[smerlas]

I recently upgraded my speaker to a pair of B&W 804s.  Side note: this is where it all started.  Detour, may years ago while in high school I used money I made working and purchased Harmon Kardon separates and started with Bose 301 speakers, then other speakers and then finally JBL L50's.  Had the system for years and decided that since it was old I needed newer equipment, I got rid of the equipment and ended up with B&K St140, Polk towers and Rotel Tuner/Preamp.  I have since been distracted .... adult life ... and had gotten away from "stereo".  Several years ago I was at a local dealer and saw the Bryston line.  Picked up a brochure on the B60 (which I still have).  Watched the coming of surround and the processors.  With the increased cost of these items I thought the dream of Bryston was slipping away.  Back to the present ...... until I purchased the aforementioned speakers, which I very nicely justified with if I can spend 3K on a flat screen television (which I only watch a couple of times a week .......... hum the stereo is on every day) then what the heck speakers are a deal.

As those of us with the affliction for audio know it does not stop with speakers.  The speakers made the B&K come alive but did not have enough umph.  I went back to the local dealer and was inquiring about Bryston.  They have not been stocking much of it in the past few years but could get me whatever I wanted.  They recommended I try Classe' due to a special synergy that they believed existed between the bowers and classe.  Happy to demo the equipment I took it home and "tried it out".  I have to say that I have read all sorts of reviews on Bryston and could not help but wonder how their equipment might sound.  With some hesitation I prepared to be wowed ............ the whole time thinking "how can I spend this much money without hearing the Bryston equipment" I have heard and read about all these years since the local dealer does not have any stock.  As luck would have it the Classe intergrated was less than impressive.  The sound that had opened up from the B&K just went into the cave.  All the layers of music that had opened up went away with the Classe.

Now for the point of a Bryston post.  I went on-line and purchased a used B60 to test out how the preamp and amp sounded.  I figured if I did not like it that with the 20 year warranty I could turn it and not get hurt to bad.  And I could enjoy an extended "demo" in my system.  Plus it represented a minor expense compared to purchasing new equipment, and what the heck it was already burned in.  Best sales piece ever.  With the exception of not enough power it reinforced that Bryston was the answer for me.  Does the music sound like it was suppposed to when recorded?  I do not know ...... was not there ......... do you hear instruments and the sounds of guitar strings being plucked as if you were at your buddies house and he is messing around ........ ABSOLUTLY.

For me I love the sound.  If this is what the "professional" reviewers say is accurate and great sound staging then cool.  My music has never sounded better.  I just purchased a new 4BSST and used BP-25 and are awaiting their arrivals.

[James Tanner]

Hi smerlas,

Thank you for the kind comments. 
What dealer did you order from - I will keep my eye out for you.

james

[KeithA]

smerlas

I am somewhat like you. "Adult Life" ruled out audio for a number of years for me too! Just to give you some perspective, I'm running a 6B SST (basically a 3-channel 4B) and SP1.7 on a set of B&W 804s...and have been for about 5 years now. I love the combo. I've been around audio for a while and so have a few buddies of mine. They have good gear, but it sounds different than mine. The 6B SST/Nautilus 804 pairing have what I like to call the "100-lb Bowling Ball Bass". You will not get 'boomy bass' in an average room. Instead, you get bass that is tight and fast. Some may say that the 804s lack a bit of bottom end, but I can tell you they go low enough and with the Bryston 6B.....it tight and right.

I play guitar and noodle with bass a bit. I sit down and play my bass through my bass amp at a decent volume and it's not boomy, it's articulate and smooth. However, I've heard too many stereo systems whereby at moderate volumes the woofers are flopping crazy with a bass playing at moderate levels. In other words, the system was adding 'oomph or boom' to the bass. Does it sound bad...absolutely not. But IMHO the bass as it is heard through the Bryston gear sounds more 'true' to what I would get if I plugged in my bass and played.

One thing is for sure, if a recording you have is 'bass shy', the Bryston/B&W combo won't pretty it up. But if you get a well recorded album, it's great. I toyed with the notion of getting some new speakers later this year. However, I've since realized that for the room I have (size wise), I can't justify getting rid of the B&W 804s. As far as the amp goes, I can't imagine a day ever coming where a Bryston won't be driving my audio system. I'm not brand loyal about anything...except Bryston.

As a side note, I suspect the B60 you bought was an older version. If that's the case, wait until you hear the 4B in it's SST clothing! I'm going to go listen to mine now! I have a bit of Mark Knopfler waiting for me...and a beer

Keith

[smerlas]

Keith,

I agree the Bryston has plenty of bass and it is discernible.  You can hear the foot pedal on the drum as if you were next to it when it was hit, not a undicernable low frequency tone mistaken as bass.  Bass notes come from some instrument and the Bryston / B&W804s pairing lets you know what instrument or combination is contributing.  Are there times when good old window rattling bass is good, you bet, even better when it punches.  I have been playing with music choices lately that give the speakers and amp a good work out, Herb Albert is great for experiencing bass and horns.  Fresh Aire III for synthesized base.  The Bowers can be very basey depending on the recording.

The B&K amp had tons of highs and mids, light on bass it would fall flat on its face with a bass heavy recording.
Classe huge bass........... all the nice open mids and highs gone!
Bryston ............ perfect combo.

Before trying the Classe and then the Bryston I was thinking I need a sub but not any more.  Any more bass and it would sound like on of those cars with rap and hydraulics.  I have not had the B&W 804s for that long but can tell you if you want more bass you might want the sub.  The 804s only go down to 35hz or there about.

All three with the same front end and with the 804s

I am eager to get the 4BSST and truely let the 804s sing ....... I keep getting that pesky red light appearing on the B60.

[smerlas]

James,

I was in the middle of a great reply earlier when my machine timed out.  So I have changed that setting and will have at a response again.

The preamp is used and sadly is a BP25 not a 26.  I purchased the pre on-line from a guy going to a digital music library.  I was having trouble discerning the difference between the two.  The most I could figure out is that the 26 has a larger external power supply.  I believe / hope the preamp circuits (signature) is similar.  All the press I read clearly identified the improvements with the SST line of amps over the previous amps but I did not identify the improvements in the preamps.

I am also rethinking if the pre needs to have a DAC internally or externally.  Since the digital circuits are a 5 year warranty and analog is 20 it may make sense to get the separate DAC.

Plus if I go all Bryston the BCD1 has its own DAC.  Too many choices and since the local dealer is not stocking anything I have not been able to demo anything.  All Bryston equipment has been purchased from the west coast ........ I am on the east coast.

I have to say with all the research I have done it is interesting to note that there is always a common thread to the reviews of Bryston's equipment.  The opinions whether professional reviewer or people like me, are not all over the board.  Clear, clean, true sounding gear, tight bass.

Does it replicate music as it was intended by the artist ............ I do not know ........ was not there .......... but I sure hope what I hear is what the artist had in mind because for my ear it sounds great.

Great gear and the VP (or someone signed on as the VP) ha ha ....... interacts with owners of the equipment, does it get any better ......... hum ...... oh yeah there is the 20 year warranty thing.  Nothing says hey we make one heck of a product like a 20 year warranty. 

I am also impressed by your providing a 3 year warranty on a CD player when the transport suppier is only giving you a 30 day warranty.  Had a SONY ES series CD player with 5 year warranty ............ died at 5 years one month had to pay to have it repaired.  CD player is going to get used .......... technology will change ............ amp and preamp will still work, no issue with shorter warranty on Digital Equipment.

[KeithA]

I am also rethinking if the pre needs to have a DAC internally or externally.  Since the digital circuits are a 5 year warranty and analog is 20 it may make sense to get the separate DAC.

Plus if I go all Bryston the BCD1 has its own DAC.  Too many choices and since the local dealer is not stocking anything I have not been able to demo anything.  All Bryston equipment has been purchased from the west coast ........ I am on the east coast.

I was going to go with the BCD-1 as well. However, it didn't have a digital input and I now use a Squeezebox almost exclusively for a source. So, I opted for the BDA-1 external DAC (which I've preordered without hearing). I have the same issue as you by living on the east coast (for me it's Canada) and not being able to demo gear at my local dealer. The external DAC will be fed by my Squeezebox and my little $500 Cambridge Audio CD player as a transport. Best of both worlds. But I will likely pick up the Bryston transport when it's ready

Keith

[niels]

I dont know about digital, it depends how fuzzy, or biased you are. Some cannot live without a cd player and all their cd´s stacked in the corner, others cant imagine life without a transport and separate dac because separates gotta be superior right ? Others sold their cd player, filed all music on the harddrive and use a media system wireless around the house.
Somehow people are terrified about dacs, they cannot choose, but fact is there is very little difference between a lot of dacs, and most of us will have a very hard time telling the differences. Is it worth the price then ?  I dont know. What I suspect though is that when, and if, I sell my B100 DA I think I might get some money for the amp itself, but not the dac.....
I only have one comment, go with your heart and your needs.
And, I have to check out where you live, but Bryston is not really sold on every street corner, you are right.

[smerlas]

I ran a little test over the past 5 days comparing the Bryston Integrated to a Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated. And the results from this reviewer are in (ha..ha).



What are the results you may ask ....... well some more tangible than others.  First we learned that, after my third comparison of integratededs that the Bryston is hands down the most musical and true reproducer of sound.  Wow ....... sounds like everything I had read.  But now I can rest much easier knowing for certain that the Bryston is everthing it is proported to be and then some.

And then some ......... what does that mean ......... listening to music has never been more enjoyable.  The Bryston has changed the way I "listen" by letting you see with unbelievable clarity elements not heard in music I have listened to countless times before.

Everyone who has stopped by in the past five days for a demo and blind comparison have had two common responses.



1.  I like that one ....... wow I never heard that before ..........
2.  Wow that is clear ..........

Best $1000.00 ever spent was picking up this used B60 integrated to use as a test / demo piece.

[smerlas]

It just keeps amazing me and getting better.................. I have been having a lot of fun with the B60 Integrated.  I have been comparing it to other integrateds and have recently been researching biwiring my B&W 804s.

I had stumbled across a review in the April/May 2004 edition of "The Absolute Sound" of approximately 10 speaker cables.  One of the cables reviewed was a cable created by taking a 14-ga outdoor extension cord and terminating it for use as a speaker cable.  The article had expressed how true and clear the sound was and that similar cables had been used by orchestral recording groups.  So it only seamed natural to apply this sonically accurate cable theory to the Bryston / B&W pairing.

So off to Home Depot I went.  If 14-ga was good then ..........hmmmmmmm .............. for my test 10-ga seamed appropriate.  I purchased 16-feet of 10-ga 4 conductor cable and returned home conjure up a pair of 8-foot bi-wire cables.  I cut the cable, stripped the wires, tinned the ends and attached AQ spades for the speaker terminations and soldered a pair of banana plus on for the amp end.

Viola .......... It was then time to connect the cables to the B60.

Incredible ....... just incredible ......... bass significantly increased as well as overall clarity.

The B60 is by far, pound for pound, the most amazing piece of equipment.





My new 4BSST arrived and is amazing as well ......... but you just would never expect such huge performance from such an unassuming package of the B60. 

I hate to sound like a broken record (bad pun) but the B60 is an incredible piece of equipment at a great price. 


As for the cables .........well they are now connected to my 4BSST!

[mariusconst]

B&W 800 series are excellent speakers, however once you bought them, you have a new problem: to come up with a system at par with these speakers!
Bryston and Classe are both excellent choices.
Classe is part of the same group of companies as B&W and Rotel, so the dealers might be tempted to suggest Classe.
My preference was for Bryston as I found that rock music sounds more realistic, for jazz and classic music it was a very close call and it would probably depend on each listener preference.
The other major advantage for me in choosing Bryston was the fact that the Bryston SP1.7/9B SST combo could be used both in a stereo and surround setting and I was able to isolate the video processing outside the audio components.
From a cables perspective I am using Transparent MusicLink Plus interconnects and Transparent MusicWave Plus Bi-wire speakers cables and I find their performance at par with the B&W/Bryston combo.