Bryston SP3 Preamp-Processor

[moonhawk]

Originally Posted by nicoff

So... you are converting an analog signal back to digital and then to analog again (analog->digital->analog) and it sounds better?

I don't see where the conversion is. It seems he's just trying out three different pre-amps, using the DAC in the Ayre disc player?

[nicoff]

Originally Posted by moonhawk

I don't see where the conversion is. It seems he's just trying out three different pre-amps, using the DAC in the Ayre disc player?

Thanks. It is not clear to me what he is doing. As I understand it the 2ch-bypass only works with analog signals. So if he is passing 2ch analog from the SP3 to a digital device, that’s what got me confused.

[moonhawk]

He's passing it to another pre-amp, I think. I guess we should wait for him to enlighten us.

[dbphd]

Originally Posted by moonhawk

He's passing it to another pre-amp, I think. I guess we should wait for him to enlighten us.

Yes. Analog from the Ayre DX-5 disc/USB player and JC 3 phonostage goes directly to the JC 2 BP. HDMI digital from the Ayre and Oppo goes to the Bryston SP3; analog front LR passes from the SP3 DAC through the JC 2 BP instead of going directly to amps. The JC 2 BP has no DAC and is analog only, so there is no re-digitization.

db

[dbphd]

Originally Posted by James Tanner - Bryston

Its pure Class A discrete circuits throughout - I will be surprised if you are not wowwed !!

As Charles Hansen had warned, there appears to be a problem with inserting the 10B (or probably anything) between the Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp and VX-5 Twenty amp. That sense of music just flowing that Ayre is known for seems to have been diminished, replaced by a more HiFi sound. So I plan to try a different approach: Driving the 10B from the single-ended outputs that now drive a Velodyne SMS-1 bass manager, and using the 10B to low-pass to a pair of HGS-10 subs, perhaps through the SMS-1 for acoustic room correction. I'll try a 70 Hz crossover with a 12 dB slope. The KEF LS50s seems to begin a mild rolloff around 70 Hz, so the fit might be good. (70 Hz is the lowest crossover my 10B offers.)

db

[gbaby]

Originally Posted by nicoff

So... you are converting an analog signal back to digital and then to analog again (analog->digital->analog) and it sounds better?

I could not believe what I was reading either.

[dbphd]

Originally Posted by gbaby

I could not believe what I was reading either.

As you shouldn't have. No analog is converted to digital in either of my setups.

db

[dbphd]

Originally Posted by dbphd

As Charles Hansen had warned, there appears to be a problem with inserting the 10B (or probably anything) between the Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp and VX-5 Twenty amp. That sense of music just flowing that Ayre is known for seems to have been diminished, replaced by a more HiFi sound. So I plan to try a different approach: Driving the 10B from the single-ended outputs that now drive a Velodyne SMS-1 bass manager, and using the 10B to low-pass to a pair of HGS-10 subs, perhaps through the SMS-1 for acoustic room correction. I'll try a 70 Hz crossover with a 12 dB slope. The KEF LS50s seems to begin a mild rolloff around 70 Hz, so the fit might be good. (70 Hz is the lowest crossover my 10B offers.)

db

I discovered the magic elixir, and it was in my rack all the time: I removed the 10B from the setup and use the SMS-1 to low-pass to the KEF LS50s at 50 Hz with a 24 dB/octave slope. That did require a video monitor for setup, but it restored the Ayre sense of music flow and the low-end now sounds very like fine full-range speakers. There is no longer an observable overlap of LS50s and subs.

db

[gbaby]

I just finished paying off my SP3 I purchased in July 2012.

[audiohippo]

On a very cold and dark morning I am wondering what multi channel amplifiers is everyone using with their SP3?