[James Tanner - Bryston]

MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Montreal Audio Fest – Bryston Demo 2017

MONTREAL AUIO FEST 2017 - BRYSTON THE FIXTURE

Walk into a Bryston room at any show and you’ll see consistency that’s maintained with corporate attention to detail. The layout is the consistently good, the products are always arranged in the same manner, and -- most importantly -- VP James Tanner is sitting in the right-most of three director’s chairs, iPhone in hand and constructing playlists on the fly.

I’ve never seen Tanner get up out of that chair. Oh, I’ve seen him after the show, actually walking around, so I know he can do it. But during show hours, I don’t think he moves from that chair.

It’s reassuring, this consistency. Over the last few years, since Bryston released their Model T speakers, I’ve heard the sound improve, incremental changes moving the whole portrayal toward a refined, clear wall-to-wall richness that -- each year -- leads me more and more toward thinking, “I could live with this.”

This year, Bryston was displaying the speaker system that will shortly end up as the Model T Active -- their Model T fed by the new BAX-1 digital electronic crossover leading to separate amplifiers for each speaker. (The new 21B3, a new three-channel amplifier designed specifically for this system, is not ready yet, so 3B3 and 7B3 amplifiers were used.)

Doug Schneider and I wandered into the Bryston room for the first time on the hunt for new products to include in our show coverage. I plonked myself down in the middle of the three seats next to Tanner, and started interrogating him regarding the Model T Active. But in mid-sentence my attention began to drift. Tanner was playing an excerpt from Carmen and hanging in space was a deep tapestry, instruments layered upon one another with ease of listening interacting alongside detail and extension on each end of the frequency extreme.

Over my lifetime in audio I’ve been firmly rooted in the tube world, far preferring the richness and warmth that I glean from tubes to the clarity and neutrality delivered by solid-state designs. But I’m not obstinate. If reality and experience leads me away from my current position into a new direction well then fine -- let’s go.

I could live with this system!

Jason Thorpe,
Senior Contributor,
SoundStage Magazine[/B]