The people speak out (or at least I hope they will - a bit)

Adz523 · « **Reply #40 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 01:24 am »

Quote from: James Tanner

On the dual subs - you can use the XLR and the RCA out.

james

Yep, I certainly tried that and got a very weak signal level on the RCA when used in conjunction with the XLR. Now maybe it shouldn't be that way in which case I will have you guys look at it when I send it back for the upgrade.

By the way, is Bryston a private company?

James Tanner · « **Reply #41 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 01:29 am »

Yes -it is private - it is owned by 4 individuals - all working at Bryston

james

Adz523 · « **Reply #42 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 01:46 am »

Quote from: James Tanner

Yes -it is private - it is owned by 4 individuals - all working at Bryston

james

Well, I take it you may be one of them.
Anyway, I asked because if they are ever looking for private capital for R&D, etc, this Forum would certainly be the place to start.

James Tanner · « **Reply #43 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 01:54 am »

Yes I am one of them - how much you got?

james

Adz523 · « **Reply #44 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 11:41 am »

Quote from: James Tanner

Yes I am one of them - how much you got?

james

In Canadian dollars (CAD).......I guess a lot ! Although that has started to reverse of late, hasn't it?

Seriously we're all pumped for new and improved innovations in audio from you guys - I guess its the Fab Four?.

[/u]

madders · « **Reply #45 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 04:45 pm »

It's great to hear there are some upgrades on the way! To be honest, I sold my SP1.7 a few months ago as I was going down the HTPC route direct to my 9B ST as a cost saving exercise but now I am moving to a new property with space for a nice 7.1 system, I'm looking at processors again. I had disregarded the SP1.7 because of the surround processing not being up with the higher end Lexicon's (although I know the analogue passthrough is superior!) Now that I know an improvement in this area is imminent, the SP1.7 is definitely back on my shortlist

. I would be looking to buy in April-May time, do you think the updates would be available on new stock by then? Oh and I'll be getting either a 3B SST or 4B SST for the extra 2 channels of amplification!

By the way, I got excellent service from PMC with a repair to my 9B ST in the UK recently. This is another big reason for relooking at the Bryston brand!

Steve

brystonbrad · « **Reply #46 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 05:46 pm »

Quote from: antt

Quote from: BeeBop
I bought one of those - a Denon 1600 DVD player. Lasted less than 2 years.

Yea, I don't have much faith in mass market companies anymore. (Hence the reason I haven't purchased a Denon DVD player - Besides, didn't this one fail one test?) But if Bryston built it, I'd buy it.

nicolasb · « **Reply #47 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 06:03 pm »

Quote from: Adz523

can you provide any more detail around the new DSP.

We know that the chip is the "Aureus" or DA610, made by Texas Instruments. It's been around for several years now. The aureus has also been used by Harmon Kardon and by JVC, among others. Try this link to search on TI's site for info.

The aureus is rated at 1800 MIPS or 1200 MFLOPS (some sources claim 1350) - this gives it approximately the same processing power as two SHARC 21161N processors: a pair of 21161N SHARCs is what you'll find inside something like a Denon A1SR or a Tag McLaren AV192R (or the dual-processor version of the AV32R).

Many moons ago I tried putting together a list of the DSPs used in various processors. See this thread here over on AV Forums. (Note that the figures for the MC-12 on there are for the version 3 processor - the version 4 is a lot more powerful).

Quote

Also, say it ain't so Mike - no change in the back panel which I guess means no additional subwoofer out? The ability to run dual subwoofers is market these days.

Not that it's any of my business

but what did you want the second sub for? If you want to run two off the same signal then a simple splitter cable ought to suffice. If not, how did you want to break the signal down?

It would, admittedly, be cool to do the Lexicon thing of having one sub handle the LFE channel of a movie while another handles bass-management bass (or possibly even 2 others - in stereo). Or were you just hoping to reduce standing waves by having one sub either side of a mid-room node?

Adz523 · « **Reply #48 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 08:37 pm »

Quote from: nicolasb

Not that it's any of my business but what did you want the second sub for? If you want to run two off the same signal then a simple splitter cable ought to suffice. If not, how did you want to break the signal down?

It would, admittedly, be cool to do the Lexicon thing of having one sub handle the LFE channel of a movie while another handles bass-management bass (or possibly even 2 others - in stereo). Or were you just hoping to reduce standing waves by having one sub either side of a mid-room node?

Your point about the Lexicon feature is indeed pretty cool but as you stated I was thinking simply running two subs around the room. As I posted earlier, I found that using the RCA and XLR at the same time negatively impacted the signal level (which may just be a problem with my 1.7), and splitting the signal as I am currently now doing is not the best thing to do either I understand.

I apologize to the JVC and HK owners out there, but isn't that not such a great statement to make that its the same DSP as has been around for "several" years now and found in a JVC or HK receiver (as opposed to Theta or Meridian, etc.) or is it, as I thought, that once you have the processing power its then the proprietary software implementation and other components around the DSP that really count to make a pre/pro shine? By the way, didn't Tag go out of business? Please feel free to correct me all the way through!

nicolasb · « **Reply #49 on:** 21 Feb 2005, 10:30 am »

No, Tag McLaren didn't go out of business.

There was a time a couple of years back when it looked like they might be about to stop making audio products, but they're still going strong now.

The difference that more processing power makes is hard to quantify. It has been my empirical observation that the processors with more processing power available tend to have superior steering in the rear channels. It's the rear channels that (IMO) show up the biggest difference between an SP1.7 and a Lexicon MC-12. I also reckon that an SP1.7 beats a dual-processor Tag McLaren device in terms of clarity in the the front three channels, but that the Tag machine sounds better in the rears.

There are at least three possible reasons for this:

1) It isn't actually possible to do DD and DTS decoding plus standard bass management in an absolutely optimum way on an older DSP. (Seems unlikely).

2) Newer DSPs have their basic code written more recently than older ones, and there are fewer bugs in the standard code libraries.

3) The companies that (at the time I was auditioning) were using more processing power (Tag McLaren, Lexicon, Meridian) are the same companies who use a significant amount of proprietary post-processing software, so it may be this that makes the difference.

Doubtless there are other possibilities (including the possiblity that there's no real correlation at all and it's just a statistical aberration!

) But I've been saying for a long time that I'm looking forward to hearing what happens when the superior analogue performance of the SP1.7 is coupled with a higher-powered DSP. We shall see!

Levi · « **Reply #50 on:** 1 Mar 2005, 06:02 pm »

Any updates as to when the updates will be available for the SP1.7?

Thanks,
Levi

James Tanner · « **Reply #51 on:** 5 Mar 2005, 11:04 pm »

Hi Levi,

Well it certainly appears that the SP1.7 upgrade is the next target. We continue to move forward with the new software and I will let everyone know ASAP what new features and hardware upgrades will be offered.
Given all the issues surrounding DVD HD and Blue Laser - thats on hold for now.
We have a few prototype CD drives up and running.

james

madders · « **Reply #52 on:** 5 Mar 2005, 11:33 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner

Hi Levi,

Well it certainly appears that the SP1.7 upgrade is the next target. We continue to move forward with the new software and I will let everyone know ASAP what new features and hardware upgrades will be offered.
Given all the issues surrounding DVD HD and Blue Laser - thats on hold for now.
We have a few prototype CD drives up and running.

james

A Bryston CD Transport

Awesome!

Steve

Adz523 · « **Reply #53 on:** 6 Mar 2005, 01:09 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner

Hi Levi,

Well it certainly appears that the SP1.7 upgrade is the next target. We continue to move forward with the new software and I will let everyone know ASAP what new features and hardware upgrades will be offered.
james

Levi · « **Reply #54 on:** 6 Mar 2005, 01:42 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner

Hi Levi,

Well it certainly appears that the SP1.7 upgrade is the next target. We continue to move forward with the new software and I will let everyone know ASAP what new features and hardware upgrades will be offered.
Given all the issues surrounding DVD HD and Blue Laser - thats on hold for now.
We have a few prototype CD drives up and running.

james

nicolasb · « **Reply #55 on:** 6 Mar 2005, 06:55 pm »

Quote from: James Tanner

We have a few prototype CD drives up and running.

The voting in this and its sister thread (click here) suggests (on the basis of this sample, anyway) that the most popular choice for something to work on after the SP1.7 DSP upgrade would be additional SP1.7 hardware upgrades, followed by a stand-alone stereo DAC, followed by a "universal" player - not much support for a CD transport. Still, I guess it's a small sample.

Quote

it certainly appears that the SP1.7 upgrade is the next target. We continue to move forward with the new software and I will let everyone know ASAP what new features and hardware upgrades will be offered.

That's what I wanna hear about!

BeeBop · « **Reply #56 on:** 7 Mar 2005, 10:35 am »

Quote from: James Tanner

...We have a few prototype CD drives up and running.

Yeah baby, YEAH! If you are taking suggestions, can you consider making it front loading, with both optical and coax outputs, and a nicely damped case in either silver or black?

dan_lo · « **Reply #57 on:** 7 Mar 2005, 10:08 pm »

If Bryston will build a CD transport and I'll want to buy one it will automatically be on my shortlist, just because it's Bryston. However, the chances that I'll want a transport are quite remote.

Why would people buy a transport, when it is almost a concensus that one can build a DAC almost totally independent from the transport. Look at Wadia or Esoteric (Teac) transports - the over-engineering is getting ridiculous. Does Bryston want to compete with that ?

I honestly don't see the financial sense in that. I think it is a mistake, and I'd hate to see Bryston throw valuable resources down he drain.

James Tanner · « **Reply #58 on:** 7 Mar 2005, 10:54 pm »

Hi Dan,

So far we are looking at doing a complete CD Player not just a drive.
The DAC we build for our BP26 and now the B100 has been getting rave reviews the world over so we think adding these Class A discrete circuits to an excellent DAC would provide our customers with an exceptional CD player at a reasonable price.
We are still in the 'lets see what we can do stage' at this point.

james

dan_lo · « **Reply #59 on:** 8 Mar 2005, 12:01 am »

excuse me - I did not understand .
An integrated player makes more sense. It is still a risk - as others have mentioned, but than again, I think most people will actually prefer an integrated player for practical reasons (and of course - jitter is less of an issue there).

Well - good luck.

Poll

What new product or upgrade do you think Bryston should produce next?

The people speak out (or at least I hope they will - a bit)