[bacmsl]

Question for the group of many that read and post here. Is there a point in which a person should be thinking about a mono-block design in his or her system over a 2-channel amplifier IE:: 7B VS 14B or is it simply a matter listening taste and or money? I live in Winnipeg and most hi-fi audio houses do not have a mono system for demo, I would like to stay with Bryston.

Barry 

[Niteshade]

Monoblocks are great for high power setups- such as 300 watts/channel and over, solid state. I would use a stereo amplifier for anything under 300 watts/channel. As long as a stereo amp has a good power supply, you should never have any issues. Your average listening wattage is well under 100 watts/channel- as in around 5-20 watts. Megga wattage isn't nearly as important as delivery quality. If your speakers are around 85db efficient, then a 100-200 watt/channel amp is most likely all you'll need.

[konut]

Mono-blocks are the optimal set-up. The benefits are 1. No inter-channel crosstalk 2. Independent power supplies provide more headroom for transients 3. Allow shorter cable runs(which is always good) 4. Looks wicked!
 A stereo amp that has the ability to be "strapped" to a mono configuration also allows added flexibility for various options when it comes to biamping. Having said all that, you can't go wrong with ANY Bryston amp.

[vegasdave]

Yeah, I'd like to jump to monoblocks myself.

[danman]

I guess I will redirect my previous question to this thread. Would I be better to Vertically bi-amp or use one new 4b-sst in your opinion?

I also would love to use monoblocks! I will also agree that any Bryston amp is already in its own, incredible!

[James Tanner]

Remember that ALL Bryston amps have totally independent power supplies 'per channel' so even though a 4B is on one chassis the audio channels never 'see' each other or share any circuitry.

james

[danman]

That is what I thought too but I am no expert!

[bacmsl]

I have a 4B-SST but when I started to read about the SST2, I started to think about which setup I would want because I've been looking to make a change. The 14B or 7B, I've read so many discussions about the 2 different products I had to get my head into 1 question that would simplify things.

[vegasdave]

Remember that ALL Bryston amps have totally independent power supplies 'per channel' so even though a 4B is a one chassis the audio channels never 'see' each other or share any circuitry.

james

That's good to know...so the 14B and the 7B are the same amps?

[James Tanner]

Remember that ALL Bryston amps have totally independent power supplies 'per channel' so even though a 4B is a one chassis the audio channels never 'see' each other or share any circuitry.

james

That's good to know...so the 14B and the 7B are the same amps?

Hi Dave,

Yes the 14B and the 7B's are essentially the same amplifiers. The only difference is the 7B has a bit more heatsink area so it will dissipate the heat a bit better under difficult load conditions.  Also the main advantage of the 7B is because it is MONO you can place it very close to each speaker for better driver control.

james

[vegasdave]

Hey James, thanks for clearing that up.