Bryston amps VS the rest... too clear and neutral?


Ok right now i am on the market for an amp..
need something in the 100W+ range stereo..
My speakers are Mirage OM-9 wich i really love!
( really nice in my small room because of small reverb times so it increases the volume and the presence alot with their bipolar setup!:)

Everytime i listened to mirage amps ( mostly 3b or 4B + )
i was really impressed by the clarity of the sound and the really nice neutral tonality of thoose amps.
Is it me or the Bryston are really neurtral amps that reproduce the sound really close to how it was input?
( like cheap records really sound cheap and everything sounds clear )

So i was asking myself is it is really good for a music used amplifier to sound almost perfectly the same as the input signal ? I mean, theorically this is what we are loking for right? but then, does it makes some music "hard" to listen to ? or gives fatigue quite fast on long listening periods?

So how does Bryston compares to most other high quality amps?
SS and tubes...

The only time i've been listening to other high end sutff is at the Montreal's Sound and image show and they all use different sources or speakers...it's so mixed up that you can't really put characteristics on any part of the systems but rather have to qualify to the complete system.

I've heard some $$ Logan sounds like crap on Classe amps because the source ( i think ) was really bad..
So it's pretty hard not having auditionned with a fixed system any or almost no other god amplifier brands to decide on wich path to go!

i hope that some of you have any input on that :)
thanks! :)

JIN

PS... i'm not even sure how my Mirage sounds since i didn't even try them on more than 2 amps ( yamaha and old akai :p )
jinmtvt
I agree with Sdcampbell but I find Brystons nonetheless a little thin and not very involving. Perhaps a plus for some ears but I like sound with more body. Most of my experience is with the 4BST and 4BSST (I find the difference between the two small) and comparing them to Classe, McIntosh, BAT, CJ.
Stay away from the ST line, which you will probably find fatigueing in the long run, based on what you have said. I find the new SST line far more warm and musical, while maintaing the detail.
dudeaudio
Far from it. I used to have a 4bst, and it had a dull lifeless sound, veiled as if I had some cotton stuck in my ears. The bass was thick, dominant, and one-note. Soundstage was flat, also. I think the Rogue 88 amp is vastly superior in every sonic way and would be an excellent match for your Mirage speakers.
There you have it! To some ears "dull lifeless sound, veiled", to others "a little thin and not very involving", or how about "essentially reproduces accurately whatever is on the recording", or how about "grainy and a bit harsh". Take your pick. Subjective audio, as the expression implies, is just that, one man's opinion, which certainly is worth another man's opinion any day. Or is that really true? Probably is, I would opine, especially so when that opinion is supported by nothing more than casual observations in totally uncontrolled listening evaluations. Objectively, Bryston amps do what they should be called upon to do: amplify the signal with the least amount of noise and distortion. I am very pleased with my 7B-STs. I will leave it at that. If at all possible, try to get the amp to audition in your own room within your own system. Then you can say whatever you like and let your subjective being take over so that you can make sure the emotional part of the music comes through, (some conductors and semi-conductors are very prone to emotional deficit) or some kind of religious revelation type-thing so you don't feel left out from the subjective audio crowd. Good God, it's only a record player! Keep Canada green, buy Canadian audio products. Good day.
Bryston amps tend to do a minimalistic job for the audio system. Extreams cannot be handled well by Bryston since they have bi-polar output stages that are very depended on weather, speaker impedance curve and... and... temperature of the amps.
Despite being absolutely linear in the measured ouput characteristics it might clip in different freequency areas depending on the speaker curve.
Please note that clipping might not be audiable but it will definitely cause a fatigue. An audiable clipping is characterized by trembling sound of the speaker driver. In SS case it is very distructive for a speaker. In many cases it will clip on higher freequencies not being able to drive a high impedance loads. That's where the rated output power realy drops down big time and clipping can occur even on arround 12:00 volume positions.
Most-likely 2-way speakers will be the most suitable for Bryston amps since the curve is not so complexed. Efficiency is not the key in this case since Brystons are enough powerful.
Despite having less gain and higher output impedance 100%MOSFET SS amps tend to be much more stable to different loads and so less fatiguing and very close to tubes even in some cases more preferable.
In your example with Logans, Classe I define simply extra-cost Bryston. If you hook-up Bryston with Logans I bet you wouldn't understand what's realy going on:^).
But do not blame Bryston too much. For a budget among Krell, Classe or even Edge the Bryston is a champ since it sounds not worse than Krell, far better than Classe and much less costly than both. Unbeatable 20 years transferable warranty, unbreakable power supply can tell you that it has a hell of a built quality.
I however, believe that these models I described above are "pedestrians" even including mega-buck Krells; but look out, there are plenty of "porches" on the market:^)