Bryston 7B SST-2 (SQ) Review

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Originally Posted by NewBrystonUser

7B SST Advice Please

Hi everyone, I am new to forums and this is my first post here.

We have just received a new set of 7B SST-Squared (Xmas present) and hoping to get some advice.

1. What is the approximate break-in time for these amplifiers?

2. We have a fully differential line stage that specifies 2V RMS output into 200K ohms balanced (XLR) load and maximum of 40V RMS. Which 7B SST input voltage selector is the better match?

3. What are the normal initial acoustical characteristics of a pair of factory-new 7B SST-squared?

What we are hearing now (initial 4 hours) are as follow:
1. Clearly better resolution at the high level separating out more information in our music.

2. Less coherent in presentation. Instruments are separated and revealed but they are disjoint, not quite forming a coherent musical picture on "stage". The center is larger and loud while the sides sound rolled off and soft. Placement is fuzzy sometimes, nicely layered other times.

3. There are some instruments (brass, drums, strings) that come across with full glory of all its beautiful shades but other instruments (cymbals, high pitch percussive) sort of start and then vanish? Very strange.

4. Not yet fully clear at the lowest detail. We can hear more into the music but each instrument is not clear enough yet to sound real. For example, our previous amplifier presents violin as a violin with little listening "effort" on our part. The new 7B presents the violin but we cannot quite hear all of the violin's sonic signature so we strain to hear it but cannot quite get it all.

Are all these normal and to be expected first out of the box? Does anyone know how long the burn-in will take until the sound begins to mature?

Thank you very much for any advice and experience you care to share!
Anna

Hi Anna,

James Tanner here from Bryston - I sent you a private message as well.

Also can you give us more details - what are your speakers and preamp - size of room - and what was your previous amp. That way we will have some context to answer your questions.

james

[f1 fan]

Welcome to AA!

Wow......new Bryston for Christmas!! Somebody has been good boys and girls.

Congrats!




Dave

[NewBrystonUser]

Sorry for lack of details, I am totally new at dealing with these expensive equipment.

I received the following from my brother:

1. Audio Research Inc. CD-2 (vintage 1999)
2. Audio Research Inc. LS-25 (vintage 1999)
3. Audio Research Inc. VT-200 (vintage 1999)
4. Loudspeakers are the Thiel 3.7's (vintage 2009)
5. Bryston 7B SST-squared are to replace the VT200. The VT200 is going to my parents.
6. I will keep the LS25 and CD-2.
7. Room size is a large 20x30x8 room.

He said the tubes in the LS-25 and VT200 are about 50% into their lifespan.

My husband and I visit my brother often so we are very familiar with the CD and amplifiers. We are not familiar with Bryston and he suggested we ask about it here.

To our ears, the Bryston instantly beats the old amplifier with better resolution. We can hear more than before in the "larger" sense. Where an instrument was not audible or easily audible, we now can tell it is there. The only differences are stated earlier.

THANK YOU very much for all the active responses, we really really appreciate this. I would be happy to just play the amplifiers as they are but my brother believes there are break-in details we are supposed to know. So here we are.

Thanks again!
Anna

[f1 fan]

Hey Anna,

Wow! What a great brother!! Nice pieces of equipment. You'll find all kinds of info here so just ask and you shall receive.

Happy listening and enjoy your new system,




Dave

[weird]

Hello

Nice xmas gift for sure..... Bryston burns there amps for 100 hours before shipped out. I understand this weeds out the defects and backs up there warranty. I believe they do it at clipping power also. so there really is not much for burn in here.. I own a 4Bsq but am currently considering the 14B for upgrade....

something you might consider is that many report that Bryston amps sound better after 30 min or so of being turned on. I never turn my 4B off so it's hard for me to make a comparison. thought i might add before you make any conclusions of break in period.

[NewBrystonUser]

Thank you everyone for the kind responses and Mr. Tanner for the timely advice.

With my brother's help, the amplifiers ran all night playing a CD over and over again. This morning, the changes are jaw-dropping. I am happy to say that all our questions have been answered. It is hard to believe that a piece of electronic needs breaking in like a pair of leather boots.

These amplifiers are letting us hear instruments and musical lines that we did not know existed. All of them came off very familiar albums we have listened to for years. In other cases, these amplifiers made each instrument sound near "live". We are a family of music lovers with two younger sisters who are musicians so we are all used to live music. We can now hear instruments in their full "native" glory. We can also easily track complex interplay of instrument lines in a piece of music. It is now possible to hear how each instrument is played as it contributes to the overall musical picture. The experience is simply mesmerizing.

My brother insists that these amplifiers need another week of "seasoning" to find their "true voice", his words! So we will keep it running and playing.

When appropriate, I will share more of our experiences with you all.

Thank you all again!
Anna

[cmalak]

Congrats on the new system...

[NewBrystonUser]

Hi everyone,

Had a week's break before heading back to work and spent a lot of time listening and chatting with brother over the past week. Especially after we all learned that this thread has something to do with a certain magazine's review. On a whim, we actually bought the magazine and read the article. I am not an audiophile and do not have the "lingo" so this is only to share our own at-home experiences so that others doing research about the amplifiers can get real world experience.

The most significant change in sound quality came last week after the night-long breaking-in. Since then, the amplifiers have been performing very well. We popped in CD after CD all week long and each one was a surprise. Some discs that sounded thin, shrill and hash actually become enjoyable again because instrument lines are now clearly separated and all the rich tones are coming through. Yes, the recording is still not great but what it has on the CD is now clearly audible and rather enjoyable.

Some discs that sounded poor did not get better and sounded much worse with further revelation of the disastrous recording job. Pavarotti's live concert recording to benefit Liberia children is one example. While many tracks are acceptable, some simply are poorly recorded and ended up an earful of hash. This was not so apparent using our older ten-year old amplifier and we still love that amplifier. Unfortunately or fortunately, the Bryston is very honest and we hear all the bad with the good.

Some discs that have been fine before now sound even better, more spectacular, a mountain of details, with each instrument or each orchestral section placed on "stage". We can even hear the venue in which the recording is made through the recording. The echoes and such give very nice cues though we are less interested in such details.

Well recorded discs like most of our collection of Baroque, Classical and Romantic era music are simply wonderful. We can hear the tonal richness of each instrument and each section and the designed complexity in each composition. Simply fantastic!

When DH and I listen to music, we do not really pick on it like an "audiophile". We judge by comparing what we hear against live music experiences. In live music where a blaring noisy speaker system is not in use, a violin is a violin even when an orchestra is busily smashing away. One can easily hear all the glory of that instrument and the skills of the violinist. If I wish, I should be able to turn my attention to that violin (or piano or trumpet or snare...) in the performance and easily hear the instrument and the soloist. If I have to strain to hear it, then it is not live music. Through the Bryston, the sense of realism is mesmerizing. It feels like whatever there is on the disc is laid out bare for all to hear. I am hearing an incredible amount of information and can track each soloist, the timing, rhythm, and how the composer or conductor or band intended for the various instruments or sections to cooperate in a composition.

My brother believes the speakers also play a role because he has tried various brands. This is my first set of Thiel's (or any good speakers) so there is no way to compare except to say that our ears definitely approve of these speakers. What we appreciate most is the ability to decide for ourselves which is a good or bad recording.

As for that magazine review, we can neither agree nor disagree. We cannot agree because most of the nit-pick of the author did not materialize in our own listening. There is no hash and mash, no extra "sustain" (strange usage), no mixing of left and right channels and so on. May be we have weaker ears? We can say nothing about the U-shape hall reverberation criticism because we do not have that disc, have never been to that venue and are not interested in hall reverberation. Our concern is how close to live music are the performances and whether we can easily track each performer or soloist. We are much more interested in how each piano key is struck and how each guitar string is plucked.

We cannot disagree because we do not have his ultra-expensive equipment to compare against. It would have been better if the comparisons were against equipment with which we could compare (more realistically priced?). If anything, it reads like the author simply prefers his own system over the Brystons and he wrote his article accordingly. In the end, the article was not very useful one way or another.

We are lucky to have received these as gifts and hand-me-downs. If we have to buy them, we would definitely visit showrooms to listen and take our time before putting down the cash. We would not base our decisions on someone else's writings and that includes my post here .

Cheers to all and a Prosperous New Year to you all!
Anna

[weird]

Hello Anna

Stellar example of putting the music first along with your admiration for the amp. You wrote " Through the Bryston, the sense of realism is mesmerizing. It feels like whatever there is on the disc is laid out bare for all to hear. I am hearing an incredible amount of information and can track each soloist, the timing, rhythm, and how the composer or conductor or band intended for the various instruments or sections to cooperate in a composition"

I agree, What sold me on Bryston was the gears ability to layer with excellent timing at any volume. Neutral, uncolored music never sounded so good.

[cmalak]

Anna...thanks for the excellent update and your "real world" response to the Stereophile review. Where you say:

"There is no hash and mash, no extra "sustain" (strange usage), no mixing of left and right channels and so on. May be we have weaker ears?",

I would say to you that the concept of "golden ears" is a farce and that all it takes is attentive listening over time to pick up on all the sonic cues your system is providing you and from your description you seem to be doing a great job as well as emphasizing those sonic traits that you deem most important, such as timbre, texture, resolution (for example, your ability to hear into the music and pick out specific instrumental lines in the mix), tempo, and so on. In a word you seem to prize musicality and musical realism over audiphile artifacts (that are often engineered or mastered into a mix), mainly soundstaging and pin point imaging. For others, these artifacts are supremely important because they add realism to the illusion that a singer/band/orchestra is in your listening room. In any case, don't listen to the "experts/reviewers" because at the end of the day you are the only one listening to your system and if it is delivering the sonic juju you are looking for, that's all that matters. By the way, your Thiel 3.7 speakers are excellent. I am sure you will enjoy them for many years to come along with your new Bryston amplification. Thank you for your update again. It was wondefully written.