Bryston Customer Feedback
Email: Bryston 6B and SP 1.7

To: James Tanner,
Bryston Ltd.

James,

I guess I've been a Bryston fan since the early 1980's. It was about 1983 when I first heard a 4B playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" through a set of Infinity RS 2B's that hooked me. Not only was I was amazed at the sound, but I was astounded that there were no treble and bass controls on the amp or preamp. Boy, did I come from humble beginnings!! By the way, don't ask me if I listened to Michael Jackson, I'll deny it!

I've had the Bryston website bookmarked on my computer for the last two years. I've been constantly visiting the site to see up-to-date reviews and information on Bryston products. However, I haven't been only reading. I've been busy buying as well! After a late stint at university, I began to assemble my version of a great music system about a year and a half ago. I had taken a 4B-ST home from a local dealer for a demo when I heard that there were new 6B and 14B ST versions of Bryston amplifiers. Well, being from a small Eastern Canadian city, my dealer didn't have one of the new amps in stock. However, I quickly emailed Andrew Marshall and yourself to determine if the improvements in the new designs were significant. You told me they were! I blindly ordered a 6B-ST and I've been happy ever since.

Well, at the time, not only was I interested in 2-channel audio, but my long-time love affair with movies prompted me to think about whether I wanted a state-of-the-art surround system as well, And this, my friend, is what brings me to my reason for my little rant to you this evening. When I read about the new SP 1.7 several months ago I decided that this was the next piece of equipment that I needed to buy in my quest for home theater/stereo Nirvana. Imagine, a system that included a state-of-the art surround processor with the equivalent of a BP-25 analogue preamp. I figured that I would buy the SP 1.7 with it's discrete analogue bypass and then several months down the road buy one of those new, fan-dangled up-sampling DAC’s to run through my new SP 1.7's preamp section to give the "inferior-sounding CD" a fighting chance.

Well, did I get a rude awakening. I received my new SP 1.7 and hooked it up to my system. I had been running my CD player through the DAC’s of my old NAD receiver, so, I decided that the new DAC’s of the SP 1.7 "must be as good as those in the old receiver". I decided to run the CD player through the SP 1.7 "temporarily". From the first 30 seconds of listening, I could not believe the sound that I was getting from the SP 1.7 for 2-channel audio! At first I thought I was over-emphasizing the improvement of the SP 1.7 over the receiver's DACs. But, as it turns out, I wasn't.

The SP 1.7 not only does movie soundtracks with finesse and dynamics, it gives regular CD's a very lively, detailed sound that rivals or beats some of the best $2,000 to $3,000 after-market up-sampling DAC's currently finding favour with the audio world. If I had to sum it up in a non-technical manner, I would have to say that there is an extra element of openness and air about the sound. For example, on Alison Krauss' recordings you can actually hear the room in which she is singing, and this is a good thing!! So, I guess my point is this. Even though the SP 1.7 is not "cheap" at $6,495 CDN, it can be easily justified. Considering the exceptional job it does as a DAC for 2-channel CD reproduction, this is worth at least $1,500 to $2,000 of the asking price. Then, if you split the surround processor and BP-25 preamp functions that it performs flawlessly, this is about $2,500 each. These amounts are extremely reasonable when compared with other equipment that would be required to do the job that the SP 1.7 does. As a matter of fact, I think you'd be hard pressed to find separate components that would perform at the level of the SP 1.7 in all areas of surround sound and 2-channel audio.

After all of the professional reviews and user reviews I have read of all of the new equipment lately, I find that this is the one use that gets overlooked by all of the users, and Bryston as well. Not only does the SP 1.7 perform as a great analogue preamp and surround processor, it decodes 2-channel CD's in a manner that rivals the best out there today (The jury is still out on SACD!). So I think that Bryston should say "Give me your $500 CD players' digital out and I will take you to another level with what we can do with a CD!" So, if you want a preamp/processor that decodes movie soundtracks with aplomb, mimics a BP-25 analogue preamp without a missed step and acts as a "newage" up-sampling DAC, all in one box, the SP 1.7 is the answer.

Besides, it was great for me to be able to say to my wife that I just saved $2,500 that I was going to have to spend on an outboard DAC, just because I bought a $6,495 preamp/processor! If you repeat it long enough, it actually makes sense. I know it does to me. Bryston claims to be "Music for a Generation" because of its 20 year warranty. I think it's "Music for Two Generations". As a new expectant father, I will likely be storing the 6B and the 1.7 away after they've been replaced far down the road with the newest that Bryston has to offer. The 6B and SP 1.7 will be a great starter system in 10 to 15 years for my child to learn the joys of music. There will be about 5 to 8 years left on the warranty!!! For most manufacturers, saying this about their equipment would be corny. But I truly believe that for Bryston, its reality.

KA
St. John's, NL

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