[cmreddy]

Hi James,

is there any plan to release a 7 Ch HT Amplifier a natural extension to 9B SST. It makes much economic sense for most of us, who are waiting for the SP3 to come to the market and pair it with a Bryston 7Ch amp. Any thoughts?

regards,
Cmreddy

[James Tanner]

Hi James,

is there any plan to release a 7 Ch HT Amplifier a natural extension to 9B SST. It makes much economic sense for most of us, who are waiting for the SP3 to come to the market and pair it with a Bryston 7Ch amp. Any thoughts?

regards,
Cmreddy

Hi cm,

The problem with a 7 channel version of the 9B is the size.  Because we have totally separate power supplies and circuitry per channel adding 2 more channels to a 9B would make it a weird size - width wise. We could do as most people do and share the power supply with 2 or more channels but then it wouldn't be a Bryston.

Also I am finding that more and more customers want more power on their front left/right Stereo channels so mating a 9B with a 4B is becoming more popular in a 7.1 setup.

Another trend I am starting to detect in speaking with dealers and customers is a return to 5.1 as 7.1 has more to do with coverage than performance.

james

[Phil A]

Except for the new hi-def formats, which I don't have yet, there are very few movies that have specific encoding for the extra channels anyway.  Due to my main room configuration and seating I can only do 6.1 anyway and when I switched to Bryston amps several years back I have a 14BSST on the mains and a 6BSST on the center and rears.  As the back channel gets rarely used I did not want to go crazy with amplication and picked up a used Marantz (MA500) monoblock which is only a few inches wide (they are THX and 5 of them side by side take the the space of a normal amp) and fits nicely on the amp stand next to the 6BSST due to that.  As James noted, it is more of a coverage issue.  More and more of the new receivers, although they include 7 channels of amplication, allow you to use the extra 2 channels for a second room/zone for that reason.  I guess it depends on how big a home theater you have.  Movie theaters have huge spaces and extra speakers help in the coverage dept.

[cmreddy]

Hi cm,

The problem with a 7 channel version of the 9B is the size.  Because we have totally separate power supplies and circuitry per channel adding 2 more channels to a 9B would make it a weird size - width wise. We could do as most people do and share the power supply with 2 or more channels but then it wouldn't be a Bryston.

Also I am finding that more and more customers want more power on their front left/right Stereo channels so mating a 9B with a 4B is becoming more popular in a 7.1 setup.

Another trend I am starting to detect in speaking with dealers and customers is a return to 5.1 as 7.1 has more to do with coverage than performance.

james

Hi James,

thank you for the clarification. May be i should start with 9B SST and then slowly expand to 4B SST once the budget permits. Until then, i can live with the argument, that 7.1 is more for coverage. 

@Phil: I agree with you regarding the 7.1 format. Even in most of the HD movies, there is only  5.1 audio. But i am sure this will change dramatically in a year or two. Then 7.1 become a norm. I guess we are good 1 year away from that...

Cm

[James Tanner]

HI CM,

Because of our involvment at the Professional studio level I get to see 'what's coming' and I would say 5.1 is the studio standard and as far as I can tell will remain so.

james

[Phil A]

With HDTV and std. formats and bandwidth, 5.1 will be the standard I'd expect for some time.  With std. def. DVD, there aren't a lot of titles out there with more than 5.1.  With the new formats there will be titles released that have options for more than 5.1 but I'm not sure it will be std. in the majority of homes.  I'm not even sure the new hi-def formats will become mainstream.  Yes they will be more or less std. with the avg. audio/video enthusiast crowd but I'm not sure with the avg. person.  When DVD came out the main std. was VHS.  There was no HD TV, digital cable on demand, TIVO, etc.  LD never made it as a std. due the convenience factor in the size and cost of discs and the availability of rentals.  So DVD was head and shoulders above what was available to consumers in terms of convenience and quality.  Today one can buy an upconverting DVD player that does a decent job for $60 and gets one quality wise somewhere between std. def. and full 1080p (yes 1080p starts will 6 times the information but an upconverter can make up for a decent portion of the difference).  You can go to places like Wal-Mart and get a decent selection of std. def. DVDs at $5.  You can rent std. def. DVDs at local supermarkets from Red Box $1 rental machines.  Broadband delivery of movies is in its infancy as well.  So the hi-def formats have much more competition with the avg. consumer than when DVD came out.  Then there is the factor of room set-up.  I have 3 complete systems in the house, main bedroom and basement.  The configuration of the bedroom system is 5.1 and it's layout does not render itself friendly to more than that.  The layout of the main and basement systems is 6.1 friendly and is set up that way.  I have my rooms set-up as rooms with systems vs. a dedicated HT set-up with risers and rows of seating.  The dedicated HT room set-up is more conducive to 7.1.  When I upgrade the bedroom system rec'r, I'll be able to use the 2 extra channels as it feeds a speaker switcher to 4 remote places.  I actually have an old Adcom 555 in the bedroom system now driving the left and right speaker as unlike Bryston amps, the wimply amps in the avg. rec'r won't drive my 4 ohm speakers all that well and are not true mono amps.  Many people I know have already configured their rooms for 5.1.  Again, a HT enthusiast may go through the trouble of extra wiring but I'm not sure that's going to apply to the avg. consumer.  Should be interesting now that it's looking a little closer as to a hi-def video format winner.

[alexone]

Hi James,

is there any plan to release a 7 Ch HT Amplifier a natural extension to 9B SST. It makes much economic sense for most of us, who are waiting for the SP3 to come to the market and pair it with a Bryston 7Ch amp. Any thoughts?

regards,
Cmreddy

cmreddy,

Bryston also offers a 2 channel version of the 9 bsst as far as i know. so it can be easily combined with a ''regular'' 9 bsst and 7 channel ht is done.
it's a nice idea, cause you will have the same power on all channels.

al.

[chip1]

hello, cm

my question to you will be this are you using a bryston pre/pro?

if you are and can afford to get the 9bsst and the 4bsst go for it you will not be disappointed even if you watch regular DVDs with 5.1 audio you still will benefit from the awesome processing that the bryston sp-2 0r sp 1.7 has to offer.

i say this to you because that's exactly what I'm using a bryston sp2 with a 4bsst for my 2 channel music and a 9bsst five channel amp to make up a 7.1 home theater system and with the processing of the sp2 i get to listen to movies through Dolby prologic 2x that have only 2 channel audio and it processes it to 7.1 and Dolby digital 5.1 i engage the Dolby digital ex and i really here a lot of information in my back channels.

i don't have such a huge room my measurements of my room are 14' w x 15' d x 9' h, also room treatment helps a great deal which I'm also using echobusters absorption panels with a bass buster to tame those low frequency's, also with high frequency cornerbusters to tame all those highs that seem to travel to the corner of your room. 

if you do not have a bryston pre/pro i suggest that you get one asap!
it's the best way to match your amps and benefit from the awesome sound that the bryston pre/pro and the bryston amps have to offer.

know this is only my opinion.
wish you all the best in putting together the best possible system you can.

charles 

[gaderson]

Currently stuck with 5.1 on my SP1 and accompanying 9B-ST-THX (bought as a 2-channel, and filled up the chassis as budget allowed), but, thinking of upgrading to something that can handle the newer codecs utill the SP3 comes out (figure I've got a year or more).
But, then I've got to figure out what to do with the sixth channel, and have been on the lookout for a 60 or 120 W PowerPacs (60 for a rear, or 120 for use as for the center channel). The new processors I'm looking at have balanced outs, that would work for a long run to the rear. Though I have though of going to active DB1[A]s for rears and running long balanced cables to the rear (which wouldn't work with a SP2 upgrade as the rear surrounds are single ended). Then I could free up a couple channels in my 9B to bi-amp my GB1s (had them for a month or so and really love them).

[cmreddy]

Hi James, Phil, Chip1

Thank you for your comments and insights. I am starting to appreciate the whole hifi stuff. As a brief background, i  have started with Focal Electra BEs 2X 1027 (Tower three way), 1X CC 1000 (Center) and 2X SR 1000 (Surrounds).  And I am out of cash 

The good thing about SR 1000s is that i can use them in a 5.1 mode or in 7.1 Mode. So the game is to get a 5 Ch amp first and the then slowly add a 2 channel as the budget allows.

  I totally forgot, i still haven't bought a sub woofer.

May be by the end of 2008, i will have everything in place.. Hopefully 

[chip1]

James,

is bryston in the process of manufacturing a new sp3 with hdmi inputs or will it be a separate spv video switcher?

chip1

[James Tanner]

James,

is bryston in the process of manufacturing a new sp3 with hdmi inputs or will it be a separate spv video switcher?

chip1

Hi Chip,

Here is the link to the discussions so far on the SP3- http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=50270.0

james

[samurai]

how about increasing the power from 140watts to 200watts as 9bsst are generaly rated 150+watts anyway I guess everyone will wellcome it, 9bsst might look better.