Bryston 28B-SST2 or Karan Acoustics KA-S 600 ?

Hi Mribob,

Nice to meet a fellow Phi Beta fan. I'm a little surprised at your experience with the 28Bs, as my system does not lack for subtle cues and musical depth. But these things, as you say, are system-dependent and ours are pretty different. My sources are exclusively vinyl through tubes and speakers are PMC IB2i, known to work well with Bryston. Some amps just don't work so well with some speakers. Glad you found a great synergy for your Ventures, which I've never heard but would like to someday--they look to be exceptional.

Never heard the Hegel H30 either but I just read Absolute Sound review. It looks like a great piece! How long does it take to warm up :)

The Hegel runs cool, and I usually leave it on 24/7, except when leaving on vacation for over a weekend. Like the Brystons, if powered off, it will sound its best after being powered on for around 1 hour...
I agree with your post, and we should acknowledge that much of what we prefer is totally system dependent, and based on how we wish our systems to sound. There is a lot of quality gear and its hard to pick tops and bottoms, unless you go to a beach! The goal is to simply enjoy the music, and not focus on the gear...

Ok thanks guys i will definitely listen to the 28Bs SST2, should be a great match for Thiels cs 3.7
Will probably put a tube preamp in front.
Any of you guys tried the big Karan amps ?

For some perspective, Gary Dayton former marketing guy at Thiel and now at Bryston, replied to a post of mine on the Bryston Audio Circle where I asked whether the 7B-SST2 or 28B-SST2 would be best suited for the KEF Blade speaker. He replied back with his experience with the Thiel 3.7 with both the 28B-SST2 and 7B-SST2. Thiel marketing used that combination for many years for demos and shows. He said the combination sounded incredible and that is why Thiel themselves went with it.

He also stated that the 7B was more than good enough for the 3.7's but if you can afford the 28B it is a little better.