No video switching. Unbelievable analog preamp.

First unit I received was DOA. I still don''t have what I ordered.

Awe inspiring sound. I''ll skip the superlatives and just say that the bypass outputs deliver every bit of what you would expect from the BP 25 preamp. The digitally decoded output is very nice indeed. As good or better than anything I have heard from any of the other units mentioned in this review. I hate to sidetrack here, but what the unit sounds like is less important than whether you CAN hear it or not. In December, as a Christmas present to each other, my wife and I ordered the unit from a local dealer along with a truckload of other equipment (Paradigm reference studio 40''s (x4), studio CC, servo 15, Bryston 9B THX) and very MUCH to my surprise, the SP1 was pretty well DOA. The bypass outputs worked, but the controls for digital processing were acting very strangely right out of the box. Within a few hours, and only a couple movies'' worth of use, the digitally decoded output was totally unresponsive. Now I had a $3800 door stop. Let me reiterate that this is not a mail order piece; it was ordered from a local authorized dealer. Bryston was very apologetic about the incident, as I expected they would be, but hardly sympathetic. Needless to say, that didn''t exactly remedy the damage that had been done to the sparkling Bryston image I carry so near and dear to my heart I''m upset enough that I''m rambling a bit here. Sorry. The unit was replaced with an SP-1 Pro loaner (I still have it). Reason being, there were no consumer units in stock at the moment and everyone from Bryston was at the CES show and couldn''t be bothered to throw one together for me! WHAT???? You take my money and then tell me you''ll get around to building me a preamp when you have some time? Holy God, what is going on here? This is just plain unacceptable when you consider the cost of this equipment. *sigh. Of course, I had no other choice but to wait. I was told it would be two weeks for them to build and ship one out to the dealer. That was a month ago. I don''t know what to tell you. Either I am the unluckiest man alive or another giant has fallen. I''m not even sure how to rate this product. I am crazy about the 9B THX and would give it 5 stars without reservation. The SP-1? I''d have to say 5 for sound quality, 0 for the poor service/DOA unit/SDF (severe disappointment factor). 2.5 stars overall

Similar Products Used:

Adcom 830, B&K Ref 30, Anthem AVM 20, Rotel RSP 985

2 channel audio, surround sound processing, build quality, user interface

No clear upgrade to 6.1, 7.1, 10.2 or whatever may be.

This is a phenominal product. The lack of video switching is a bonus because you do not pay for it. Considering that this is a product with a 20 year warranty, video switching would be silly because all video connection formats that are currently associated with video switching on processors will be obsolete in 5 years.

The two channel sound in bypass mode is outstanding and will hold up to the sound of any 2 channel preamp on the market. No, it's not as good as the best of 2 channel preamps, but the mere fact that it holds it's own, and does so in a $3,800 surround processor is remarkable.

The quality of surround sound processing is exceptional. It only lacks Dolby Pro Logic II, but that can be added with a firmware upgrade in the future.

This is a very easy product to use, and it is intuitive.

Strongly recomended.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 561, Meridian 568, Thule, McIntosh MX132, Adcom GTP-760, Krell HTS, Lexicon MC1

No compromise audiophile sound(analogue bypass)// incredibly detailed and spacious sounding dacs(digital)// modular design,futureproof// silver brushed aluminum faceplate version looks great (better then the black version, I,ve had both in my home a few days)// 20year!!! warranty backed by a company that has incredible customer satisfaction policies (anyone who has dealt with James Tanner knows what I'm talking about)// Not loaded with cheesy features and tone controls to screw up the sound but does have the important basics, ie. Re-eq,late night lisening modes etc.// No vidio switching,or on screen display to add RF noise to the sound (a true audiophile preamp/processor)//Cool looking remote machined from a solid block of aluminum//Stunningly tranparent,great soundstage

Runs very HOT!// Pathetically small lcd cant be seen from more then a few feet away.// Cant control some important features from remote (bryston wiil be addressing this when they release their newer remote which has more buttons)// Remote not universal/progamable// Some software glitches ( I have a pre production model and most of these glitches have already been worked out by the company// Not Dolby-EX or 7.1 channel right now (but Bryston can refit the machine to do these formats IF they take hold in the future)// Internal crossover is of high quality, but to reduce signal path, there is only one crossover setting (THX 80hertz both ways)to select, but is that really a weakness?

Cool, I get to be the very first reviewer.(there are only 8 test Sp-1's out there yet)
I've had this product for almost 2 weeks. I made my downpayment about 5 months ago and have been patiently waiting for the Bryston to release the Sp-1. I know, how could I shell out $5800Can without hearing the product first? First I had great faith in the company's technical abilities and customer satisfaction policies and second it was one of few preamps that had to meet some very important parameters including:balanced outputs/ analogue bypass/ and was virtually futureproof-Modular design, and the back panel can be redesigned to accomodate what new inputs the future might bring. So I picked the thing up Friday, hooked it up and settled down for the weekened to break it in.

First let me tell you that in either digital or analogue bypass,this thing has a dead quiet background, no noise at all. The amount of detail I'm hearing in the recordings is stunning,things I've never heard before type of situation. I compared the Sp-1's Crystal dacs (5330's)to the Burr Brown 1702p in my Anthem Cd-1 and found the Crystals to have more detail and extension as I expected, What surprised me is that the Bryston had as much (maybe more) spaciousness (soundstaging depth and width) as the Anthem Cd-1 which uses a TUBE in the analogue output stage. I'm still going to use the Anthem as a processer though because that tube really helps to tame harsh or bright sounding CDs (and I have alot of older CDs). I use the Bryston dacs on my DVD though and another thing that suprises me is the now seemless panning from my surrounds to my mains and visa versa. When DVD-audio and SACD sort things out I plan to use the Bryston as a processor and get (if possible a 5channel DVD-a/SACD hybrid transport). Unfortunatly a couple software glithes started popping up. The unit would on occasion freeze up and would have to be restarted to regain control. So on Monday I call Bryston up and James sends a truck to my door (within 3 hours) to pick it up and says I'll have it fixed andback friday. I also give the driver my 9B-st amplifier so I can pay to have Bryston upgrade the back panel to the THX version and to have the black faceplate upgraded to the silver. As promised everything comes back Friday but lo and behold my black Sp-1 now has an aluminum machined brushed silver faceplate put on it and even more spectacular is that the remote is a matching machine brushed silver block of aluminum.......very nice, much better then the black. Then James calls up to see how things are going and tells me not to worry about the upgrade costs (about $350Can)because of the glithes I've had.... What a company! So on with the testing. Another thing I like is that the Sp-1 doesnt have any tone controls to add elements to the sound. If the original recording is bad though, your deinatly going to hear the bad, no ability to run and hide. But the Sp-1 does have the much needed THX re-eq, speaker timbre matching,quiet late night viewing and a host of other features including four DSP music surround modes. I usually find DSP modes cheesy sounding but I enjoy the 'natural' mode. Unfortunatly another software glitch has popped up. My 12 volt trigger isn't functioning properly. I talk to their technician Chris who finds that its a problem inherent in all 8 Sp-1's made so far. 5 hrs later he calls me back and tells me the new software is done and in another week they'll send the truck back out to pick it up again for repairs. (I wanted to hold on to it another week to make sure everything else was fine). The only real dissapointment I had was when I found that in analogue bypass, a full range signal is sent to your mains, but no signal is sent to the subwoofer. This pissed me off because I use moniters as my mains and they start rolling off around 80htz. so I use my sub to do the rest. When I complained about this to James that the idea of having to use an external SPEAKER level crossover appalled my sense of sonic integrety he said he would see what he could do. The next day Chris calls back and says he's worked out a way to send an analogue signal to the mains, rolled off using the Sp-1's internal THX crossover(both ways at 80hertz with 12db roll off) with a digital signal going to the sub. Better option then the other I figure. A day after that Chris calls back and has now worked out a way to send a seperate analogue signal to both the sub and the mains, using the subs crossover to integrate into the mains. Perfect! Now both you floorstanding freaks and us minimoniter/subwoofer nuts can have it the way we want it with a simple software download. To finish things off I'd like to say this is an amazingly transparent crystal clear machine. I havn't heard anything that sound as good. (The EAD and Classe come close, but my sense is (and I havn't done a direct comparison) that the Bryston sounds cleaner with a shade more detail(the Crystal 5330 A/D D/A, and the 3310 for analogue volume control are world class dacs)When I researched the Aragon Soundstage I found that it uses Crystal 4390's for its A/D D/A conversions. (Not bad Dacs by any stretch but clearly not in the Brystons class) I dont know what Classe uses but I'm pretty sure the EAD Encore and Ovation uses Crystal Dacs that are lower down the Crystal totem poll. Its upgradable, and backed by a 20 year full warranty and a co. that will be around longer then me, heck the warranty will outlast me. For those of you who are audio purists who wants a way into home theater with a no compromise sounding prepro,this is your machine. If you want more bells and whistles, tone controls,multiple crossover selection,and perhaps some video switching then maybe the Soundstage or Anthem's new machine (which I'd like to hear) is your better bet.

For Value a 4 (becase my budget for a prepro and video switching was $6000Can and I'm already there, that and I'm cheap) and Over All rating a 5/5. If this were a production model then only 3/5, cause the software glitches at this price point would be inexcusable. But considering this is a test run and I have model #000007 (Bond, thats James Bond) of a test machine, the sound is just awesome and pure. (I have been impressed with Brystons ability to quickly identify and then fix the software glitches I've thrown at them so far. Customer support is the best I've ever experienced from a company, and Bryston has been eagerly receptive to some suggestions I've made,(another sign of a smart, competative company)
My equipment is:

-Bryston Sp-1 Prepro
-Bryston 9b-ST THX reciever(eventually I'm going to add Bryston Powerpack-120's to the rear and biamp the mains using the 9B-ST
-Anthem CD-1 CD player
-KEF RDM-2 mains, KEF RDM-1 surrounds, KEF 100c center channel
-POLK PSW-150 subwoofer(upgading to either Paradigm Servo-15 or M&K mx200 or mx350
-Silver Audio Silverbullets-4 unbalanced inerconnects between CD,prepro, and amp. (Another great company. Max is as honest as he is a wealth of info) I'm waiting for my replacement balanced Hyacinths to arrive.
-Ultalink video cables between TV and VCR and their best digital cable between DVD and TV
-Monster subwoofer cable
-Kimber 4TC all around and biwired to the mains (eventually an upgrade will be in order)
-Lovan soverign rack and speaker stands
-Yamaha KX-390 Tape deck
-Toshiba SD-3109 DVD player
Hitachi 32 inch TV (forget model #, about 2yrs. old)
-I'm waiting for a PSaudio-300 surge protecter/conditioner and a host of Silver Audio power cords to arrive
-Vibrapods between speakers and stands, subwoofer and floor, and used under CD player,prepro and amp.

Similar Products Used:

Have heard Classe ssp.25, Theta Casinova, EAD (the middle of the line one), ADA (the $6000Can one),Aragon Soundstage

Detailed sound,soundstaging,futureproof upgradeability,customer support, did I say detailed sound?

Nice looking remote doesn't control some key functions(have to get up off the couch and actually do it myself). There is a bit of 'bleeding' between imputs,(ie, if I have a DVD playing into DVD imput I can slightly hear it through my CD imput). Wish it had a headphone output.

I thoght I would wait awhile and then give this product another review. Since my last review my SP-1 has been back to Bryston for some software upgrades and to change the seperate analogue and digital power supply(unit no longer runs hot). The SP-1 comes with a better base mangement system.(You can now choose between 40 60 80 100 hrtz for the crossover, my small gripe with this is that the crossover selected is universal to all speakers, but apparently there is a software upgrade in the works that will allow you to choose different crossovers for different speakers.)Bryston also now has a memory upgrade so that if you have different settings for T.V. watching vs. DVD watching or CD music playback for example, the SP-1 will remember all the pre programmed settings for your inputs including volume,speakers size,crossover settings, subwoofer settings ect. One of my big concerns is the new DD 7.1 formats and EX formats are starting to become a reality.(the SP-1 is DD 5.1 only right now), but I have been assured that if these formats do take hold and become common, then it would be easy to redesign the back panel to include 6 analogue imputs or a digital imput for DVD audio (even though there is no agreed upon digital standard right now). Internally the SP-1 is modular so it would be a simple process of swapping the dacs and downloading the new software upgrades.
The software glitches I mentioned in my first review have been fixed, and in the last 6 months I have encountered no problems. The reviewer below who encountered 'lock on' problems for a digital signal was wrong, the SP-1 samples the digital signal 25 times a second!
In terms of sound quality this preamp processor has no peer. It competes with (and often beats) more expensive 2 channel stereo preamps and so far has blown away any other surround sound processor I have tried(read my first review below). Detail, imaging, soundstaging is about as good as it gets in digital and its analogue bypass mode is as transparent as the wind.
When I buy a high ticket item it usually takes me a few months to be honest with myself on whether I regret my purchase or not. I have absolutly no regrets about the center piece of my home theater system, I'll be swapping TV's and speakers long before I swap the SP-1 out.

Well done Bryston, you have gained yet another satisfied
customer and you continue to show the industry how 'things should be done'(whether it be on a technical level or just the basics of customer support)
My system is the same as what I had in my first review except:
All my speaker cable is now XLO Ultra
I have a Taddeo Digital Antidote II between my CD player and the SP-1
Sometimes I swap my Acoustic Energy AE1signatures for my Kef RDM-2 mains for ultra critical 2 channel listening

5 for overall rating and 4 still for value(I really would have liked to have seen a headphone output) that and I'm still cheap. Although in comparrison to the highend preamp processors from the likes of Classe, Theta, Krell, ($11000-$25000) then I would have to say 10 for value.(Espesially since the Bryston edges out the Classe SSp-75 sonically,and blows away the Theta Cassablanca, at least in my opinion.)(I havn't heard the big Krell)
P.S. I really enjoy our quarterly conversations James whether its about Bryston, the industry, government, taxes,Pamela Anderson,or whatever.

Similar Products Used:

Lots, See my first review below

Audio only surround processor. Minimalist approach
with few frills on processing surround sound.
Upgradable as new surround processing format gets
to market although I can't see how it can be physically upgradable to discrete 8.2 or 10.4 formats without at least somekind of a breakout box.

Don't know. I hope their bass management is sufficently
flexible.

Interesting comments from the last review by Shannon.
I wonder how it compares with the other no frills
surround processor, particularly the new CAL product
that was highly regarded by the Widescreenreview magazine
reviewer.
It seems that Shannon is one of the few "beta-test" users
of the SP1 and I wonder if Bryston frowns on the comments
made in this public forum on a beta product that appears
to still have some "bugs" to fix.
Perhaps someone else can shed some light to comparing
only audio surround processor equipment.

Similar Products Used:

McIntosh MSD4, CAL 2500, Meridian.
Upcoming Mark Levinson processor.

2 channel preamp. Bass management supports a sub in bypass mode. Build quality 20 year warranty. Awesome Bryston customer service

none

I thought I’d check to see how this processor was doing since at the time of purchasing there were only two reviews. The one star rating by a previous reviewer doesn’t deserve a response but it evoked a review.
The Bryson SP-1 to me has it all. As a preamp it sounds awesome. I listen to alot of 2 channel and needed a preamp to deliver bass management as well. I can listen to my front left and right monitors and dial in my sub listening to my SACD player. Its modular design makes it upgradeable, which I’ll do when the 7.1 upgrade becomes available. DD and DTS sound awesome as well. I've never been much for the technical side the bottom line for me is how does it sound and to me it's a winner.
If you’re looking an excellent quality preamp/processor with the warranty to back it up,20 years! Future upgrades from an intelligent company with great customer service take a look at this processor.

Similar Products Used:

Lexicon,Proceed,Anthem

Simplicity, ease of use, SOUND QUALITY, setup flexibility, great warranty from a great customer service oriented company

None really. I can understand those that may want video switching but most interested in this piece understand and appreciate why it isn't included

Simply put this is an amazing product. Having been a Bryston customer for over 20 years, I was excited to learn several years ago that they were developing this product. I have, like many others, wanted something that would allow me to combine both my home theater and dedicated music system into one easy to use system without giving up any sound quality. I have owned just about all the major contenders out there and while many are very nice, this is clearly an audible improvement in my system.

The most impressive fact is that my wife, a seriously non audiophile type, gets it with this unit. Over and over she has remarked at how "real" and "lifelike" things sound.

I really enjoyed the Theta unit having owned a Miles CD player for a number of years. It was my second choice and in fact I purchased the Casa Nova while I waited for a SP-1 to become available. Even with my ability to buy Theta at dealers cost, the Bryston is worth it at full price.

Time doesn't allow for a complete run down on this product but here is the rest of my system.

Bryston SP-1 (using balanced outs)
5 Bryston 2B-ST Pro's
M&K S1C's for Left Center and Right
M&K SS500 Surrounds
M&K MX5000 Sub
Homegrown Silver II's balanced interconnects
Kimber Cable 4TC Speaker cable
Zenith Pro 900 Projector
Draper AT1200 accoustically transparent screen (84" 16:9)
Pioneer DV-37 DVD Player
Theta Miles CD Player

Sorry about any misspelled words...I am typing with my 3 month old daughter squirming around in my arms. Giving my wife a break REALLY helps when she sees the savings withdrawels that feed my A/V habit!

Similar Products Used:

Theta Casa Nova, B&K 4090, B&K Ref 30, EAD, Krell

Power to spare. Great looks. Unbeatable warranty. Clean, natural sound.

Not known at this time.

What a pathetic review by Scott! If you are going to down a component, explain why. Were you using it to power a Radio Shack surround system?? Looser! I needed to balance out his lousy review with a good one, sorry. This is one hell of an amp. Go audition one!

Similar Products Used:

Have auditioned B&K, Anthem, Sunfire, and Proceed.

All that count

Lack of video switching (if that matters to you) Display could be a tad larger (Minor criticisms)

I too read Scott's diatribe and fought down the impulse to reply. Can't fight it anymore, so I'll just say he's either deluded, deaf, or simply being a provocateur. The SP1 is superb. Flat out. I would put it against anything on the market regardless of cost. It excels in stereo, something even most expensive pre/pros do not! Movies on my system are constantly engendering the highest unsolicited praise from guests: first commenting on the amazing sound (all Bryston electronics, ML speakers; then on the superb picture {Pioneer 510 Elite}). I didn't need or want video switching.

It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but if you're like me and have been in this game a while, you eventually come to understand that bells and whistles quickly lose their novelty/appeal and thereafter go largely unused.

Scott, do your parents know you're online?

Excellent sound. Previous reviewers are not exaggerating when they say they're hearing parts of the recording they didn't even know existed before.

Excellent surround processing as well.

When used with the recommended Extron video unit and RS-232 control, automatically switches the video input when you select audio input (the SP-1 is *audio only*).

Front panel switch to select amount of Dolby de-compression done depending on listening situation (late night, full theatrical, or standard home theater).

Unit determines DVD audio stream format by sampling the stream (very nice!), but once locked on does not *appear* to re-sample. I've discovered that the audio on the DVD intro to many DTS disks is not DTS, so you have to press the Digital button on the remote to re-sample the audio mode in such cases.

CD digital input takes analog (for external DACs), coax, and 2 Toslink. "Pro" model is planned to have balanced inputs which would be nice for use with my California Audio Labs transport, but Pro model isn't available yet.

The SP-1 is excellent. Sound is fantastic, features are very good, customer support is excellent. It does run hot, but given the 20 year warranty this doesn't concern me. The switch to enable late night listening by using less decompression on the Dolby encoding is very welcome. The A/B comparison between this and the Fosgate unit it's replacing is amazing. This coupled with the Bryston ST amp I already had gives me a system I'd stack up against other systems at triple the price.

Similar Products Used:

Acurus unit (several years ago; it was garbage)
Fosgate Model 4 (video section burnt out twice, universal remote has to be rebooted using diagnostic instrs from Fosgate repair facility)

CDs through the SP-1 sound better than my external Cobalt DAC.