[trentcanuck]

Hi.
Today I auditioned a Bryston B100 with the built-in DAC (privately, not at a dealer).

The sound was clean; no questions there.

However, the output level seemed strangely low, for an amplifier that is 100 watts/ channel.
To get a moderately-loud volume level, I had to have the volume knob at the 12-oclock position or higher.

Something just didn't seem right about this to me.
The Bryston dealer I spoke to said that 12 o'clock should be essentially full gain.

The speakers were not exotic nor inefficient -Paradigm mini monitors. I also tried another pair of speakers with the same results.

I compared the Bryston to an Arcam Alpha 9 (75 WPC), and the Arcam seemed to have a higher output level.

Does anyone have any experience with this amp?

Also, can anyone confirm whether the amplifier section of this unit still has the 20-year warranty, depute there also being a DAC inside?
The local dealer stated that because of the DAC, the warranty on the whole unit is limited to 5 years.
This seemed to contradict the warranty card in the box, and doesn't seem sensible to me.

Thanks!

[James Tanner]

Hi

The warranty on the DAC section is 5 years - the amp and preamp section is 20 years.

The overall  gain (volume) through the system will be a function of the source output voltage plus the gain of the B100 plus the efficiency of the speaker. It is a trick that cheap receivers use to do where the volume control would have much more effect from say 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock than between 11 and 2 o'clock.which made you think the unit was more powerful. So positioning of the volume control is more a function of how much gain is applied  at specific points in the rotation. The B100 would be at full gain about 2 o'clock on the volume control.

James

[Stu Pitt]

I own a B60.  The volume knob is at different places for the same perceived SPL for different sources - my DAC, DVD player/XBox, and turntable.  As James said, different voltages going into the preamp, as James said.

My B60's volume knob has a far more usable range than any other unit I've used.

And your dealer is flat out wrong about the warranty.  Bryston will cover everything but the DAC board for 20 years from the date stamp.