweaks that try to control the noise and distortion put out by active pre's. This isn't a dis at all in fact i still love what an active line brings in terms of sparkle and soothing playback. But i can guarantee unless you spend in the thousands (10k+)you will not get the resolution or prat that this pre can put out and keep the sparkle. Since i am using a 240v dual phase Torus i have my BDP/BDP into the Torus and my 14B into the wall for complete isolation which adds to the noise floor at around NIL. Its really nice.

Another downside is unless you have a really really decent source, forget it. You are going to get everything including all the nasties that a frontend can deliver. Its been a challenge just getting my BDP/bda recabled and resituated on my platform. Trying different cabling and postioning platforms was a must. Its not a plug and play device so unless you are into the affects of cables and have no problem with changing out things then this could sound pretty harsh and easily dismissed as a fully resolving but harsh sounding piece of gear. Its almost worth starting out with regular generic PCs and move up from there since many power cables just bump up the response and it just ends up amplifying stuff you may not like interms of treble.

I have seen gear like this also used infront of high performance dacs with volume controls. By using the volume control on the dac and setting the volume on this pre to full it allows the use of the impedance and isolation characteristics of this pre and at full volume it will take on the active output of the dac. Its kinda best of both worlds in that sense.

It will challenge what you're notions of what good hi fi is. You could easily dismiss it as too dry but when you have no noise and distortion by the preamp it isn't what you might expect. It is listenable and non fatiguing. So much that it gives a good handle of what instrument do sound like and i personally believe its a step in the right direction when compared to live. But thats me and ymmv.

http://www.audio-zone.ca/pre-T1.html


SoundGame

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #1 on: 9 Jul 2012, 02:50 am »
Congrats Werd on that sexy looking piece of machinery!

I appreciate the detailed description. You have been running a BP-26, have you not?  So is the BP-26 off to a new owner or are you planning to hold on to the two preamps, perhaps for some of the differences you describe?

So from your description, it seems to be that the new pre is cleaner and clearer with a lower noise-floor but gives up some smoothness and soundstaging...is that correct?  How do the dynamics compare at higher volumes?


werd

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #2 on: 9 Jul 2012, 03:30 am »
Congrats Werd on that sexy looking piece of machinery!

I appreciate the detailed description. You have been running a BP-26, have you not?  So is the BP-26 off to a new owner or are you planning to hold on to the two preamps, perhaps for some of the differences you describe?

So from your description, it seems to be that the new pre is cleaner and clearer with a lower noise-floor but gives up some smoothness and soundstaging...is that correct?  How do the dynamics compare at higher volumes?

Hi Sound Game

and thanks  :thumb:

I had a bp25 with an mps2. I sold that over a year ago.

The pre is not active so there is no live level powered sensation in that component. It has excellent soundstaging and it really is a hirez jazz and anything  well  recorded pre. Its not a rocking heavy metal preamp into a SS amp. Although i have tons of volume with it  because you can get it with a 12 db gain on it. It has more resolution than a bp26 but you give up the remote, active out and the multiple inputs. Mine has two in and two out btw. The builder likes selling them with high sensitivity speakers and tube power. I didnt care i knew what i was getting into. What it does with excellent recorded 96 and 192 is great. Your really get a sense of an in house band with soundstaging. But if its a bad recording you know it since it's not buttering it up.
 
Like on the Albert King with Stevie ray vaughn recording The track "Dont lie to me" in 96khz. The song hasnt lost any of its bluesy swing but it digs right into the soundstage with no loss of Bloom on Stevie's guitar. Its really good and its hard to get that kind of combination with an active pre i found.

But on the other hand with AC/DC "Stiff Upper Lip" which is rather bluesy also. You get the rock feel but its lacking the grip you get with an active. Thats a nice recording too but it doesn't work with alot of hard rock guitar so far. Its good but not as good as with my Max bella pre or even the bp26. But its probably not done breakin in yet so its kind of preliminary 

You are getting a true sound of the dac and recording. Well so long as your amp is good and not wiping it down with its own signature. I strongly recommend it since it gives you a good insight into what a preamp does good and what it doesn't. Everyone should spend some time with one of these. Whether you like it or not is up to you but i love this on my hi rez recordings and Electronic mainstream too.

werd

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #3 on: 9 Jul 2012, 03:50 am »
Just a quick change from what i said above. I said it doesnt have the grip. It has tons grip of and drive. As good as any active. It if hadn't i wouldnt have bought it. It doesn't have theweight into the guitar which is crucial in lots of rock and metal  but is completely acceptable with anything else since it just give you more of everything else in resolution.

I would not have been able to pull this off if it wasn't for the quality of the recordings played back by the bda and power by the 14B. But one thing for sure its good sound and with good beats.

Anonamemouse

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Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #4 on: 9 Jul 2012, 11:53 am »
Congratulations on your new amp! I have toyed with going passive for a while too, and know that it takes some getting used to its "dry" sound. I have tried a few, but in the end decided to buy my Sovereign.
I think that if the Sovereign had not existed I'd have a "cordless" pre now too.

NiHo

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #5 on: 9 Jul 2012, 05:42 pm »
Congratulations on your purchase.

I've used the AudioZone Pre T-1 for the past six years and use Bryston PowerPac 300 amplifiers. As you noted the very low noise floor allows you to hear details on recordings that you haven't heard before. It is a big improvement over my prior active pre-amp.

In my case I have the version for balanced cables, three inputs and one output. The three sources I use (Linn Unidisk 1.1, Magnum Dynalab 102 and a Blue Circle 509) have no problem driving the pre-amp. However I found that the Oppo BDP-95 really couldn't drive this pre and there was a loss of bass.

As you probably realize, it uses the same transformers as the Music First passive pre-amps. So there are possibilities of upgrading the transformers if required...

Nigel


werd

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #6 on: 9 Jul 2012, 07:07 pm »
Congratulations on your new amp! I have toyed with going passive for a while too, and know that it takes some getting used to its "dry" sound. I have tried a few, but in the end decided to buy my Sovereign.
I think that if the Sovereign had not existed I'd have a "cordless" pre now too.

Makes me wonder about that sovereign now. I found If you get a good recording and front end, dry isn't what you think .  Especially late nite when there is no noise in your ac at all. This pre sounds a lot like a bp 25 with no noise and less distortion and line level sparkle. And woot I get to sell one my power cords !!


werd

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #7 on: 9 Jul 2012, 07:18 pm »
Congratulations on your purchase.

I've used the AudioZone Pre T-1 for the past six years and use Bryston PowerPac 300 amplifiers. As you noted the very low noise floor allows you to hear details on recordings that you haven't heard before. It is a big improvement over my prior active pre-amp.

In my case I have the version for balanced cables, three inputs and one output. The three sources I use (Linn Unidisk 1.1, Magnum Dynalab 102 and a Blue Circle 509) have no problem driving the pre-amp. However I found that the Oppo BDP-95 really couldn't drive this pre and there was a loss of bass.

As you probably realize, it uses the same transformers as the Music First passive pre-amps. So there are possibilities of upgrading the transformers if required...

Nigel

Nice to hear some one else with a T-1/Bryston combo. You got a nice selection of front ends to cycle through i see. It can't be underscored enough how important the front end is here. It drives the whole soundstage.

That Music First pre was the one I was looking for originally but nothing ever came up that I could find. On either pre amp actually on the used market. So I got tired of waiting and went with the Canadian guy. The thing is built like a little tank and heavy. Looks great too. You get what you pay for.

Didnt know i could get it with balanced connects or else I might have done that. I have .5 mtr pair of Empirical audio holographs I would have like to used. It would have sat the pre right on top of my 14B. But I am not an advocate of balanced or RCA since I can get what I want in sound with either. So its not really a big deal.

mkaiser

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Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #8 on: 9 Jul 2012, 11:18 pm »
Thanks for posting this werd,
I am going to purchase the T-1 as well as a pair of Amp-2 monoblocks soon for a second system.

Mark

rmurray

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #9 on: 10 Jul 2012, 01:43 am »
  Perhaps Bryston should offer a passive alternate to their powered units. :idea:

James Tanner

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Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #10 on: 10 Jul 2012, 02:04 am »
  Perhaps Bryston should offer a passive alternate to their powered units. :idea:

No we have looked at that and I just do not feel it is the correct direction to go.

James

rmurray

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #11 on: 10 Jul 2012, 03:07 am »
 Thanks James :thumb:

redbook

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Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #12 on: 10 Jul 2012, 03:09 am »
Are their any changes upcoming to the preamp or power amp lines James?

James Tanner

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Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #13 on: 10 Jul 2012, 03:44 am »
Are their any changes upcoming to the preamp or power amp lines James?

Hi

Nothing immediate but we are always experimenting with new ideas.

James

werd

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #14 on: 10 Jul 2012, 07:12 am »
Thanks for posting this werd,
I am going to purchase the T-1 as well as a pair of Amp-2 monoblocks soon for a second system.

Mark

Nice, I would like to hear what he does with those monos.

wynnytsky

Re: Audio Zone T1 - Bryston 14Bsst/2
« Reply #15 on: 26 Mar 2019, 12:38 am »
how long did the passive stay in your system?