Bryston Electronics and Martin Logans

[moondoggie]

Hello Everybody,
Just wondering what experience other ML owners have had with Bryston amplifiers with their speakers. I keep reading about how wonderful Bryston amps are but have never had a chance to audition one with my Vantage speakers. I'm thinking of an Bryston 3B SST for my rather small room. I think my current 100 watt amplifier runs out of steam on some music and I may need more power.

Any advice?
Thanks,
moondoggie

 

[roberto]

Hello Everybody,
Just wondering what experience other ML owners have had with Bryston amplifiers with their speakers. I keep reading about how wonderful Bryston amps are but have never had a chance to audition one with my Vantage speakers. I'm thinking of an Bryston 3B SST for my rather small room. I think my current 100 watt amplifier runs out of steam on some music and I may need more power.

Any advice?
Thanks,
moondoggie

Hola Moondoggie. IMHO, Bryston is one of the SS brands that sings with ML. With your new Vantage, you don´t need to have a lot of power...all you need is quality watts, and Bryston is clean, well and easy with hard low impedance, (I was told once by Chris, one of the Company owners that they used ML for their design as a tool designing instrument). Trust your ears, and listen the 3B, you will be very happy with it. There are a good power amps on the marketplace today, but also think that the 3B is built as two separate power amplifiers, the two things that they have in common is the chassis and the power cord. The rest is two separate xformers for the power supplies L and R. Good thinking. Besides, it is one of those companies that have a great warranty on all of their goods, over 20 years of warranty. Listen to it, the 3b has a very nice tonallity, verw sweet in the highs, and a very clean midrange. The voices are very well articulated with the right dynamics presentation. Also the strings...when you listen strings with it, you can tell when it is an expensive instruments played by the musician(s), cymbals and percussion instruments are there with the musicians, not a mess that it is hard to understand what the musicians are doing. I had read recommendations here at the forum, amps that my ears don´t like at all, but please understand that this is my liking, and not necessary yours...give it a try, you might like it too as I did!!! happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[aliveatfive]

Hello Everybody,
Just wondering what experience other ML owners have had with Bryston amplifiers with their speakers. I keep reading about how wonderful Bryston amps are but have never had a chance to audition one with my Vantage speakers. I'm thinking of an Bryston 3B SST for my rather small room. I think my current 100 watt amplifier runs out of steam on some music and I may need more power.

Any advice?
Thanks,
moondoggie

I use a Bryston 9b (3 channel version) to drive my Cinema i and 2 Frescos (for surround channels.) They mate perfectly well with my front channels which are Summits driven by ARC and BAT tube amplification. Bryston is reliable and sounds fine.

 

[Transparent]

Before I bought my Bryston 4bst, my friend (who was in the recording industry) had told me that Bryston amplifiers were used by a lot of professional recording studios and later on when I visited a couple of recording studios I noted that they used Bryston amplifiers. At the time I bought mine, there was only one place in Melbourne that you could buy Brystons from, and this place was selling professional gears only. Few years later a couple of Hi-Fi shops started to sell Brystons. Well, being a professional product was not the only reason that I bought my Bryston, but it was one of the factors that drew me to Bryston. I also own a Hafler Transnova 9500 which outputs 250 w/ch. I did a lot of comparison b/w the Bryston 4bst (btw the 4bst also outputs 250 w/ch.) and found that the Bryston does a better job in every aspects. It also looks better than the Hafler. Like many of our members here, I suggest that you should try it at home (like I did) to see if it suits your speakers but Bryston amplifiers are fine and reliable products and they are not that expensive (at least in the USA. The new Bryston 4BSST is around 5000 Australian dollars !!!!! but wait, the McIntosh MC500 Power amplifier is around 15,000 Australian dollars !!!!!)

Good luck to your search.

Regards, Transparent

 

[David Matz]

Great Synergy

I currently run a pair of Ascents using a Bryston 4B ST and an older Bryston preamp, and the Ascents sing! An experienced audiophile salesperson told me that the 4B ST and the 3B SST have a very similar sound.

As a side note, I recently auditioned the new Bryston BP 26 preamp with my Ascents and the 4B ST, and it was really impressive.

Additionally, a few months ago I had an opportunity to hear the Vantages using Bryston 4B SST and BP 26 ($6K system) , McIntosh SS amp and preamp ($12K system), and Ayre amp and preamp ($8.5K system). The Ayre had no synergy at all with the Logans and sounded very flat. (NOT so for their CD player, which is an incredible piece of modern technology!!!!) It was much closer between the Bryston and the Mac. Although the Mac did sound a bit cleaner, detailed and smoother, I did not believe it was worth the extra $6K it cost. A better choice would have been the Bryston 4B SST and a Mark Levinson pre amp for the same $$$.

Give it a try, of course. However, I believe you will not be disappointed with Bryston electronics and Logans. They share a special synergy.

 

[timm]

I know this is a late reply - my brother has a 4bsst & ascents. I find the imaging/soundstage - layers of music to be pretty incredible. I don't think you could go wrong with the 4bsst. He also has a bryston pre-amp with an external power supply.... sorry I don't have the model #....

 

[MOON]

I used to run a Bryston combination of a 4BST and Bp 25 pre amp with my Aerius i's . It was a good combination. The 3BST should work well in your smaller room.

I switched set ups to my current Simaudio W-5 amp , P-5 pre combination which also works wonders with the logans.

 

[jmschnur]

I just upgraded from an Outlaw 7500 to a Bryston 4b SST. I have a 7.1 system and had used an older Hafler (200) for my side speakers.

The Outlaw did a creditble job with the Vantages. Since my Hafler was on it last legs, I chose to upgrade to the Bryston for the Vantages and put my side speakers on the 7500.

This has worked out quite well. In retrospect the Outlaw did not do justice to complex passeges in quartets and choral music. The Bryston is smoother all around and provided a sense of openeness in several CDs that was not there with the Outlaw amp.

That having been said the Outlaw is doing fine for DVD's, TV etc with the other 5 speakers which includes a Cinema I.

Joel

 

[Statman]

I know this is a little late in posting

The first time I ever heard Martiin Logans they were powered by Bryston amps. That sealed the deal for me in buying the speakers! Powerful and with control yet smooth on the top end. You can't beat their warranty either?

 

[Tailwagger]

Hello Friends. First time on the board. Just purchased a Grotto today and in my search for subs, I ran across this site. Anyhoo, back OT, I've owned a pair of Sequels for many years now and for all those years they've been they've been reliably powered by a Bryston 3B (fed by an Audible Illusions Pre). A very credible combination. I recall when I bought the system that I toyed with an ML amp at the time that I thought threw a marginally better sound stage, but for the $$$ the Bryston was definitely the winner. It might lack a bit in the ultimate power depatment, but its detail is good. So, I'd also give the Bryston a thumbs up.