Bought a pair of Magnepan LRS. Should I buy a Schiit Vidar or Bryston 3B-ST?


Has anyone heard both? I plan on travelling so small form factor matters to me but I'd like to stay with class ab, and balanced connections. I like the idea of having monoblocks with the Schiit when I get the money, and I've had good experiences with the brand. (Owned a Saga, a Mani, and a Jotunheim twice) but Bryston has the name recognition. I'm also concerned that upgrade fever would be relentless with the 3B-ST until I got the new and very expensive 3B3.
areasonableman

Hello areasonableman,

     The Class D Audio SDS-470C is a very good choice for a very good amp at a very reasonable price. It’s got plenty of power to drive the LRS, has balanced and unbalanced inputs and has an accurate and detailed presentation that I’d describe as very neutral; meaning it won’t add or subtract anything from the inputted signals.
I understand that, if you had the money, you’d prefer buying and using the class AB Schiit Vidar in stereo or monoblock amp form but I believe you’ll enjoy the LRS with the Class D Audio SDS-470C amp, too. Here’s a link to some info on the 470 amp:

https://classdaudio.com/sds-470c-class-d-audio-power-amplifier.html

     I’m a big fan of class D amps and have used 3 of them to drive my Magnepan 2.7QRs over the past 5 years:

A Class D Audio SDS-440-CS stereo amp that currently drives a pair of rear surround speakers in my combo 2-ch music and HT system.

An Emerald Physics EM100.2-SE stereo amp that currently drives my center ch speaker in bridged mono configuration.

A pair of D-Sonic M3-600-M monoblocks that currently drive my 2.7s.

     All of these are very good amps. However, I actually agree with you that the class AB Vidar may be a better choice in the long-run than the Class D Audio 470. The reason is the very high Damping Factor of class D amps in general that can be very high, in some cases greater than 1,000. The class AB Vidar has a damping factor of a relatively low 100.
Damping factor is a spec that measures how effective an amp is at controlling the movement of a speaker driver (starting and stopping it) or sound transducer such as a planar-magnetic panel. The higher the number, the more control an amp possesses and vice versa.

     In my experience with all three class D amps, I’d describe their performance on my Magnepans as very good but I perceived the bass performance on them to be exceptionally good, in fact the best bass I had up to then  experienced with the rather large 623 sq. inch planar-magnetic bass panel sections on my 3-way 2.7s. I considered the bass on all three as very powerful, detailed, dynamic, perhaps a bit exaggerated and overly taut initially but discovered soon after that these bass attributes were the result of the excessively high damping factors on my class D amps. Even though I admittedly enjoyed the sound of the bass, I soon discovered that the bass was exaggerated, truncated bass note decays and didn’t faithfully reproduce the bass contained on the recordings.
     I only discovered this because I had the good fortune to purchase an Audio Kinesis DEBRA distributed bass array (DBA) system about 3 years ago. This consists of four 1’ x1’ x 2’ 44lb. subs with 10" long-throw aluminum woofers strategically placed in the room with all subs powered by a 1,000 watt class AB amp/control unit.
     Once I installed and heard the DEBRA’s powerful, dynamic and detailed bass, that was not exaggerated and didn’t truncate bass note decays, I perceived the bass as more accurate, natural and understood that this system was more faithfully reproducing the bass contained on the recordings.
     My intent of relating my experiences with class D amps is just to make you and others aware of this tendency with at least my class D amps to exaggerate the bass content. Other than this tendency, I really appreciate and enjoy the accurate and neutral presentation of my class D amps.

     My intention is not to discourage you or anyone from trying or using good class D amps in their systems. As I’ve stated, I actually enjoyed the exaggerated bass on my Magnepans and I believe others might too. Perhaps the LRS could use a bit of a bass boost since they’re only rated to extend to 50 Hz. If you prefer more accurate bass, you may want to save up for the Vidar. 


     Here’s a REDDIT link to some comments on the Vidar’s relatively low damping factor of 100:
https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7nig0e/schiit_vidar_review_from_the_audiophool/#bottom-...

    Here’s a link to another positive review on the Vidar:
https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/schiit-vidar-amplifier/


Tim
Noble100

I don't believe many folks will be disappointed by the LRS.
i believe they are basically smaller versions of their larger offerings.

YMMW but the LRS's are a wonderful speakers price notwithstanding. 

Hello dougstat,

I’m definitely very interested. I think I’d be satisfied if they just outperform my current Magnepan 2.7QRs. Mine are 6’ x2’ , about 60 pounds and difficult to move one handed into optimum position for music listening(I had a stroke and still can’t use my left arm and hand). The LRS are 4’ x 14.5" and only about 44 pounds. Otoh, mine are 3-ways while the LRS are 2-way.
For $650 and a 60-day satisfaction guarantee, I probably should just buy them and give them a good audition.

Thanks,
Tim
maplegrovemusic,

     Responding by just stating "bryston", with no further effort at explaining why, is intellectually lazy, myopic, meaningless and its actual value to this thread, the OP or anyone else is in direct proportion to the number of words you proffered.  Why bother?


Tim