[spinner]

  Hello to all. I have had my BCD-1 for awhile and things are sounding great. My budget will soon allow attaining an update to my amps kit. Currently I have the 4B st and BP25 combo. I can afford EITHER the 26 OR the 4B sst2. Can any experienced members advise me of which choice would benefit my system more. Thanks for your opinions in advance.....Spinner.

[headshrinker2]

Great question.  I'm running a similar system: BCD-1/BP25/4BSST.  I look forward to the forum advice/replies.

I'm curious, why the upgrade?  Do you feel there is something lacking in your current system?

  Hello to all. I have had my BCD-1 for awhile and things are sounding great. My budget will soon allow attaining an update to my amps kit. Currently I have the 4B st and BP25 combo. I can afford EITHER the 26 OR the 4B sst2. Can any experienced members advise me of which choice would benefit my system more. Thanks for your opinions in advance.....Spinner.

[SoundGame]

  Hello to all. I have had my BCD-1 for awhile and things are sounding great. My budget will soon allow attaining an update to my amps kit. Currently I have the 4B st and BP25 combo. I can afford EITHER the 26 OR the 4B sst2. Can any experienced members advise me of which choice would benefit my system more. Thanks for your opinions in advance.....Spinner.

There is no hesitation on this recommendation - you will by far get the biggest increase in sonic quality by replacing your ST with an SST2 amplifier.  The BP26 will only be marginally better than your BP25 and will be restricted from showing this difference by your ST amp.
 
The SST2 series amps are significantly different from the older ST series.  Trust me, I only recently bought a 4B-SST2 to replace my 3B-ST.  Power wasn't the signficant different but the sound was.  The SST2 are much more organic and liquid sound and perform extremely well at both the lowest volumes and at high volumes. 
 
Just considering the features / improvements added in the SST2 series vs. the ST series the choice is clear - replace your amp first - you won't regret it!

[alexone]

Spinner,

i'd say that the 4B SSTsq is the way to go!

best,

al.

[spinner]

 Thank you for your suggestions. I think my system is very good but given the constant comparison between amps I feel there is this room for yet a finer performance. The other question would be ; is the pro version identical to the C version of the 4B?  Cheers...............

[SoundGame]

Thank you for your suggestions. I think my system is very good but given the constant comparison between amps I feel there is this room for yet a finer performance. The other question would be ; is the pro version identical to the C version of the 4B?  Cheers...............

Yes - other than aesthetics and channel gain controls on the pro version they are identical.  It could be said that if you don't need the channel gain controls on the amp then it would be better to go with the C-Series for greater simplicity / purity in design but according to Bryston there really is not a noticeable difference in performance with or without the gain controls.

[Phil A]

I concur - go with the amp upgrade.  When I had the SP1.7 (the equivalent of the BP-25 - I did A/B them too when I first got it), I compared it to the BP-26.  The BP26 was a bit more refined but not a night and day difference.  I owned a 4BST at one point as well as a 14BSST and I current still have a 6BSST and a 3BST.  There was a big different between the SST and ST and I can only imagine the squared version will be better as well

[spinner]

Thanks again..........

[PierreB]

Have you think about your speakers ???
I replace my ProAc Response 1SC for the ProAc D18 about 3 weeks ago and it was a change for the best. Even if I have change my 2B SST for a new 3B SST² or 4B SST² I really think the difference would not be has great.
Just my 2 cents.