B&W805s/Dynaudio S1.4/ Wilson bensch Square 1

[dinyaar]

Hi all,
Indian ears i am not offended in the least!! We all have our opinions and its absolutely not a problem to hear what your friend feels about the Brystons. Maybe their Studio origin has something to do with this but now the ratio of studio VS home use is almost 30/70 with many more brystons being used in homes

Neo, today i prefer the B&W but maybe a decade ago i would have definately (and did) gone for the Dynaudio. In fact i tried the 1.4 before i bought the 805s but i guess my ears were so accustomed to the sound of the 804/704(old house/new apt) i felt i should stick to the B&W s. Frankly u wont go wrong with either. One to one and a half feet is Ok for these as they are heavily braced and not rear ported so your friend wont have a problem. Unless he craves for deep bass he should be satisfied.

I too dont like the Krell much. I liked the Primare integrated @ 1L as i thought it was a very musical amp.What u heard at Boomerang with the Morels was Gratin's personal pre/power combo and thats an overkill for any of the speakers we are talking about. (ML ref pre with a pair of 7BST)

Obviously i like the bryston sound(indian ears the house sound is not that dry/clinical as the NRB series anymore) but i would not recommend u opt for the 2 BSST + BP 6 combo( even that is 2.25L) but at least the 3BSST or best 4BSST but that doubles ur friends budget. I strongly suggest the Primare Pre 30/ A 30.2 (or its replacement) for about 1.75L. I preferred this to the older plinius integrated. Musical Fidelity A5 or 5.5 must be heard as many (esp in UK) feel this amp is a real cracker.
Regards

 

[odyssey]

Hi Neo
At that budget as Dinyaar said there are many choices - a few of mine -

1. Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2 - battery powered
2. Usher P307A + R 1.5 power combo
3. Odyssey Candela tube pre + Stratos extreme
4. Odyssey Candela tube pre + Odyssey Khartago monoblocks
..and many more

cheers

 

[unleash_me]

I strongly suggest the Primare Pre 30/ A 30.2 (or its replacement)...
Regards

Second that bro! My experience is with their Integrated though, with ProAc.

 

[arj]

For Whatever Its Worth, a knowledgeable audiophile friend describes Bryston as a "Public Address Amp dressed in a Tuxedo ! " ... Sorry Dinyaar..... NOT my intention to offend, but this may be a good opportunity to hear other brands.....

not exactly a fan of Bryston but this statement might be a bit too harsh..there are audiophiles who swear by brystons as well..the most famous being REG (??䝏乁??䥏) who is not your usual reviewer as he is one of th more renowned, scientific guys around !

Krell integerateds are not really in the same league as the krell amps..and the 400 is a step down IMHO from the 300i..and at 1.65lakhs might be a on the more expensive side.

 

[arj]

I liked the Primare integrated @ 1L as i thought it was a very musical amp.What u heard at Boomerang with the Morels was Gratin's personal pre/power combo and thats an overkill for any of the speakers we are talking about. (ML ref pre with a pair of 7BST)

nice amp..i really liked it although a couple of folks found it dry a and uninvolved..i found it musical and truthful to music !

 

[neo]

Hey! Dinyaar i've heard the MF at boomarang & did'nt fancy it at all but it could've been the morel's may i'll get a listen on some other spks, but they have none that i liked.

How much is the 3bsst & 4 bsst. I belive the bryston pre is on the higher side. How about if we take a primare pre & the bryston power how's that for a combo??

I'll def try the primare. does sound smith have a demo??
Thanks

 

[dinyaar]

Hey! Dinyaar i've heard the MF at boomarang & did'nt fancy it at all but it could've been the morel's may i'll get a listen on some other spks, but they have none that i liked.

How much is the 3bsst & 4 bsst. I belive the bryston pre is on the higher side. How about if we take a primare pre & the bryston power how's that for a combo??

I'll def try the primare. does sound smith have a demo??
Thanks

Ok so leave out the MF amps. I'll give u the new Mrp s of the Bryston which the Audio people had sent me. Up to u to get the best price.This is from memory as i have deleted the mail but should be accurate. 3BSST is 207000/-, 4BSST is 238000/-, BP6 is 127000/- BP 16 is 144000/- BP 26 is about 196000/-
Even if the mix n match of bryston/primare sounds good i prefer to go for either a full bryston or a full primare combo to get the perfect handshake. Too many factors to consider and also the ease to sell whenever the need arises.
The thing that tilted the scales for me( as i could live with both combos with my speakers) was the 20 year warranty on the bryston and the power reserves i was getting for a little more money.(I bought them at much lower rates as it was before the price increases). If opting for bryston go for the basic pre sans remote i.e BP 6 and the 3BSST which will be more than adequate for most speakers. If u dont mind the extra money then 4BSST is more than an amp u'll ever need.I had the BP 16 on demo and i preferred the cheaper BP 6 so saved myself some cash. Of course this is only if u like the Bryston sound. Only one thing i detest is the silly membrane power switch on all SST amps. I always prefer a simple conventional power switch.
Regards

 

[square_wave]

If you are loking at Brystons, have a listen to odyssey amps too. For me they sound better...
There are couple of people I know on audio circle who have replaced brystons with odyssey. One guy in bangalore also.
Sound is very personal, check if it floats your boat. You never know what you will like.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi Neo,
Spoke to Gratin today and he mentioned u had gone over and heard a few combos at Boomerang a while ago. The prices i mentioned of the Brystons were furthur hiked by about 10% in April 08. God now the mark up to the US Retail price is really silly. Maybe ur friend may not be willing to shell out that much for an amplifier.
Actually i would love to hear the odyssey amps and see what they are all about. Have read about them quite a bit but dont know anyone here in mumbai who has one and am sure there are no mumbai dealers for the same. Maybe u could consider them as i know they are reasonably priced, have a similar 20 yr warranty and seem to be built like tanks!
The Primare preamp is a gem and designed by a guy who they poached from Pass labs and i believe their new "super amp" is a real cracker.Its a 250 wpc, ultra high current power amp.
Met Mr. Marbin Colah today and he confirmed he would have the Entry level NAIM cdp and integrated amp for sale by Tuesday 15th July so u have one more amp to check out.
Regards

 

[prem]

The Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2 is a killer.

 

[reignofchaos]

Hi Neo,
Spoke to Gratin today and he mentioned u had gone over and heard a few combos at Boomerang a while ago. The prices i mentioned of the Brystons were furthur hiked by about 10% in April 08. God now the mark up to the US Retail price is really silly. Maybe ur friend may not be willing to shell out that much for an amplifier.
Actually i would love to hear the odyssey amps and see what they are all about. Have read about them quite a bit but dont know anyone here in mumbai who has one and am sure there are no mumbai dealers for the same. Maybe u could consider them as i know they are reasonably priced, have a similar 20 yr warranty and seem to be built like tanks!
The Primare preamp is a gem and designed by a guy who they poached from Pass labs and i believe their new "super amp" is a real cracker.Its a 250 wpc, ultra high current power amp.
Met Mr. Marbin Colah today and he confirmed he would have the Entry level NAIM cdp and integrated amp for sale by Tuesday 15th July so u have one more amp to check out.
Regards

Never heard he 250 watt amp but the P30/A30.2 thats there at every soundsmiths dealer sounds pretty ordinary to me. It is quite refined but has the typical "hifi" sound signature that seems great at the outset but makes the listener fatigued in no time. Not my cup of tea. Also a friend of mine has had severe trouble with a brand new i30 integrated and soundsmiths couldn't fix it for a long long time.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi,
Well ROC I had the Primare duo on home demo for an extended week end and i was pretty satisfied by the sound/build/feel of the components. Since i didnt buy them i cant really comment on the service back up from SS.
Regards

 

[reignofchaos]

Well everyone has different tastes I guess . But at that price point I'd take a McCormack or probably even the Odyssey Stratos Extreme/Candela which is amazing vfm. If I had a higher budget, I'd look into at a slightly higher price point is the Plinius SA102.

 

[arj]

whats the price of the candela ? does it have a remote option ?

 

[reignofchaos]

I think its around 80 grand but i'm not sure. Odyssey would be the right person to answer that. The demo piece at ARN does have a remote but it only controls volume.

 

[odyssey]

Hi Arj
The candela does indeed come with a remote option, but that would be additional and needs to be done at the time of order -

A brief - The candela is class A, single ended, zero neg feedback with 12AU7 tubes. It also has a host of very high quality parts.

Prices are
84K + VAT, add another 8K for remote option (standard DACT unit)

cheers
[email protected]

 

[dinyaar]

Ya ROC we all have different tastes .

Neo u have quite a few suggestions to check out for the Amp/speaker combo. Since someone mentioned a remote let me clarify the Bryston prices are without remote. They are to be ordered seperately and cost between 14 to 30K depending on the model. Thankfully i am not a remote person so i saved myself some cash!
Regards

 

[neo]

Man the Bryston prices are scary, so it's way out of contention.

So i guess for the amp's for contention will be the Krell which most people seem to hate & very few seem to have heard the 400xi, The primare which is liked by very few & last but not the least odyssey which is heard by even less people & sadly to get a listen to it in b;bay i'll have to consider a trip to new b'aby

Man the audio stuff is confusing & furstrating

 

[dinyaar]

Yes Neo the prices are about 30/35 % higher than Dec 07/Jan 08 (time i finalised the Brystons). Guess u can call Gratin @ 9820949395 and ask him the best prices he can offer though i doubt they have much to play with.
Actually a friend of mine was looking for a Rotel Pre/power and was quoted 1.25L!!!! This really makes me feel u dont get ur moneys worth when u are paying in INR as the price in USD is exactly half of that!!!!!!!!!!

 

[neo]

Well as we know rotel is distributed by AVI so less said the better.

But i feel that any odyssey will def be much better than the rotel stuff. But i guess he'll have to go for a diff pre as the odyssey pre is expensive. I'm sure sridahr will have a few recco's.
Cheers