By now, you’ve already made your decision, but I thought I would give you my $2 (inflation) worth anyway. 2 years ago, I purchased an Oppo BDP-105D, a pair of B&W 802 D3’s. When I auditioned them, the dealer was demonstrating them on a pair of MC601 monoblocs. Because of money concerns, I just used my Marantz MM7055 5 channel amp (140W into 8 ohms) to power my B&W’s. While I wanted to go with a pair of MC601’s to match what I heard, I couldn’t afford the $14k, so I bought a Bryston 4B3 instead. I was thinking that it offered an incredible amount of hookup flexibility and Telarc Records (I own a LOT of classical CD/SACD’s from them) have been using Bryston 4B?’s for years. So, what do I have? I have B&W speakers that were used in Abby Road studios and power amps used in the production of many of the Telarc SACD’s that I own; a total dream come true. I also forgot to mention that I am feeding the XLR pre-out’s from the Oppo directly into the Bryston 4B3. My original plan for the Bryston was to use it in stereo mode (300Wx2 into 8 ohms) and then purchase another (basically converting them into monoblocs). Then, since each Bryston would be powering each of my speakers, I would then have to make the decision as to run each amp in bridge mode (my individual spec sheet, something that comes with all Brystons) outputting 1,023 watts or in bi-amp mode (300W into 8 ohms or 500W into 4 ohms), to see which one that I like best. The Bryston sound, as everyone says, is super clear, pristine, accurate, detailed, and has awesome imaging (being a dual mono design). But despite how good my Bryston is and how much I love it (maybe them, one day), I still don’t have that same “sound” that I feel in love with 2 years ago. I am not debating whether to buy my 2nd Bryston as planned, or try to find the money to buy 2 MC601/611’s and sell my Bryston 4B3. I’m still thinking about what to do. I just wanted to gie you a different aspect of the Brystons that others have not mentioned in this blog; the extreme flexibility of the buying 1 or more Bryston’s and their hookup options. I think that if McIntosh had amps with such flexibility, I probably would have gone with them. Plus, looking at those big blue meters are absolutely stunningly mesmerizing. I hopes this helps you, after the fact.
