Speakers for Bryston


Suggestions for speakers that mate well with Bryston electronics?

Running Bryston BCD-1 CDP, BDA-1 DAC, BP25 pre, and 4BSST amp.

I tend to listen to jazz, classical, vocal and instrumental music.. and, of course, a smattering of everything else! I don't usually listen at loud volumes.

Thanks in advance!
headshrinker2
I'm not a fan of the muddy PMC sound. For the money, it's not for me. I agree with Playpen, the B-100 SST is excellent. I contrast I found the larger Brystons were very bright and screamy to my ears. They are the only amps I've heard (that I can think of at the moment) that sound like the high mids and treble are lifted several dB like an EQ was in the mix. Not my cuppa.
All I can say is that your experience with PMC and large Brystons bears no resemblance to mine. None at all. Not even in the same universe.
Then we must agree to disagree, as many people on many forums find them lifted on the top, and I have agree with my ears in that respect.
What model are you referring to? The "lifted on top" criticism was common for older lines, I understand, pre-SST2. I've actually never heard any of the earlier ones. The current 28B-SST2 is remarkably balanced across the audio band, perhaps even a touch on the warm side. In many respects--delicacy and nuance, soundstage realism, harmonic richness, it sounds more like the tube amps (SET, PP) in my other two systems than a SS mega-amp. And right now I'm using a passive preamp, which would tend to make them leaner than they'd otherwise be, but they're still rich and full. I'll be adding a tube preamp within the next week.

I recently owned MAC MC501, which are anything but lifted on top--the opposite, really. These Brystons provide every bit of the creamy midrange of those Macs with far better bass control and depth and timbre, plus exceptional HF extension and finesse and dimensionality, areas in which the Macs were lacking, IMO. These Brystons really are special amps. If you haven't heard them you might want to make the effort. I think they'd revise your opinion about Bryston. Of course, it all comes at a price.
I have a 4BSST Bryston...I find it to be an essentially neutral amp. It definitely is not warm sounding. And the treble is a touch high energy. But I like a lot of detail and life in the upper octaves. That is my personal taste.