Bryston 7BST 600 Watt Monoblock Review

[EJ3]

You mean from a power perspective?

Perhaps longevity & reparability?

 

[Haflermichi]

Not exactly.

Elaborate.

 

[Haflermichi]

Forgotten because they will not have resisted the ravages of time or forgotten because they will have aged badly?

Yes and yes.
They will not have resisted the ravages of time by becoming, practically speaking, unserviceable. The numerous front companies will have long gone, or changed names absolving themselves of responsibility. The cost of finding a qualified and talented technician to troubleshoot and service smd components, if the values can even be determined and if the components are even available (hello schematics) will far outweigh the initial purchase or at least be a bad value. For most intents and purposes they will become unwanted e-waste and end up in landfills. Due to the extremely dense and integrated nature of microcontrollers and chips on such devices it will become a loosing proposition to "repair" them. That, to me is one definition of aging badly. Bryson is the antithesis of that approach.

 

[pma]

A 'star' grounding method is a myth carried over from the hardwired, tube days. No amp with a pcb has one or needs one and I have never seen it done.

Speaking about power amp PCB design, separation of ground returns of rail bypass capacitors from signal ground paths is a key to reduce mains related components. Without that, you have those infamous forests of mains frequency harmonics.

 

[pma]

separation of ground returns of rail bypass capacitors from signal ground paths is a key to reduce mains related components.

To illustrate - the same amplifier measured in the year 2016 and then in 2022 after PCB re-design.

2016



2022



There is a considerable reduction of mains components as a result of only one PCB ground return track from a rail bypass capacitor changed.

 

[Bob101]

PMC are expensive and don t measure well...
You have many other speakers that are really better for half of the price....

PMC Twenty.21 Bookshelf Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the PMC Twenty.21 Stand-mount Speaker. It is kindly loaned to me by a member and costs US $2,000 but member purchased it used for much less. Professional Monitor Company (PMC) is a UK company so keep that in mind when looking at pricing. Their...

www.audiosciencereview.com

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Thanks for the reply and the links. I must admit: these measurements are not just 'room-for-improvement'-bad, but truly awful. In my defense: the speakers I listened to were THE top-of-the-line PMC studio monitors in 2005. My hearing-experience at that point was still limited and while my ears were still young, they were no longer at an easily impressionable age
I'd like to see the PMC BB6, or their BB5 XBD (the model I was 'exposed' to) measured, but seen their pricetag and weight I think it may be a while before Amir (or a forum member) gets his hands on a pair. If you know of an independent measurement of these: please send link
The owner of the studio was at the time the Benelux distributor for SSL and PMC. I got to know him pretty well, and he was a true profefessional pragmatic no-nonsense guy that didn't suffer fools. He had the best gear for the job, not just the most expensive. That's why I would find it unlikely he'd use poor performing monitors.

 

[Sokel]

Thanks for the reply and the links. I must admit: these measurements are not just 'room-for-improvement'-bad, but truly awful. In my defense: the speakers I listened to were THE top-of-the-line PMC studio monitors in 2005. My hearing-experience at that point was still limited and while my ears were still young, they were no longer at an easily impressionable age
I'd like to see the PMC BB6, or their BB5 XBD (the model I was 'exposed' to) measured, but seen their pricetag and weight I think it may be a while before Amir (or a forum member) gets his hands on a pair. If you know of an independent measurement of these: please send link
The owner of the studio was at the time the Benelux distributor for SSL and PMC. I got to know him pretty well, and he was a true profefessional pragmatic no-nonsense guy that didn't suffer fools. He had the best gear for the job, not just the most expensive. That's why I would find it unlikely he'd use poor performing monitors.

No need to be defensive, 2 meter-high PMC monitors kind of set me to this hobby.
Bad or not, the young me was blown away, they sounded to me like I was in front of the orchestra (no, I never "air-conduct", seemed silly to me even at my 20's )

I'll say it again, sometimes we describe some not so stellar measured gear here like some ancient evil curse will fall on us if we listen to them.

I, apart from some curiosities and some small speakers can't remind a speaker that actually sounded bad enough to make me stop listening.
And I am going to shows, ok? Lots of them.

Ok, apart from bright, thin sounding ones but I can now tell by eye if they are like that, mostly.
These sound far worst to me than the big PMC's I have listened too.

 

[Paweł L]

Bryston amps will always have a special place in my heart.
Warning: long story going nowhere in particular ahead.
In what I can unapologetically call a previous life as an aspiring recording engineer, I had the opportunity to work in a lot of recording studios. It was hard work, and getting paid was not part of the job. Instead I was let loose in control rooms with more knobs and buttons than I could count, all of which I was actually allowed to turn/push/pull. The studios ranged from little more than a room with a mixing console in a corner with a Tascam MSR16 in the closet, all the way up to 24-track Protools (three 888 interfaces!). Outboard gear was king, and plugins were only just starting not being frowned upon. The best studio I worked at was run by a drummer who, after a very serious car crash, designed and built a recording studio from scratch on a plot of land next to his house.
Entering any control room in 1999, the only surprise awaiting you was the size of the ubiquitus Genelecs. But on that morning what I saw were the then top-of-the-line PMC studio-monitors, tri-amped by Bryston monoblocs (six total). I had never heard of Bryston, nor PMC for that matter.
My sound-engineering career never really took off, and now being just a humble audiophile, I still dream of owning a pair of PMC speakers coupled with Bryston amps.

Two yrs ago when I went to Audio Show in Montreal it was the PCM room which surprised me with more than a good sound. Never had the occasion to hear PCM speakers. Bryston, yeah good amps and they post the schematics for most of their products which is a big + if you need service or repair them. One thing about the circuitry it's very unusual and the output driver stage has voltage gain. Motorola parts inside.
I'm positive they still use Bryston amps at Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull for driving the IMAX speakers.

 

[PristineSound]

Perhaps longevity & reparability?

Well, the Benchmark doesn't have a 20 year warranty, but frankly, if Benchmark charged $10k instead of $3,500; I am 100% certain, they too can offer a 20 year warranty as well.

But from the power department, yeah, they are lacking for sure. However, for most uses cases, 100w/ch into 8 ohms is sufficient.

 

[HalSF]

No one will know those current “miracles” like LA90, PA5, B100, B200 and similar little boxes 30 years from now. They will be forgotten.

The sarcasm of “miracles” in quotation marks, the belittling of “little,” the oblivion death-wish of “they will be forgotten” — what an odd jet of venom this crystal-ball post is.

 

[pma]

The sarcasm of “miracles” in quotation marks, the belittling of “little,” the oblivion death-wish of “they will be forgotten” — what an odd jet of venom this crystal-ball post is.

Based on facts like this https://pmacura.cz/FCT/topping_b100_rca.htm , reliability reports from members on PA5, my measurements of A07 and overall expertise of thermal design.

 

[aschen]

Well, the Benchmark doesn't have a 20 year warranty, but frankly, if Benchmark charged $10k instead of $3,500; I am 100% certain, they too can offer a 20 year warranty as well.

But from the power department, yeah, they are lacking for sure. However, for most uses cases, 100w/ch into 8 ohms is sufficient.

Bryston has/had a similar sized amp to the Benchmark.

2.5b is was more or less similarly priced, a quick google has me confused on current pricing and availability. It was about 4k recently though. It was also built into the integrated b135 as well.

 

[aschen]

Another interesting Bit is bryston has Class D amps available now too. They are claiming internal development not using any OEM modules. Beefy linear power supplies as well. Would be cool to get one to ASR for testing.

 

[Sal1950]

Bryston always made great amps. Alas, they are very expensive, I would even use the word overpriced.

Overpriced? You have to pay to support that long warranty.
They could probably cut the price by 50% if they rolled back the warranty to 3 years.

 

[Sal1950]

Out of warranty service is a flat rate $600 now.

WOW

 

[HalSF]

Based on facts like this https://pmacura.cz/FCT/topping_b100_rca.htm , reliability reports from members on PA5, my measurements of A07 and overall expertise of thermal design.

The points and the link you’re offering in this reply embody the admirable ASR playing field I recognize — strong, robust testing and analysis, a competitive objective rebuttal to Amir’s rave, which ended: “Even when you get used to [Topping] delivering on these fronts, they come up with this amplifier where test after test shows excellence in engineering and utmost dedication to highest levels of fidelity..”

Amping up the subjective totalizing ire to an aggro max is a much different, and lesser game.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Another interesting Bit is bryston has Class D amps available now too. They are claiming internal development not using any OEM modules. Beefy linear power supplies as well. Would be cool to get one to ASR for testing.

Why linear power supplies? Just to give audiophile cred?

 

[aschen]

Dunno. Conjecture is that they are already good at linear supplies and invested in developing the class D technology and wanted to keep scope manageable.

 

[Rebelhifi]

I needed a beefy amp and picked up the Buckey Purifi class D. It works great but I too wanted these!

Have a Nord Acoustics Hypex NCx running Martin Logan ESL9. Similar (more?) power to Bryston, nice upgraded case, auto on, I think I paid $1300. It has been going for 2 years (Have Hypex NC400 DYI I built during COVID - going on 5 years $500 each - a little less power). They won’t last 20 years. Hopefully, 15 years. But, could not pull the trigger on another high priced class AB amp at prices today. I owned Adcom, Parasound, and Acurus in the past that last 20 years that are like buying the Hypex or Purifi today. They were bang for the buck AB amps don’t seem competitive any longer. I can buy 3 Nord for one Parasound with less power.

 

[PristineSound]

Have a Nord Acoustics Hypex NCx running Martin Logan ESL9. Similar (more?) power to Bryston, nice upgraded case, auto on, I think I paid $1300. It has been going for 2 years (Have Hypex NC400 DYI I built during COVID - going on 5 years $500 each - a little less power). They won’t last 20 years. Hopefully, 15 years. But, could not pull the trigger on another high priced class AB amp at prices today. I owned Adcom, Parasound, and Acurus in the past that last 20 years that are like buying the Hypex or Purifi today. They were bang for the buck AB amps don’t seem competitive any longer. I can buy 3 Nord for one Parasound with less power.

The good news is, if the Purifi or Hypex craps out and if they are still in production, you can easily just swap it out.

I would love to have an amp that can last 30+ years, because there is a satisfaction to longevity and legacy. But the truth is, after 20 years, so much will have changed, unless there is value to brand history (of the likes of McIntosh), I'm ok with getting a new amp.