I was lucky enough to be the recipient of having Gary Dayton come to my house to sort out some setup issues with my mostly Bryston system: 4Bsst2 amp, BIT-15 power conditioner, BP-26 pre-amp, MPS-2 external power supply, BDA-1 DAC, Thiel CS-3.6 speakers, Sony XA-5400ES sacd/cd player run with digital co-ax into the BDA-1 DAC, Analysis Plus speaker wires and XLR interconnects).
I lost a bunch of dynamics when I moved the Theil’s from the long wall to the short wall. I was entertaining all kinds of catastrophic theories about the BIT-15 messing things up. Luckily Gary was able to listen to my concerns and took the time and was able to help me move the speakers back along the long wall and further out and into the room where the bass was no longer cancelling itself out. Our thinking was that the previous short wall arrangement allowed for a sonic aberration to rear its ugly head and the listening chairs were located close to where the bass notes were somehow neutralizing their initial power, making listening much more fatiguing.
With my anxieties reduced, we switched to listening to music. Some of my music first. A few of the tracks were great, a few were a bit low-fi. He complimented me on making good pairings for my 2nd go-round with setting up an audiophile system.
The 4BSST-2 is clearly a champ, being super quiet, having awesome bass grip and for the most part being fatigue free. I explained to Gary how I sometimes could not make out the vocals enough. He dialed up some high res vocal jazz from his laptop into the Bda-1 DAC and we isolated some sections that maybe could have been easier to follow or vocals more fleshed out.
He had brought a 2.5sst3 amp and the newer Bryston preamp and switched those in. We continued listening. We used a couple of the same tracks again. I was able to hear a bit more detail and more musicality where the interplay between lead and background vocals (for example) was less opaque - clearer. The detail retrieval required less concentration on my part, approaching headphone listening levels of absolute detail retrieval.
So I asked Gary, am I losing anything in translation if I were to “downgrade” to the 2.5sst3? He said he didn’t think so. He left and I had an amazing morning and much to think about. The 2.5 amp apparently cleared the bar for the power hungry Thiel CS-3.6 speakers they still had a very similar level of punch to the 4Bsst2. So I then started wondering about the cubed series amps - which one to go with?
Honestly, after getting my speakers placed correctly - I’m enjoying the heck out of my 4Bsst2 amp again. So I’m in no hurry.
Those who are using the 4Bsst3, can any of you testify as to your real world experience in your system in some of the musical intangibles? Thanks for reading my post and I welcome all feedback.
From, Bill in Dayton OH!
