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Went Active: Wow!
So, I've had this nice Bryston 10B-LR sitting around for several years (17 to be exact) and have not really used it much. I sent it to Bryston in 2012 (before warranty ran out) and they went through it and brought it up to 2012 standards "free of charge" (gotta love Bryston!).
Anyway, I like to build my own speakers and my current iteration uses an OB 12" GRS driver (Great OB driver btw) (40Hz to 151Hz active x-over with DSP), a periodically loaded vifa/peerless 4" mid-bass driver (151hz to 2.8K) and HiVi dome tweeter from 2.8K to a bit past 20K. X-over between 4" and tweet is passive 12db/oct (electrical) and about 18dB/oct acoustical. Since I recently bought a small third amp (for tweeters), a Parasound Zamp V3, I decided it was time to go active, and I put the Bryston in for the x-over vs. using passive coils and caps on the 4" /tweet combo. The cards that I have for the 10B-LR are 800 Hz and another set at 2021Hz. Since the Fs for the tweeter is 1000Hz, I surmised that the 2021Hz x-over at 24dB/oct would be safe. (The HIVi tweeter is very smooth from about 1800 to 20K). The "time" differential between the Vifa 4" and the tweeter is 25mm, so my tweeter is recessed by 25mm relative to the 4" mid-bass. Quick Aside: before doing the active crossover implementation, I tried the Z-amp in place of my beloved MC modified Hafler amp to drive the 4"/tweet combo .... boy was I surprised. I was skeptical of the rave reviews on this little 45 watt/ch amp, but man is it good. As natural and sweet sounding as the Hafler but without the mosfet haze (slightly better detail and definition/nuance) - call me shocked, but this little amp delivers! Anyway, to hook this all up I had to build a cable that would connect my Freya pre to drive the inputs of both the Bryson X-over (driving amps that feed the 4" and the tweeter) and the DSP xover/controller that I use to drive the 12" (down to 40Hz) and both subs (below 40 Hz). For that I used silver clad copper Switchcraft XLR's (2 Females to 4 Males - Y configuration) and DH Lab pure silver 23g solid core IC cable soldered up using TRT Wonder Solder. Love that DH lab solid core silver cable So I now have the system set-up so that all of the actual x-overs are active. There are some passive components as there is baffle step compensation on the 4" mid-bass and very large Audyn Q4 capacitors keeping low frequency energy out of the 4". There is also a 10uF Film cap in series with the tweeter to protect from any turn-on/off LF bumps. It took a bit of work to get the driver levels and integration to "lock-in" but now that has been achieved (with tons of cables going everywhere) I am well pleased by how much better the active x-over sounds. The soundstage (which was already very very good) is deeper and the subtle timbre cues on things like Bassoon, Bass Trombone, snare drum, saxophone, etc. are more evident and more "relaxed" or natural sounding. I was fearful that adding another piece of electronics between the pre and amps would introduce glare or other unwanted artifacts, but the Bryston is very transparent and the "addition" of it to the circuits is not at all "evident". I guess that I should have known that such a beast from Bryston would be "transparent", but I'm always concerned when adding "even more" pieces to the signal path. |
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Nice! looking forward to going Active w/ Bryston gear very soon.
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Ivan FLORIDA MX136, MC1.2KW(10) MC2KW(2), MCD1100, MS750(2) MVP881, C1000C/P/T, MPC1500, HT-2 SUBS(2) HT3F(2) WS350(2) XRT2K, XCS2K, XR27(2) XCS350(2) JL GOTHAM v2 SUBS(2) SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, LUMAGEN RADIANCE SCALER, SONY VPH-G90U 4K PROJECTOR, STEWART 120" MOTORIZED SCREEN, CINEMA-TECH SEATING, WW PLATINUM CABLES Reference System: ACCUPHASE A300 AMPS, C3900 PRE-AMP, DP1000 CD/SACD TRANSPORT, DC1000 DIGITAL PROCESSOR, DG-68 DIGITAL EQUALIZER, T1200 FM STEREO TUNER, PS1230 POWER SUPPLY, HRS-SXR CUSTOM RACK w/ M3X SHELVES, TAD REFERENCE ONE MK2 LOUDSPEAKERS, WW PLATINUM CABLES CAPE COD MX150, MC501(2) MC1.2KW(10) MC2301(2) MR88, MVP881, MCD1100, MDA1000, C1000C/P/T, MPC1500, ESOTERIC K-01X 30th ANNIVERSARY (BLACK) SACD/CD PLAYER, G02-X CLOCK, HT3F(2) XRT2K, XCS2K, XR27(2) JL GOTHAM v2 SUBS(2) JL FATHOM F113v2 SUBS(4) SOUND ANCHOR STANDS(2) KALEIDESCAPE STRATO & TERRA SERVERS 80-TB, LUMAGEN RADIANCE SCALER, SONY VPH-G90U 4K PROJECTOR, STEWART 120" SCREEN, SONUS FABER STRADIVARI, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, FORTRESS SEATING, WW PLATINUM CABLES Analog Rig: CLEARAUDIO INNOVATION WOOD, UNIVERSAL ARM w/ Da VINCI' CART, 2nd UNIVERSAL ARM w/ GOLDFINGER STATEMENT CART, HRS-MXR REFERENCE RACK-GLOSS BLACK w/ M3X SHELVES, AESTHETIX RHEA SIG PHONO-PRE, BRYSTON BHA-1 HEADPHONE AMP, WW PLATINUM CABLES Reference System: BURMESTER 911MK3 AMP(3), 088 PRE-AMP, 089 CD PLAYER, 100 PHONO PRE-AMP, 948 POWER CONDITIONER, ACCUPHASE DG-68 VOICING EQUALIZER, AVID ACUTUS REFERENCE SP TT, GRAHAM PHANTOM II SUPREME ARM, BENZ MICRO LP-S CART, GRANDIOSO P1X/D1X STACK, G1X RUBIDIUM MASTER CLOCK, N05 NETWORK PLAYER, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, HRS-SXR CUSTOM RACK w/ M3X SHELVES, SONUS FABER AIDA SPEAKERS, JL FATHOM F113v2 SUBS(2) SOUND ANCHOR STANDS(2) WW PLATINUM CABLES Library System: GRANDIOSO M1 MONOBLOCK AMPS, C1 LINESTAGE PRE-AMP, K1X CD/SACD PLAYER, G1 MASTER RUBIDIUM CLOCK, E02 PHONO-PRE, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, AERIAL ACOUSTICS 20T V2, AERIAL SW12 SUBS(2), CANTON REF K1’s, VPI HRX TT w/ SDS POWER SUPPLY, ORTOFON CADENZA BLACK CART, KLAUDIO RCM, SHUNYATA DENALI 6000/S v2, SHUNYATA OMEGA QR’s, WW PLATINUM CABLES Esoteric/Bryston System: ESOTERIC C02-X PRE-AMP, P-02X TRANSPORT, D02-X DAC, G02-X CLOCK, BRYSTON 28B3 CUBED MONOBLOCK AMPS(4), BRYSTON BHA-1 HEADPHONE AMP, SHUNYATA DENALI 6000/S v2(2) EVEREST 8000 POWER CONDITIONER(2) ALTAIRA CG & SG HUBS, AMR-DP777-SE DAC, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, TAD REFERENCE ONE MK2 LOUDSPEAKERS, QUADRASPIRE RACK, WW PLATINUM CABLES Accuphase/Canton System: ACCUPHASE E800 INTEGRATED, DP570 CD/SACD PLAYER, T1200 FM STEREO TUNER, DG-68 VOICING EQUALIZER, PS530 POWER SUPPLY, CANTON REF K3’s, CANTON REF K5’s, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, HRS MXR REFERENCE MAHOGHANY RACK w/ M3X2 SHELVES, WW GOLD CABLES |
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Glenn... Canton Reference 9 Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 & MR88 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B, ST-J75 & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag |
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