Bryston SP2 vs Meridian 861

The reality is the Bryston is a two channel preamp with a rudimentary surround package bolted on. So it is designed to do well in this area, an area where it pretty much equals the 861. The Bryston after that is a basic surround processor, with little software sophistication.

It is designed specifically for people who would be inclined to use their surround sound system for two channel, which a great deal of people on this forum would qualify. I am surprised that almost everyone doesn't own one, for many it integrates without compromise, if you're stuck in 2 channel world. :)

Using the 861 as a two channel analog preamp is dubious at best and not reccomended. Not because it is a poor performer but you're not using it for what it was intended. The reason the 861 costs so much is exactly why Ttowntony bought the Bryston. he Meridian is very sophisticated (the Bryston is the opposite) and complex in its software, most people in the audio business (ie dealers) do not understand a fraction of what the unit is capable of, some have even been compelled to call it a toy. This sort of reasoning based on gross misunderstanding means only a smaller fraction of audio consumers understand what the 861/G68 is all about.

The 861 stands alone as the very best surround sound processor on the market, nothing is close for a purely surround perspective. Yeah there are some pretenders disguised as surround processors when all their design team knows is two channel, so you get the equivalent of a dual processor Pentium V machine and then they run Word Perfect for Dos as their software on their advanced machine if you get my meaning. Mo' betta' Hardware is not the answer in surround design mo' betta' software is.

using an 861 as an analog 2 channel preamp, is like having a 2 speed automatic transmission with Overdrive installed in your 456 Ferrari.

The reason for my asking is that I would prefer having 1 preamp that does both music and movies. Yet I am an audiophile at heart, wanting to extract that extra drop of sound out of a musical piece. I can have separate components for music and for movies if I reluctantly must.

So does this mean the 861 is a mediocre music preamp? Or perhaps the SP2 is not close to the best music preamp out there either.

At the other extreme, is the SP2 a rather lousy surround sound processor that you should not consider it for watching movies.

I can go either analog or digital. It's the ultimate sound realism of a musical piece, and the stereo separation/clarity for a surround sound that I am after. Thank you.

Do you have analog sources that you must use? Such might be an SACD player, a turntable, an FM tuner? If not, then I'd go with the Meridian.

Kal

My current CD/DVD player is the Meridian 596 which can be plugged into the 861 nicely to produce some kind of a musical performance and the expected excellent surround sound quality. Or its 192-khz analog output can be plugged into an analog preamp such as the SP2, while its digital output would go into the digital surround sound of the SP2. However I am think of the long term, which is CD-quality music stored on a hard drive. So eventually I would have to buy a DAC capable of wirelessly receiving the musical signal. I am not going to buy any wireless equipment nor any DAC until the technology can achieve "that" level of audiophile performance. But you know the technology is only a few years away. In short, any analog preamp is still needed, unless I don't think straight here.

So, you don't need an analog input, right? So?

Kal