[ryder]

Greetings.

This is my first post here after I discovered about this thread specifically on Bryston/PMC. I own the PMC LB1 Signatures which I bought late last year from my local dealer who was clearing them since they were discontinued. I was auditioning between the stock LB1's and the LB1  Sigs and couldn't make out any sonic differences between the two but eventually chose the latter as I thought I was not listening hard enough due to lack of sleep on that day.  I am using Plinius amplification  on them and was rather happy with the results. The Plinius gave a warm and lush kind of sound which was pleasing to the ears. However, I was yearning for a more transparent and dynamic sound which had led me to considering Bryston. MY line stage is the weakest link at the moment so the BP-25/26 is in my shorlist. I am not willing to give up on my Plinius SA-100mk3 yet as I love the looks and build of that thing. Problem is Bryston preamps are not as highly regarded compared to others but I heard the BP-26 is an extremely well-made unit. Will it balance out the warmth and lush sounding Plinius amp by injecting some speed, transparency and dynamics into the music? My current Plinius M7 pre is the limiting factor here.

Another question. Will the LB1's benefit from more power? Looking at the specs, this speaker is even more difficult to be driven compared to the FB1's and OB1's with a sensitivity of 87db and nominal impedance of 4 ohms. (OB1's impedance is 6 ohms). I may add more power for future upgrades if there is room for improvements for the LB1's.
 
Any opinions and advice would be most appreciated.

[Barry.B]

Hi Ryder,

I own a BP-25DA and vertically bi-amped Lexicon NT 212's (3BST's) driving LB1 classics.
In theory the Lexicons are providing approx 400 watts to each speaker (correct me if I'm wrong!).  On both amps the right channel is driving the tweeters and the left channel the bass/midrange.
This gives a detailed, transparent and punchy sound.  When you wind the volume up it just gets louder with no distortion until towards the top end of the volume range, but by this time you wouldn't want to listen at this volume for long.  It has been stated elsewhere in this forum that the SST's are smoother and more detailed in the top end, but I didn't have the cash for two 3BSST's at the time of purchase.

There is also an opinion that using 3B's for the tweeters and 4B's for the bass/midrange may sound better but I haven't been able to try that setup (yet!!!!!).

The LB1's definitely benefit from more power as it gives the bottom end more grip and control.  I was offered an upgrade for my classics to signature specs when they were repaired under warranty, but again the funds were not there.  It is interesting that you could not tell any sonic difference between the classics and signatures under demo conditions.  The spec sheet on the PMC website for both speakers are identical.

The BP-25 is apparently very similar to the BP-26 apart from the upgraded power supply which gives it it's improved performance.
I certainly wouldn't describe the sound as warm and lush, you just hear what is being played clearly and truthfully (IMHO).

You won't be disappointed with the BP-25/26, but obviously only your ears can tell you if it will match your system, but I found bi-amping the LB1's made a big difference.  There is much written about bi-amping in other threads if you are interested.

Regards,

Barry.B

[ryder]

Hi Barry,

I thought nobody was going to reply to my first post and that would be really disconcerting. Thanks for your lengthy and yet comprehensive reply.

Since the BP-25 is similiar to the BP-26 except for the power supply, I may just get the BP-25 and save some money for another 4B-ST amp. I just figured out the LB1's may benefit in having more power and furthermore they will be synergistic with the Bryston. Your experience in having the Lexicon's in biamp configuration has further reinforced my belief in feeding the LB1's with more power. I can then have the flexibility of using the 4B-ST solely to drive my speakers or run it in biamp configuration with my Plinius amp. I always have the impression that my Plinius, although with quality 100W/8ohms is still unsufficient in driving the LB1's to optimum as I often like to crank up the volume quite a bit.

Looks like I am heading towards Bryston path now and I was never a Bryston fan before (I like my gears to be more aesthetically pleasing apart from sounding good).

Thanks.

[Fife12]

I had LB1 before.

One 3B is not enough to get the best out of them. I had a 6B and that drove the LB1 easily. Also used a Proceed Amp5. One Amp5 channel per speaker and it resulted in boomy bass. Once I bi-admped 2 channels per speaker, the Dynaudio driver sounded much better.

My advice, get an 4B or two 3B's if you want to drive your LB1 well. Soundwise, that will be anothert issue. I preferred the Proceed as they were smoother. The Bryston/LB1 combo was too analytical and lean.

[ryder]

The Plinius SA-100MkII is rated at 180W/4ohms, 100/8ohms
The Bryston 4B-St is rated at 400W/4 ohms, 250/8ohms

Think I'll have to get the Bryston's raw power into the mix to drive those difficult Dynaudio drivers.

[Bob Reynolds]

Hi Ryder,

If I was in your shoes, I'd spend the additional money on a BP26. My feeling is that between the preamp and amp, the preamp has a greater chance of affecting sonics. Though I don't believe that properly designed electronics really have a sound.

If your budget doesn't allow for Bryston SST amps, I would seriously consider ATI's AT2004. It's a 4-channel differential amp; 200 wpc @ 8, 300 wpc @ 4. The warranty is 7 years, the build quality is very good and the sonics are quite nice to my ears. I use an AT602 in my office system driving M&K 4 ohm nearfield monitors.

The ATI amps don't have Bryston's warranty, but who does? The ATI amps don't measure as well as Bryston's, but not many do (including Plinius).

I would not try bi-amping a Bryston amp with your Plinius. I'd be surprised if the gain of the two amps were identical and then you'd have to add an attenuator to the mix. It just seems to me that the Plinius amp is not a good match for your PMC speakers.

-- Bob

[ryder]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your mail again. I also share the same opinion in that the preamp has greater chance of affecting the sonics compared to amps as most of more experienced folks have suggested this as well.

I think I will eventually replace all my Plinius amps in the long run and since budget doesn’t allow, I can only change one component at a time. Okay I’ll keep the BP-26 in mind and upgrade the linestage first since it’s a more important component for the time being, only when funds permit. I’ll still stick with Bryston amps as I’m not too familiar with ATI’s.