Any members here who now own Bryston Cubed amps?

tdinut · « **on:** 17 Mar 2016, 04:30 am »

I am not sure how many, if any, Cubed amps have shipped. If you own a pair, please speak up. I'd love to get your opinion so far. I'm jonesing for some info.

I have and love the 28sst2's but am obsessing about the new Cubed amps.

Thank you in advance for any input.

schmidtmike76 · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 02:14 pm »

I have the 2.5 cubed and have had it for 4 days. It is really smooth, open and digs up a lot of detail. Im going single ended crystal cable piccolo's for IC's. Im really enjoying it and honestly for the first time in years Im not even wondering about more. I found it has brought back the excitement in my music, I did come from a power amp previous with more power as well. Numbers and only numbers its how it sounds.

Rod_S · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 02:47 pm »

Do have any experience with the SST2 series in order to provide some comparisons?

schmidtmike76 · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 Mar 2016, 03:18 pm »

Sorry Rod I do not.

ADS 2030 · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Apr 2016, 03:38 pm »

I had a 4b2 and found it to be a very powerful amp.Great great bottom end but it took for ever to break in.The mids and highs started to smooth out around 250 hours and stayed that way up until 500 hours where it got a little nicer to listen to.I still really didn't like the vocals it so I ordered a pair of 7B3 on the sole idea that it has half the damping power it should be a little smoother.
I guess I should mention that I was running my speakers full range off the 4B2.
Now it was time to biamp my speakers so I put the bryston on the bottom and the Audio Research Ref 150 on the top and listened hard for a weekend.
Well after that weekend I put the 4B2 back to full range and WOW what a difference...POWERFUL..SMOOTH..detailed ,I guess I should get to the Cubed amps..
Right off the bat they are BLACK"sound stage" Quiet Open and Deep,more space around everything.Now this is out of the box..
I only have 24 hours on them and they are smoother than the 4B2 was out of the box but the 4B2 had more bottom out of the box than the Cubed.I like the new B3 amps and can hardly wait until they have a couple hundred hours on them...
I don't know if any of these ramblings help you at all...

wilsonij · « **Reply #5 on:** 22 Apr 2016, 03:47 pm »

I also went for a pair of 7B3's and have listened to them for a week now.

First impressions were extraordinary... as others have said, it is the depth of the noise floor, and therefore the dynamics of the sound, that are their most obvious feature, but the more I listened, the more I found that the speed, timbre, space, placement, *everything* was a real step up from the SST2 range.

I have not heard the 28SST2, but I wouldn't be surprised if the 7B3's were *really* close to that performance, if not surpassing them in some areas. I didn't need 28 level power (I have active Subs built into my speakers) and was more interested in the kind of fine detail, placement in space, sense of "air" (especially for live recordings), and an overall greater "organic" quality which the Cube series seem to excel at...

They are certainly the best Solid State Amp I've ever heard, and with the kind of convenience and reliability that Tubes find hard to match... a "best of both worlds" if you will.

So its a definite recommendation from me !

Hope that helps -

Ian

G E · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Apr 2016, 04:57 pm »

A friend of mine was looking for new amps to drive his new Utopia Scalas and Bryston was on the short list. A dealer in LA has a demo set of 28-bsst2 for sale and of course the question came up: "how do they compare to the cube series?"

He said his 7 Cube is close to the sound of the 28 bsst2.

Meaning, 28 squared > 7 cubed. Which is also mathematically correct

I loaned him my 28s for three days. That was lots of work- they are staying in my music room for the rest of eternity. My friend ended up with the VAC 200i. He just can't tear himself away from tubes.

Rod_S · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Apr 2016, 07:30 pm »

What a shame for such a great pair of speakers, purposefully compromising them by using a tube amp. Tube amps have a place but in my opinions it's definitely not in music reproduction, only in music creation.

G E · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Apr 2016, 11:11 pm »

Quote from: Rod_S on 24 Apr 2016, 07:30 pm

What a shame for such a great pair of speakers, purposefully compromising them by using a tube amp. Tube amps have a place but in my opinions it's definitely not in music reproduction, only in music creation.

I was expecting wonderful music with the match. I think we both were.

There was bass. There was detail. There was depth and breadth of stage.

But there wasn't excitement.

Maybe we didn't have enough break in time. The speakers are new, still have the wrap on them. My VMPS speakers and prior Bryston 4bsst2 took over 100 hours to break in. Even my 28's took some time to settle in and they were 4 years old - I initially wondered if I had made a multi-kilobuck mistake. (No, I haven't. They are wonderful!!!)

From what I heard on day 3 of the loan, I would not have purchased this ensemble.

Perhaps this is not an ideal match of gear. The higher up the value chain one buys, the more important component matching becomes. Again, maybe time and tweaking would make the difference.

When we brought the amps back to my house we fired up the system and he was flabbergasted. My system easily outplayed exotic systems he had heard at dealerships.

It would be interesting to get feedback from others with the 28's and Utopia speakers.

PierreB · « **Reply #9 on:** 25 Apr 2016, 12:19 am »

Quote from: Rod_S on 24 Apr 2016, 07:30 pm

What a shame for such a great pair of speakers, purposefully compromising them by using a tube amp. Tube amps have a place but in my opinions it's definitely not in music reproduction, only in music creation.

I heard an integrate tube amp (Audiomat) with a pair of Utopia Mezzo on a friend house and it was magic. It was a match made in heaven. I love my Bryston but man, these tubes are great. Some speakers sound better with tubes. Some would say it's coloration but if you love it, why not.

DarqueKnight · « **Reply #10 on:** 29 Apr 2016, 06:12 pm »

Quote from: tdinut on 17 Mar 2016, 04:30 am

I am not sure how many, if any, Cubed amps have shipped. If you own a pair, please speak up. I'd love to get your opinion so far. I'm jonesing for some info.

I have a 4B3. I did not own a SST2 series amp prior. Review here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=142654.0

ADS 2030 · « **Reply #11 on:** 3 May 2016, 06:11 pm »

Quote from: wilsonij on 22 Apr 2016, 03:47 pm

I also went for a pair of 7B3's and have listened to them for a week now.

Ian

Ian...

How do your 7B's sound now that you have had them for a while ??

For me they are not the amps that I had hoped for

I have over 400 hours on them and I'm still waiting for the music...and they really have no bottom.I had a 4Bsst2 and I could not believe how powerful that amp sounded,Great Bottom but vocals were dry just not musical.
So I ordered these 7Bcubed because everyone told me that the 7's were the smoothest sounding amp of the line.
I also figured that with almost half the damping of the 4Bsst2 it should be a bit more organic sounding"slower".
The sound is a lot better than the 4Bsst2,vocals much more enjoyable and the sound stage much improved over the 4Bsst2.But there is no bottom and weak mid base, I'v had 5 different pre amps,different interconnects,single ended,balanced, different speaker cables really no difference .
Just wondering how yours sound?

wilsonij · « **Reply #12 on:** 3 May 2016, 08:16 pm »

Quote from: ADS 2030 on 3 May 2016, 06:11 pm

How do your 7B's sound now that you have had them for a while ??

I'm really impressed actually, though they are *really* revealing of the rest of your components, so I guess any Purchaser needs to be prepared to have things laid out in quite a stark way, "warts and all" as it were.

This also means that the Engineering of the Source material can make or break the sound... for example Gary Moore playing Parisienne Walkways "live" is good, but not great, whereas a recording of Alex Cornish playing "Brothers in Arms" live is stunning and resulted in grown men being reduced to tears at the weekend !

I would also add, though you may know all this of course, that room acoustics are *absolutely* critical... some even going so far as suggesting "50%" of the sound you hear is down to the quality of the room; have you got bass traps in all corners, tackling the trihedrals followed by the dihedrals ?

Going back a few years, my bass wasn't great, but once I'd tackled the room, losing all of that horrible "resonance/boom", I was able to crank the volume up by another 30% which makes a massive difference - the bass on Chemical Brothers' "Dig Your Own Hole" now wakes the dead !

(I also think tackling first reflections are critical for widening the sound stage, but that's another discussion entirely ...)

Anyway, I guess my question would therefore be, what components do you have up/down stream and what material have you been playing on the system ? Both might provide some insight into where to make some changes because, from my experience, the "problem" may not be the amplifiers...

Hope that helps !

Ian

G E · « **Reply #13 on:** 3 May 2016, 09:07 pm »

ADS 2030-

Check the line in level switch on each amp. They allow the user to select 23 or 29 dB gain. I find the 29 dB setting provides a more robust sound sacrificing a little bit of delicacy that I like with the 23dB gain setting.

GreenMtnGringo · « **Reply #14 on:** 3 May 2016, 10:46 pm »

Hi, 4B³ owner here. Had it for a week and love it. Drives my Magnepan MG .7's to previously unobtainable levels of detail, sound staging and musical nuance.

tdinut · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 May 2016, 12:56 pm »

Thank you all so far for your input here. Please keep the updates coming.

I have my 28BSST2's up for sale in anticipation of ordering the 28 Cubed amps once they are fully released and shipping. I know this is a big gamble on my part. I have enough faith in Bryston and this community to order without hesitation or even an audition.

With Bryston's warranty, service and superb customer support, I feel confident in the new gear and can not wait until they are in my home .

PS, James (and Mike of course), thank you so much for all your hard work and support on the forums.

NekoAudio · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 May 2016, 06:44 pm »

Quote from: wilsonij on 3 May 2016, 08:16 pm

I'm really impressed actually, though they are *really* revealing of the rest of your components, so I guess any Purchaser needs to be prepared to have things laid out in quite a stark way, "warts and all" as it were.

This also means that the Engineering of the Source material can make or break the sound... for example Gary Moore playing Parisienne Walkways "live" is good, but not great, whereas a recording of Alex Cornish playing "Brothers in Arms" live is stunning and resulted in grown men being reduced to tears at the weekend !

I agree. Since switching to the 4B3 I've heard detail in recordings that I didn't know were there before. I am extremely happy with the 4B3 as it is the most accurate and precise amplifier I can remember having the pleasure of listening to. Of course it is important to have accurate and precise gear in your entire chain. I look forward to the introduction of the 6B3 and 9B3 amplifiers to finish out the lineup.

Ilkatze · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 May 2016, 04:25 am »

My 4B3 Pro arrived today. I got the Pro version because I prefer its looks to the non-Pro 4B3.

No surprises--it's outstanding! Like others, I seem to be noticing details in music I'd not been aware of previously. My system is all Bryston--speakers are Bryston's Model A1.

Something different I notice, not music-related, is the startup sound the amp makes when I press the On/Off button. Instead of the brief hum I got with the 4BSST2, I get what resembles clicking sound--soft and rapid. I imagine the sound is normal for this model.

NekoAudio · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 May 2016, 06:51 pm »

Quote from: Ilkatze on 19 May 2016, 04:25 am

Something different I notice, not music-related, is the startup sound the amp makes when I press the On/Off button. Instead of the brief hum I got with the 4BSST2, I get what resembles clicking sound--soft and rapid. I imagine the sound is normal for this model.

Yes, there's a slight click when it turns on.

Ilkatze · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 May 2016, 07:23 pm »

Hello, NekoAudio.

What I hear is a rapid succession of clicks, from around 8 to 10 or more (?), I would say. They are very soft and resemble something like the shutter of a DSLR camera in continuous burst mode. The duration is longer than a second, but shorter than two seconds--closer to one. After the succession of multiple, very soft clicks, I get the "main" click, which is when the LEDs turn green.

Is the succession of clicks what you're referring to in your reply? I don't expect that what I'm hearing is abnormal for the amp, but am just curious to know whether others are hearing the same succession of clicks when they turn on their 4B3 units.