Bryston and PMC are also saying that, provided one uses good quality copper speaker cable, there is not much to be gained by going all exotic.
Upgrade Bryston 4BSST2 to 4BSST3 or two 7BSST3s
My system at present: Esoteric T03N streamer, Esoteric K03XS SACD player, Bryston BP26 pre amp, Bryston 4BSST2 power amp, PMC Fact 12 speakers, two Velodyne DD10 subs. Speaker cables are two 6m lengths of Van Damme 6 sqmm cables. One of those lengths is way too long, the other one merely too long. A couple of systems ago, 6m was necessary, now, about 4.5m would get to the speaker furthest away from the rack. My room is 6m by 4m and about 3.2m high.
My first option would be to change to the 4BSST3, keep it in its current position and either go on using the same speaker cables, or buy new ones. I could also move it to the position I am considering if I went for the mono blocks, as described below.
My second option would be more complicated and more expensive. I could accommodate the two 7BSST3 between the speakers and right next to the subs, underneath the television. Then run 3m XLR connections from the pre amp to the power amps, and run 1.5m speaker cables to the speakers. This would also involve getting or building a new television rack.
As far as power output goes: the 4B is 2 x 300W, which is sufficient. The 7Bs are 600W each. I found that when I changed from a Meridian 557 power amp to the 4B the speakers were really “gripped”. While 2 x 600W is certainly not necessary for sound volume purposes, I wonder if there would be a gain in sound quality due to the higher power.
I would be grateful to hear from anyone who has changed from an SST2 to an SST3 and could tell me their findings. Also if anyone has views on whether the 7BSSTs would substantially outperform the 4BSST.
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You can try placing your 4B-SST2 in-between your speakers and run long XLR interconnects. That would not cost your too much money if you decide to use the professional grade XLRs like I did (with Benchmark). I have read a few comments online where SST2 owners prefer it to the Cubed line. During the height of the pandemic I saw a few pairs of 28B-SST2 going for the current price of the 7B3. |
That would be a possibility though some say that the Cubed sounds a bit warmer that the Squared. This could go quite well with the Esoteric sound, which does not err on the side of warmth. My speakers have rather low sensitivity, at 84dB, and might well benefit from more power. There is always the 14B3, which claims to be two 7B3 in one chassis. Are there benefits to having two mono blocks over one stereo amp of the same power per channel? |
I am not a technical expert but the consensus on here is that a dedicated mono amp is usually better than a stereo amp switched to run in mono. So the 7B-SST3 would be a better choice than the 4B-SST3. If you do some searching on here you will read the technical reasons behind that view. Oops, you were talking about the 14B-SST. I saw that as the 4B-SST3. You will find the best Bryston info here. Bryston Limited (audiocircle.com) |
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