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Old 05-08-2021, 07:34 AM
SteveJ SteveJ is offline
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Default Bryston\4B 'sound'

I have been curious about Bryston amps for some time. A month or so ago I ran across a deal I could not refuse.

I am using it in my office rig with a pair of JBL 4412A studio monitors which have titanium tweeters.

It is a nice improvement. The overall sound is well controlled. Instruments sound as they should.

Previously the bass was a bit flabby. That has changed. With the 4B the bass is very nicely controlled. I can hear the rebound on a drum hit.

The mids are good.

They do seem a bit bright though. Could that be the combination of the Bryston 'house sound' and titanium tweeters.

How would you describe the Bryston 'house sound'? What improvements are there to be had by moving to newer designs? Is there a point in the progression of designs where there is a significant delta in sound?

Thanks!!
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Old 05-08-2021, 09:58 AM
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Formerly YB-2 Formerly YB-2 is offline
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Is your amp an original 4B or one of the follow-on generations (-ST, -SST, etc.)? I find Bryston amps to be very flat in their frequency response from bottom to top. 'Revealing' would be a good description. With poorly recorded digital music they can be ruthless.

Regardless, having owned several -ST, SST and other Bryston amps I was never successful (to my ears) matching one of them with metal-domed tweeters. As you state, a bit bright for my tastes. Especially for longer-term listening. I found Bryston amps to be a wonderful match to soft-dome tweeters such as those used in Joseph Audio speakers, etc. The one exception to the metal-domed tweeters I found was Focal's inverted dome Be tweeter used in their top-end speakers (and some earlier Wilson speakers), which did not suffer from this 'brightness'.
As always, all amps & all speakers do not play well together and YMMV.
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Old 05-08-2021, 10:24 AM
cleeds cleeds is offline
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The older Bryston amplifiers do tend to sound a bit bright, so your results don't surprise me if you have an older 4B. The newer amps definitely have a relatively warmer sound to them, although I still don't consider them warm-sounding amps.
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Old 05-09-2021, 11:13 AM
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Each generation has less noise and distortion than the previous. Some people describe it as warmth or smoothness, I would call it purity. Bryston philosophy is not to give anything a “house” sound.
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Old 09-20-2021, 07:51 PM
SteveJ SteveJ is offline
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I appreciated your input and decided to give Bryston another go. I picked up a 4B SST. The mids are quieter and more detailed. The bass is clean, tight, and decisive. The highs, while certainly not shy are much more in line with the lower freqs.

I may still look for a silk tweeter but for now my office rig is good.

Thanks!
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  #6  
Old 09-20-2021, 08:34 PM
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What is your preamp??
I had a 2B SST for 13 years and zero problem. Very nice amp.
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Old 09-21-2021, 04:54 AM
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