Need feedback from Bryston amp owners

Keneallyfan's comments about speakers is spot on. All too often Bryston gets blamed for a crummy source as well after the owner goes to an amp that covers source deficiencies.

Again, my comments were more of a metaphysical nature than a defense of Bryston. Basically I am asking when we hear a noise from our systems that we don't like, why do we assume it's the amps fault? Any speaker on the market is tons less linear, but they always seem to be blameless. And nobody ever thinks about changing the room around.

Yes, the amp/speaker interface is important. But the reality is that most amps can coax sound out of most speakers. Yeah, there are those how want to listen to Mahler on Apogee Scintillas at Who concert levels, but they are the exception, not the rule.

To me, listening to reproduced music is like watching a movie or any other type of entertainment. It's all about your willingness to suspend disbelief. If we constantly fret about equipment choices, we are preventing that suspension from happening. My advice is that we all throw our Stereophiles in the trash and spin some tunes.

Another thing I have picked up from participating here and on the Asylum is that human hearing isn't very accurate and no two people hear alike. Guys will alway say they just had a hearing test and scored aces when challenged. Even if that is true, every test I ever had was of the 'raise your hand if you hear that" variety. I haven't had one since I left public school, so I can't remember. Does the doctor show you a graph after one of these?

I have used the same amp to drive four different pairs of speakers. It satisfied my requirements in all cases. Some of these speakers are considered "difficult loads", such as Magnepan and Dynaudio, but I have never really noticed any shortfall. I guess they aren't as difficult as some people think, or I just don't listen loud enough.

I am sure there are better amps out there, but how much money would it cost me to find them by trial and error, and would I be any happier if I did? I am too busy looking for a cue that will let me bust nine ball like Johnny Archer...

I have a 9B-SST. I would make sure that the amp you get has enough power for your speakers and that it at least doubles into 4 Ohms if it does not have a lot of power at 8 Ohms. The 9B-SST is an excellent sounding amp, but I did have problems feeding my B&W 802Ds with it. On recordings with a lot of dynamic range the sound would become flattened because my speakers can dip down to 3.5 Ohms often, which would make those recordings sound bad.

I always felt it was the recordings themselves until I recetly replaced the 9B-SST on the front left and right speakers with Ayre MX-R monoblocks which are 300 Watts into 8 Ohms and 600 Watts into 4 Ohms. Those recordings that previously sounded distorted/flattened at intense musical moments are now clear and dimensional. I think the combination of speakers that dip down low to 3.5 Ohms and the low Watts per channel of the 9B-SST were just a bad combination.

I believe the 9B-SST is around 125 WPC, but I know it doesn't double into 4 Ohms. As long as the 4B-SST provides plenty of power at both 8 Ohms and 4 Ohms you should be fine, as it does supply more WPC than the 9B-SST if I remember correctly. I would definitely check your speakers and see what its lowest Ohm rating is so you don't have to worry about running into this kind of problem. It doesn't have to necessarily double into 4 Ohms, though that would be nice. Doubling the wattage would likely make the amp a lot more expensive as it requires a lot more quality put into the design.

I'm still using the 9B-SST as a part of my system, but now it is only going to be used for the surround elements, such as the center channel and two rear speakers. Other than the problem I listed, the Bryston sound is excellent, it is transparent, it adds nothing to the sound, which is what a good amplifier should do... So the bass would be a product of the recording engineer's ability and choices, not the amplifier.

Bob Reynolds: Until the mass majority of speakers are able to present relatively benign loads with consistent impedances to them, my thoughts are that a supposedly "beefy" SS amp should be able to deal with most anything you throw at it. Obviously, there are exceptions ( big Apogee's, etc... ) to every generalization ( including this one ), so take that for what it is worth.

Obviously, not all SS amps are "beefy", nor are they all able to deal with various loads equally. Even if the manufacturer thinks their products are up to snuff and rates them accordingly, that doesn't mean that they actually will be able to in real life. Knowing what to expect ( good or bad ) and / or what one may end up dealing with ( good or bad ) before shelling out big coin can be a real blessing.

Keneallyfan: When one can substitute any one of a couple dozen amplifiers into the same system in a matter of minutes, it's not that difficult to make comparisons of what each amp brings with it, how they sound with those other specific components, how well each amp can drive that specific load, etc... Drawing both logical and repeatable conclusions from such an approach becomes rather easy after a while.

With that in mind, most people don't have the means or capacity to do such things. At the same time, many of these same people seek the honest opinions of others and want to hear their thoughts about that specific subject based on their experiences, observations, etc... As such, hearing the good and bad of any situation allows one to make a more informed opinion, even if one might not agree with all of those opinions expressed. Sean
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