Did 8B NRB and 5B NRB really come with ST level quality?

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M3 EuroLTW

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I'm hoping James can chime in, or any Bryston Fans that recall the history.

I ran across this quote in a 98 review of the Bryston 9BST.

Is it true that the 8B NRB (and 5B NRB by extension) were rebadged after release to be called ST level amplifiers without really changing the insides?  It would ad value to an early 8B/5B NRB to confirm this.


"...And turning to the inquiring, what does the 9B ST sound like? Well, sorry to disappoint those wanting new revelations, but it sounds like every other Bryston amplifier since 1994 or so and the introduction of the 8B, which quickly became the 8B ST when the company realized how different it was from the previous NRB models. "

Thank you in advance.

(Don't know of a better forum to ask this question!)

James Tanner

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Re: Did 8B NRB and 5B NRB really come with ST level quality?
« Reply #1 on: 27 Jun 2017, 02:56 pm »
Hi

I checked with Stuart Taylor (ST) and he said there were some minor circuit changes when we went to the ST versions but they were minimal.

james

M3 EuroLTW

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Re: Did 8B NRB and 5B NRB really come with ST level quality?
« Reply #2 on: 27 Jun 2017, 03:00 pm »
"I checked with Stuart Taylor (ST) and he said there were some minor circuit changes when we went to the ST versions but they were minimal."

I'd say that was pretty authoritative!

Thanks for the quick response, I think you may have set a record, 17 minute response time that included a verification with another person!

Alex.


rob80b

Re: Did 8B NRB and 5B NRB really come with ST level quality?
« Reply #3 on: 27 Jun 2017, 04:36 pm »
If memory doesn’t escape me the “balanced inputs” on the NRBs had proprietary input buffers designed by Mr Taylor which produced a better amplified signal, the STs were then a complete work over by Stuart at simplifying the signal path which in turn improved the overall signal to noise ratio.

CanadianMaestro

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Re: Did 8B NRB and 5B NRB really come with ST level quality?
« Reply #4 on: 27 Jun 2017, 04:45 pm »
ST's amps in general are remarkable. No digititis in the SST and later models.
Kudos to Mr Taylor.