Toronto Audio Show 2013

MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Toronto Audio Show (TAVES) 2013

Hi everyone,

Had the pleasure of attending TAVES again this year.

The Bryston room was again excellent. Same room as last year - the large Kensignton room on the second floor - and Leonard Cohen was playing yet again!

Loved the sound.

Perfect show off of the midbass, with a strong, tuneful, clear and authoritative sound.

Mark
 
MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Bryston ‘Best of Show’ TAVES 2013

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TAVES 2013
by Ken Choi | November 19, 2013

The other candidate for best sounding room at TAVES was Bryston’s.

Last year I noted the introduction of their Model T speakers and this year Bryston showed an expanded line of home-theater speakers. They demoed pretty much the same system as last year, however, anchored by a pair of the Model T's in an upgraded walnut finish that adds a thousand dollars to the base price.
These were driven by a pair of 28B SST² monoblocks and a BP26/MPS-2 preamp and power supply. Digital files were played off a thumb drive into a BDP-2 digital player/server that fed a BDA-2 external DAC.

The big difference this year was the room. Bryston showed in the same ballroom, but closed off half of the space. Unlike last year, the system was set up along the shorter wall and the resulting sound quality was leagues ahead of what it was before. In addition to an enveloping soundstage and precise imaging, a singer-songwriter track was presented with outstanding nuance and purity of tone. This came as a big surprise to this audio snob who has continued to associate Bryston mostly with pro-audio applications.

Both the Audio Pathways and Bryston rooms readily vie for "best of show" in terms of sound quality at TAVES, but such an appellation is so much a matter of taste that a proclamation like this is a little meaningless.
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I've mentioned the fine sound from a stand mounted three-way Bryston speaker (MINI T) in The Inner Ear room that put together a very fine sounding system for $10,000.

Now I had to make good on my vow not to short change them this year by visiting the large display in the Kensington room. Stevie Ray Vaughn playing Tin Pan Alley was being revisited and sounded very fine coming through the vinyl clad Model T floorstanders ($6495) driven by 28BSST2 monoblocks ($9600 ea.).

At the bottom of the rack was the BIT20 ($3000) that provides AC filtration and surge suppression to 10 medical grade duplex outlets. Above that was the fully balanced BP26 Reference preamp (2995) with RCA and XLR inputs. There is an optional DAC, MM or MC phonostage version available that work with a separate MPS-2 PSU power supply and optional remote, so you can have it your way. I noted a headphone jack, mono/stereo switch and a polarity inversion switch on the preamp, making it a very complete unit. And on top was their Digital Player along with their MDA-2 DAC. (In black, atop that, was their BDP-1 Digital Player presumably for comparison.)

In speaking with James Tanner of Bryston, he explained that the Model T speaker is available in a passive unit where the crossover is internal to the box and the Model T Signature with an external crossover. Ultimately they will have an outboard electronic crossover that will allow tri-amp'ing. The speakers all began when he collaborated with a speaker building colleague to build an active reference speaker for himself. But it was a very complex speaker when it was realized, so they simplified it into a passive design. In showing it around, it won great acceptance, but dealers demanded a center, surrounds and a sub to go with it. Consequently,

Bryston is now in the speaker business and sounding very good at reasonable prices, I might add.

They are in the enviable position of working with another speaker company so they do not have to re-invent the wheel, as in building a new facility as James said. This allows them to keep the cost down and offer better value. Down the road the T series will become wood veneer with vinyl by special order and a new A Series will be vinyl with wood by special order. It's going to be fun to watch them grow in this direction in the coming years.

Rick Becker
Enjoy The Music.com
 
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