Bryston 9B ST FIVE CHANNEL vs Rotel RMB-1585 5ch

@geek101 

Good advice. Thx.  I don't see Class A rating specs within normal list of specs on any of the amps I have been researching. How does one acquire such info to make a better, informed decision in amplifier choice?

@lighfighter2018 email or call the company , sometimes reviewers mention this. Ask around here.

I found Benchmark AHB2 to be such an amp it is like class A but with lower (ridiculously)
distortion. But it is $2k used if even one can get it.

But I found it to be cheaper to lot of class A/B amps and be better at specs in every way. 

get the oddssey 3 channel amp and a 2 channel, and enjoy 20 year warranty,  stable to 2 ohms.      much better sound than rotel.
better midrange, better low end driver control, doesnt sound so industrial as those rotels.

none of the amps in this price range new will be true class A,   true class A is easy to spot, if the amp is running and you can hold your hand on it for 20 seconds its most likely not true class a, and it should weight at least a pound per watt.   takes heavier electronics to hold the higher bias current at class A . its very inefficient hence the heat...  You will see them on your power bill every month, mine cost more to run that a hot tub on the power bill.

I auditioned the newer Marantz AV preamps but the system that they switched to for calibration sucked - very difficult to get a decent result compared to the old way of setting up (easy if you have a friend with $20K of special pro instrumentation to do the job). I went with the 7702 Mk 2 as the last one to allow.

No experience with the Bryston, but have always respected their gear and still have a couple of pieces from them in my systems.

whoever said oddyssey doesnt have good customer service has never called or met Klaus.   Hes about as solid as they get as far as helping with anything audio related.   Go check out his shop, he also sells symphonic line if you wanna hear some really high dollar amps and speakers.  My main amps are 17 years old odyssey and they have been back 2 times, once to bias to run some big martin logans, and once more to put in black boards and more capacitors, and i felt like he didnt charge me enough to upgrade them, whens the last time you felt like that in the audio game.... I think i have 7 of his amplifiers and they are all solid.

that bryston is super old, and not even close to what new brystons sound like.   The rotel will be worth like 300 used, the oddyssey tends to hold its value better, IMO.