[umami]

New guy here. I'm a sound designer and musician, and by way of needing high quality gear I guess you could call me an audiophile to the extent that I appreciate clear, full, and predictable sound. Given my needs, a lot of my equipment is more tailored to studio sound, but I have a pair of Bryston 3BSTs running into a set of Spendor SP1s, with a pair of Duntech PCL-15s on top that I use for both casual listening and the "B" portion of my A/B monitoring setup. The Spendors are a little muddy on the high end while the Duntechs are weak on bass, so the combination works brilliantly.

I found AudioCircle while looking for service support from Bryston after I recently blew the left channels of both amps whilst doing something quite foolish. Then stumbled across their "back to the future" upgrade program, which was quite a surprise. So while I'm here, perhaps someone can answer this for me: Is it worth spending $1k per amp for their full refresh package? I have no real idea what the repair costs alone would be, so my thinking is that putting a little extra money in for the upgrade squeezes some more life out of this aging gear. I really love the Brystons, their commitment to supporting old gear, and the general quality. But sunk costs are not always worth sinking more into, and I have no idea what to expect in terms of results. Anyone willing to share thoughts or experience here would be much appreciated.

Nice to find this place, looking forward to being here.

Cheers!

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome to AC 

[umami]

Thank you!

[Ice10]

I’m in Idaho, welcome.  I don’t own Bryston but having owned Odyssey gear before, which I had sent in for a refresh, it was really nice to know that the person or people that know the gear best have given it the once over (or in your case repaired it).  If you liked the sound before I think you’ll really enjoy knowing it’s working and sounding it’s best once the work is completed. It’s a personal decision if the cost is worth it. 

[umami]

Appreciate the thoughts. I posted a question in the Bryston circle asking for a bit more info on what to expect, so hopefully I'll hear back from James or someone else from Bryston. Nothing seemed to be inherently wrong with the amps prior to my mishandling, but I also get that after some point in time certain electronic components start to degrade. Still weighing out what it's worth to refresh aging gear that's worth not a lot more than the price of the refresh. But I love these amps and getting another couple decades out of them is highly appealing.

I’m in Idaho, welcome.  I don’t own Bryston but having owned Odyssey gear before, which I had sent in for a refresh, it was really nice to know that the person or people that know the gear best have given it the once over (or in your case repaired it).  If you liked the sound before I think you’ll really enjoy knowing it’s working and sounding it’s best once the work is completed. It’s a personal decision if the cost is worth it.

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC umami    

[GeorgeAb]

Welcome to AC.

Is it worth the $1K for a full refresh? That is such a personal decision as some folks are more comfortable with factory servicing. If it was me, I would likely just have repaired by a local competent technician. The schematics are readily available online. Replacing a few transistors and setting up proper bias should be able to be done for like $200 (estimate) per amp. If you think the rail capacitors (the big ones) are tired as their capacity does degrade over time, they too could be replaced quite simply. I had a Classe Amp for 25 years and I never felt a need to replace the rail capacitors. A lot of folks love those amps so why not keep if you are happy with them. Even if you move on to something else, should repair and then sell. I do love a Canadian amp, eh. Had an old Classe and replaced with Simaudio Moone W7.

Being from the PNW hope you made it to the pacific audiofest this weekend. First really big show that I know of here. A lot of quality vendors incluidng Spatial Audio who are here on AC. Always good to hear $160K speakers driven by $300K of amplification. If nothing else, to establish aural benchmarks to appreciate what we have.   

[AudioDuck]

Hiya and apologies for “stealing” your subject line!

Looks like we have a few Pacific Northwesterners here- we need indoor hobbies during winter downpours, right?!

Seriously though, I love the music scene in the region and especially in the Seattle area… though being a Duck around here takes a thick hide at times (IYKYK).

BTW, I am selling my integrated amp at the moment and have it listed here and on USAM… if anyone has tips on other worthwhile places to list it (other than eBay or Audiogon), that would be much appreciated. A’gon used to be good and had pretty nominal prices, but now it would cost me $60-70 to list the amp… a bit steep IMHO.

Great to meet you, umami- from one AC noob to another-

Enjoy the music,
Egil

[umami]

Lucky for you my trademark filing on using "Greetings" as a salutation hasn't come through yet. You're good...for now.

Welcome--I can't believe I didn't know this place existed until a few days ago.

How about that heat though!

Hiya and apologies for “stealing” your subject line!

Looks like we have a few Pacific Northwesterners here- we need indoor hobbies during winter downpours, right?!

Seriously though, I love the music scene in the region and especially in the Seattle area… though being a Duck around here takes a thick hide at times (IYKYK).

BTW, I am selling my integrated amp at the moment and have it listed here and on USAM… if anyone has tips on other worthwhile places to list it (other than eBay or Audiogon), that would be much appreciated. A’gon used to be good and had pretty nominal prices, but now it would cost me $60-70 to list the amp… a bit steep IMHO.

Great to meet you, umami- from one AC noob to another-

Enjoy the music,
Egil

[umami]

Much as I hate to say it, you're probably on the right track here. I'm enticed by hearing what an aging 3B-ST might sound like after being refreshed, but for now I'm leaning toward settling for having two working amps, assuming I can find someone locally who can get ahold of the transistors...

Welcome to AC.

Is it worth the $1K for a full refresh? That is such a personal decision as some folks are more comfortable with factory servicing. If it was me, I would likely just have repaired by a local competent technician. The schematics are readily available online. Replacing a few transistors and setting up proper bias should be able to be done for like $200 (estimate) per amp. If you think the rail capacitors (the big ones) are tired as their capacity does degrade over time, they too could be replaced quite simply. I had a Classe Amp for 25 years and I never felt a need to replace the rail capacitors. A lot of folks love those amps so why not keep if you are happy with them. Even if you move on to something else, should repair and then sell. I do love a Canadian amp, eh. Had an old Classe and replaced with Simaudio Moone W7.

Being from the PNW hope you made it to the pacific audiofest this weekend. First really big show that I know of here. A lot of quality vendors incluidng Spatial Audio who are here on AC. Always good to hear $160K speakers driven by $300K of amplification. If nothing else, to establish aural benchmarks to appreciate what we have.

[AudioDuck]

Lucky for you my trademark filing on using "Greetings" as a salutation hasn't come through yet. You're good...for now.

Welcome--I can't believe I didn't know this place existed until a few days ago.

How about that heat though!

LOL, good thing I won’t need to get legal representation! 

Yeah, the heat has been a bit frustrating as it’s kept me inside more (we all need that Vitamin D while we can!), but of course the Puget Sound region has NO heat compared to many other parts of the country (and the world).

Thankfully my headphones help with enjoying life when it is too hot to hang out outside!

Enjoy the music,
Egil