Happy 5 year owner of 4B3 and have only used it with my 23 year old BP25. I agree with others who have recommended the BP26. I use the polarity/invert switch every time I listen to a CD, a very good feature of these preamps.
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Glad to come across this thread. I have a Bryston B135 Squared that feeds into Thiel 2.7 speakers. Room is about 2000 cu ft with room treatments. Wanting a lower noise floor (can hear speaker buzz with my ear about 2 feet from the speakers), I tried out the Bryston 4B3 and a VTL TL 2.5i preamp. Sounded very nice..music had some extra solidity and the soundstage broaded compared to the B135. I also ran the VTL 2.5i and used the B135 as an amp. Imaging and breadth of soundstage was good but lost the solidity/weight. Finally, I ran the B135 as a pre-amp into the 4B3. While better than only using the B135, didn't quite match the TL 2.5i + 4B3 combination. Decided to purchase the 4B3 and will likely go with VTL...although may ask to try the BP26 that's in the store before making the final call. |
@pacoinmass Be aware that VTL’s customer service has an awful reputation, and there are a lot of other great tube preamps out there — Atmasphere, Backert, VAC, Audio Research, LTA, etc. FWIW, and best of luck. |
- 26 posts total