Montreal Audio fest 2017

[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]

[James Tanner - Bryston]

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

MONTREAL AUDIO FEST 2017



Here is my review of the show for the Berkshire Audiophile Group.

The second room tied for best sound was Canadian manufacturer Bryston.

Long known for bullet-proof pro gear backed by a transferable 20 year (!) warranty, paperazzi have patronized them as less than worthy.

In an oversize room with no special acoustic treatment, the big modern T speaker was pushing lots of air, with clarity and superb imaging, as well as rock-solid bass. These are the speakers I would actually buy if someone wants my classic 15 inch Tannoys...

They were triamped (Is this a ploy to sell more Bryston amps?). I confess I am a classical music snob, but even listening to music I would never care for otherwise, my toes were tapping. The price, while high, was fair and far less than the going rate for near state-of-the art.

I spoke at great length with James Tanner, the VP who originally designed them for his own home use. His emphasis, which I agree with, was on low distortion and the ability to move air.

My wife was glad to see me home without the aformentioned Bryston speakers.

Frank Finkelstien
Berkshire Audiophile Group

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Bryston, the best show kit (and by far).

The rooms of the hotel Bonaventure are very tough for sound systems. The cement walls, which are a big source for reverberation, people who's talk, and come and go .So if a sound system sounds well over these noises ... It's that it's exceptional.

The image, the precision, the sweetness, everything was there for Bryston. But, to get this, you have to put a few dollars on the table ... Two 7B3 for bass, 2 3b3 for mid-range and 2 3b3 for high frequencies.

A good word also for Gershman Acoustics: a little kit of nothing who drive his speakers ... They sound very very well.
Joseph Audio also stands out from the others brands with his speakers.

A very disappointing brand of speakers whose prices are hallucinating: Focal. If you like the bass, big and slack, you will be satisfied and you will pay the big price for this thing. But I thing also that your friends will be impressed with these 2 dinosaurs. 155000 dollars...

We did a full tour of the show and we went back a second time to places where we had been impressed by listening and Bryston remained our number one.

Pek59

[James Tanner - Bryston]

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

Montreal Audio Fest 2017 Coverage by Suave Kajko


Bryston Limited

While Bryston didn’t launch any new products at the show, it’s always a pleasure to listen to their gear.

The all-Bryston demo system here included the Model T active towers powered by 7B Cubed amps (powering bass drivers), 3B Cubed amps (mids and highs) and the BP-26 preamp. The source was the BDP-3 music player connected to a BDA-3 DAC.

A custom designed crossover allowed James Tanner to fine tune the setup to achieve a perfectly flat frequency response in the room.

(EDIT: No DSP was used as the speaker was dead- flat with no adjustments required in this room).

As I’ve come to expect from Bryston, the system played with incredible energy and real world dynamics but also offered great precision and finesse with more delicate music. This was one of my favorite sounding setups at the show.

In addition to the demo system, Bryston also showed a prototype 21B Cubed series 3-channel amp (on static display). The single chassis of this upcoming amp will house the circuitry of the 7B Cubed amp (single channel) and a 4B Cubed amp (two channels).

[James Tanner - Bryston]

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

STEREOPHILE

Art's Saturday Morning at the Show

I suppose that, for all of us, there are companies whose products earn our respect but don't quite speak to us.

There have been a number of such brands for me, among them Ontario's Bryston Ltd., whose preamps and amps were, in the early '80s when I first began to frequent Lyric Hi-Fi, virtually the first high-end electronics I encountered.

But the Bryston sound (or maybe lack thereof) never reached out and grabbed me—until Montreal Audio Fest 2017, when I spent some time with an all-Bryston system that, coincidentally or not, included the company's Model T Active loudspeakers and BAX-1 three-way external digital crossover.

I heard the same clarity and detail I'd always associated with Bryston, but this time with more meat on its bones, and a greater drive and purposefulness behind the music.

Incidentally, the source components were Bryston's BDP-3 digital player and BDA-3 DAC

Before leaving the Bryston suite, I snapped a photo of their BCD-3 CD player, which is on its way here for review.

[SCAudiophile]

Congratulations to the team at Bryston!!! Glowing and well-deserved praise!!!

[James Tanner - Bryston]

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

April 2017

Bryston was showing the Model T Active speaker system, with a playlist streaming from the BDP-3 music player and new BDA-3 DAC.

The bass output of the BAX1 active crossover fed a 7B3 600-watt monoblock amplifier, while the mid- and high-frequency outputs each went to one channel of a 4B3 stereo power amp (300wpc).

Bryston is working on a three-channel amp with one 7B3 channel and two 4B3 channels specifically for use with its active systems.

Soundstaging in a recording of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy was huge and very precise, and orchestral timbres were utterly convincing. On a recording by Nils Lofgren (a staple of audio shows), guitar transients were lightning-fast but not the least bit etched.

As Bryston Vice President James Tanner pointed out, that’s one of the virtues of a well-executed active design. There are no capacitors between the amp and drivers to smear transients.

Gordon Brockhouse,
Wifihifi Magazine

[James Tanner - Bryston]

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

April 2017

6 MOONS MAGAZINE

The Canadian institution known as Bryston held court with their marvelous electronics feeding the prodigious sounding, comparatively under-priced flagship Model T speakers.

The Bryston Model T’s challenge the pricier competition on every level.

Like the rest of Bryston's extensive product lineup, throw down the gauntlet with a 20-year warranty.

On static display was a wide range of offerings from amps, preamps, integrateds, DACs to turntables and phono stages.

Fresh out of the gate was their new BCD-3 CD player.

The listening sessions were always packed and Mr. Tanner was always there to orchestrate the musical proceedings.

[James Tanner - Bryston]

Hi James,

It was nice to finally meet you after all these years at the Montreal salon d’audio last month.

You had the nicest room with an amazing setup and all you product there to view.

Thanks,

Mark

[James Tanner - Bryston]

MEMO: To All Bryston Customers
SUBJECT: Bryston Demo Montreal 2017

By now, it was almost the end of the show and once again, I almost missed the Bryston room in Le Plateau.

Inside, it was a familiar scene. The rig looks almost the same, year after year, and James Tanner, by this hour of the day, sits restfully in the far right chair enjoying music both of us love. As I write, it is almost a month since the show and my memory of what was said has faded and I have no video notes to save me.

But as I lay in bed last night, I recalled the music sounded a little more alive this year. Strange, because there were no new amps. Then a recollection surfaced (and forgive me if I'm wrong) — he was using active speakers this year — possibly the Model T Signature (EDIT – Correct). The sound was noticeably better this year and from what I learned earlier with the active/passive comparison with the ATC speakers, going active was probably the difference.

Bryston has such a rock solid sound that is hard to fault—usually there are only incremental improvements when new models are released. This is not a bad thing. Consistency builds confidence that is underscored by their 20 year warranty on analog and speaker products. (The digital ones will likely become obsolete before they run into trouble.)

What was new this year was their Bryston BLP-1 turntable with separate BTP-1 power supply.

This may be their first ever turntable, but with their expertise in electronics, you can be sure it runs precisely on both speeds with pulse width modulation synchronous motor with low speed and high torque.

The power supply even has a "Stop" button! Like everything Bryston, there is no bling. Just a modest footprint about the size of a Linn LP12, and like the Linn, an acrylic dust cover. Real meat and potatoes!

Also on display was their BP 2 moving magnet phono stage, the PS 2 power supply, and the TF 2 passive step-up transformer which I have seen before, but with the hood down.

For high resolution, transparency, dynamics and enjoying the music without taking it to the bleeding edge, you don't need to take it any further than this Bryston system.


Rick Becker
Enjoy The Music.com