Bryston active speakers

DEALER FEEDBACK

James,

The four Mini T ACTIVE speakers are installed. Along with single Mini T sub.

Running with Bryston 4B on woofers and 3Bs on mid-range and tweeters.

Client is ecstatic. I will be sending pictures hopefully next week when I revisit the job site to tie up Loose Ends.

Thanks,

Dave
 
MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Bryston Demo – Absolute Audio/Video - Calgary

April 19th 2018

Hi Folks

Please drop by our dealer for 2 straight days of Bryston audio system demos in Calgary on Thursday and Friday.

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Room one will feature a fully ACTIVE Bryston Middle T System.

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System consists of the the new Bryston BAX-1 dedicated digital 3-way electronic crossover and the new 3-channel 21B amplifiers.


Room two will feature the passive Bryston Mini T system

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MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Bryston Active Demo – Mark Jones Audio

April 2018

Bryston Active event at Audio by Mark Jones

A couple of weeks ago I was invited by Mark Jones to attend the Bryston Active event at his place. James Tanner of Bryston was presenting the new active loudspeaker system featuring Model T Signature loudspeakers and BAX-1 electronic crossover.

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I am familiar with "active" loudspeakers, such as those produced by Meridian Audio. They have amplifiers built right in and all you need is a source, like a CD player or a network streamer.

Bryston's Model T active loudspeaker system is different. The loudspeakers' drivers (woofer, mid-range and tweeter) are directly connected to an amplifier's output. This is known as active bi-amping or tri-amping, since there are no passive components, i.e. crossovers, are present in the signal path between the amplifier and the drivers. Not to be confused by "passive" bi-amping or tri-amping, where a separate amplifier is assigned to each driver, but internal crossovers are still used to control which frequencies are handled by which driver, as well as roll-off characteristics.

But in a truly active system this is handled by an "electronic crossover" placed between the preamplifier and individual amplifier(s), basically in a small signal level stage. The electronic crossover used in this presentation was Bryston BAX-1 dedicated Digital crossover.
The other components in the system were:

• BP17³ preamplifier (bottom box in the photo above)
• 2 x 28B³ power amplifiers to drive the woofers
• 2 x 4B³ power amplifiers to driver mid-range and tweeters
• BDA-3 DAC
• BDP-3 Digital Player

The BAX-1 electronic crossover is controlled through a Bryston developed app from an iPad.

Although it is more costly to properly develop a truly active system, it has a number of advantages:

more efficient use of power superior direct coupling of drivers to the amplifiers provides better control of drive units and damps unwanted resonances in drivers splitting frequency bands before amplification results in easier design of crossover filters simplified control of amplitude and phase (delay) and driver anomalies higher SPL's are achieved in larger systems (you get 4dB improvement in level with the same power) it can be used to tune the system to any room with any acoustic deficiencies

As James Tanner remarked, music reproduction is a transient condition, where stop and start signals are transmitted to the drivers. With the amplifier being connected directly to the speaker driver this condition is improved and better controlled, which results in a much more accurate reproduction of the music. True active system can bring a much higher resolution and dynamic control to an audio system.

And this is exactly what I experienced with the system that was being presented that night. James first played some of his own selections. But then one of the guests brought his own musical selections on a USB stick. As they were played, the gentleman remarked that this is the best reproduction of these tracks that he has ever heard.

• Besame Mama by Poncho Sanchez and Mongo Santamaria
• The Black Messiah (Part Two) by George Duke
• Good Bye Pork Pie Hat by Uzeb

Each musical selection showcased the system's full potential. The clarity, the level of detail, the instrument separation and air around each instrument were simply superb.

The bass was tight and powerful even without any subwoofers. The imaging was precise. Soundstage was truly three-dimensional with depth, width and height clearly defined.

I have only heard this level of reproduction in systems that cost tens of thousands more than Bryston.

That is not to say that the electronic crossover does not have its weaknesses. The main one being that you cannot currently use BAX-1 in any other system. Current design only works with Model T speakers and Bryston amplifiers (ED: For very good technical and performance reasons).

But all in all it was very enjoyable experience and I am grateful to Mark and James for the presentation.

Alex G.
 
MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: It’s All About System Resolution - Hi Res vs Redbook

June 2018

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I am not sure if you know Mark Weldrep of AIX Records. He has a blog regarding “TRUE" High-Res music recorded and mixed in 24-96. He has serious concerns about all the so called High-Res disks sold based on Low-Res masters from the good old days.

Well a few days ago he put out a challenge to see if a 100 or more people would participate in a blind test to see if they could discriminate between the 24-96 and the CD 16-44 standard. It was not easy because the files were extremely well recorded and sounded just fine in both formats.

High- Res might be:
Tune 1
Tune 2
Tune 3
Tune 4
Tune 5
Tune 6

It seems I accurately achieved 5 out of the 6 correct. Which apparently was very unusual. Mark wanted to know how I did it, (see answer below). Basically I attribute it to the excellent Bryston Active System and the flexibility of the Bryston BDP Digital Player.

“Hi Mark

I was using a Bryston Digital Player and the new Bryston Active Model T speaker setup.

It is the best sound I have ever known irrespective of price. Primarily because it is truly phase aligned with a DSP. It rivals the punch of Dynamic speaker with the highs and sound stage of Electrostatic.

I was listening mostly for the high frequencies like cymbals and percussion. Female voice had more “depth” and “complexity”.

Cheers
Drew”
 
MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: James Hayward Visit To The Bryston Demo Rooms

July 2018

“Good morning James:

Listening to the three Bryston demo systems on Saturday was a very interesting and enjoyable experience.

I would summarize my overall listening impression this way. Each of those systems demonstrated state-of-the-art performance for a significantly different set of price points.

The little Mini A speaker did an excellent job of imaging and had an impressive depth of field. With its obvious limitations in output at extremely low frequencies, it still did an admirable job of accurately producing lower midrange and bass information with minimal exaggeration of enclosure and driver resonances.

The Middle T Active system is very easy to listen to. Its increased dynamic range, extended lower frequency response, increased clarity in the lower midrange bring an ease to the listening experience.

The Model T Active is clearly my favourite system.
It does everything right and with total ease! I can listen to it for hours as it uncovers amazing musical detail let effortlessly reproduces bass and lower midrange without any hint of exaggeration in both dynamic range and frequency response.

Thanks, James, for the great time.”

Best regards,
James H.

Jim Hayward is an electronic technologist, pianist and a perfectionist whose deep love of music put him on a lifelong quest to accurately capture the reality of treasured musical performances. After a 28 year career managing high tech engineering and operations groups in Bell Canada, he taught electronics and supervised student designed audio projects at Radio College of Canada for 10 years. He was Chairman of the Toronto Section of the Audio Engineering Society in 2000/2001 and has been an active executive member for 24 years. As a contributing editor to Andrew Marshall’s Audio Ideas Guide, he wrote three feature articles on the electrical characteristics of cables and their relevance to audio performance. He also wrote a feature article for the Bryston Newsletter, Volume 5, Issue 2, on the characteristic impedance of cables highlighting its relevance in the professional audio world.
 
MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Bryston Middle T ‘ACTIVE’ – Customer Feedback

September, 2018

Hi James,

After some months of intense hearing and testing the Middle T Active system as promised, here I am with a more definitive feedback...

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The system required some fine tuning and correct placement in the room (5x6 metres) to get the maximum from it.

Testing was conducted in many ways and with many albums of acoustical ensembles, always correct recorded music. Guess this is a good way to test the timbre and dynamic performance of a hi-fi system.

I involved as well a professional musician (guitar player) and compared his own music reproduced by the Bryston system and the real live concerts he has held, his own opinion being of course very important.

Results: outstanding performance of the Active system, the artist being reproduced in a life like manner, with incredible fast transients, perfect imaging and very natural and dynamic performance. Absolutely stunning. Every musical instrument, as well as voice were very material, perfectly isolated from the others, full bodied. Transparency and detail at top levels.

I guess the only upgrade possible would be moving to the bigger model T’s... The only tweak I have done was to place 30 kg of lead over each speaker, this leading to an even better detail and micro dynamic reproduction, not a dramatic improvement but definitely perceptible.

Thanks James...!
Dario
 
MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Model T Active – USA Dealer Dedicated Listening Room

October 2018

Hi Folks,

Great set-up in one of our premium USA dealers.

Dedicated room for the Bryston Active Model T speakers and complete Bryston Audio System

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• Bryston BDP-3 Digital Player/Streamer
• Bryston BDA-3 DAC
• Bryston BP-26 Preamplifier
• Bryston MPS-2 Power Supply
• Bryston BCD-3 CD Player
• Bryston BAX-1 Digital Active Crossover
• Bryston 3-Channel 21B (x2) Amplifiers
• Bryston Model T Active Speakers
• Bryston Isolation Transformers (x2)
• Target Equipment and Amplifier Stands
 
Hi Folks,

Just got a copy of a new review from Soundstage Magazine due out next week on the Active Middle T's.

Will post when available.

james
 
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MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Bryston Active Middle T’s – Soundstage Review

Hi Folks,

Please see below the link to a very extensive and thorough review of the Bryston ‘MIDDLE T ACTIVE SYSTEM’ from Soundstage Magazine.

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/inde...27-bryston-middle-t-active-loudspeaker-system

Favourite Quotes:

“No matter what I listened to, the Bryston system always sounded bigger and more dynamic than I thought it would. Its clarity and precision even rivaled that of my reference MartinLogan Masterpiece Classic ESL-9 speaker hybrid electrostatics recognized for their fast, detailed sound.”

“If you’re willing to try active speakers, give the Brystons a listen. Even if you aren’t, you should hear them, to find out what kind of sound is possible from today’s powered speakers.”

“With the Bryston Middle T Active system, everything sounded perfectly balanced, the dialog and effects precisely tracking their apparent visual sources onscreen. The experience was so involving that I felt as if I were sitting in the mixing studio.”

Roger Kanno
 

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