Power

Not as musical as the Krell muti-channel amp.

This is a pretty good amp if you have power hungry speakers. Its music qualities are questionable in my opinion, but the home theater sound is as good as any quality multi-channel amp. It can not, however, touch the Krell KAV-500 on music quality as another gentleman noted below. I think its best to have quality efficient speakers like the Infinity Composition Preludes and the Krell rather than this powerful, non-musical multi-channel amp.

Similar Products Used:

Krell KAV-500; Proceed Amp 5

dynamics and transparency

if it could be a complaint, more power???

I've had the amp for a week. After demoing a number of amps, this one was the model I alway's referred back too.
The amp's presentation is layered and even sounding.
Everything sounds like it should, drums, guitars, voices.
It is not a surprise that many feel this is the benchmark amplifier for home theater.

Similar Products Used:

sunfire cinema grand, b&k, proceed amp 5, adcom

great value, great warranty, awesome bass

two versions. There is a THX and a ST. It should just be one.

I am upgrading my pre, to a Proceed AVP. I have an opportunity to trade the 9BST for an AMP 5. I have heard mixed reveiws of the AMP 5.

There is not a way for me to compare them against each other. I have really put the dealer through the demo rings before.

Can anyone out there tell if they tried them both, and what they thought?

Thanks

Similar Products Used:

Rotel, AMP3 & AMP 2....AMP 5?

Tight bass, clear midrange and highs. Does not color the music

The 12 volt trigger input is for bare wire, a connector would have been more convenient

I had a pair of Energy Varitas 2.2 book shelf speakers and I was driving them with a Denon 1801 receiver. Ignorance was my bliss. I drop in an Audio store where they had a pair of Varitas towers playing. I told the salesman I had the 2.2s driven by the Denon 1801 and he told me the Denon would not drive those speakers. He showed me to a listening room with my 2.2s driven with a 200 watt Parasound amp. I said they sound great and by the way which sobwoofer is running. He laughted and told me no subwoofer was being used. To make a long story a little shorter, I got a B&K reference 30 pre/pro and a Rotel 993 (about $2000) 5 channel 200 watt amp. It sounded pretty good, but there was a buzz. I took back to the store, which sent it out to be fixed and they loaned me an Adcom 5 channel 100 watt (about $1000) amp. I was shocked to find the Adcom sounded totally different than the Rotel. It had more bass, but it sounded loose. I thought that all good amplifiers would sound the same. Was I wrong? I went back to the store and told them I was getting second thoughts about the Rotel and would like to try something even higher end. They sent me home with Bryston 9B ST (about $3600) amp. Just after I turned it on, my son came home and said "Dad that sounds great, what did you do?" You can figure out for yourselves which amp I bought.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 1801, Adcom 5 channel 100 Watt amp, Rotel 993(?) 5 channel 200 watt amp

Well I have this unit for two weeks now and let me tell you that I have no regret, very good power, excellent control over the bass, clean midrange, sharp details. This unit is well built, and for connectors you have a choice of three different types (unbalance, 1/4 inch and XLR). What about the service, I ordered my unit at my local store, after two week they call me to say that they receive my unit, when I was home I unpact my unit and the power button was stuck always on, I've decide to send an e-mail to Bryston (James Tanner vice-president) and it was friday night. I've receive an e-mail saturday afternoon saying that they gonna send me a new unit monday morning and asking me to return my unit to the store. Tuesday morning I've receive a phone call from the service at the store and they told me that my new unit was there. Well that is what I call excellent customer service. Think about it 20 years guarranty, even mark levinson don't give that kind of guarranty and it's how much more...It's a five star for me...

Clean (low distortion), Accurate sound reproduction

none

When I go to audio shops to listen to amps I usally compain about how bad their speakers sound. How do they expect to sell an amp with crummy speakers hooked to it. I compared this amp to the B&K 7250. There is no way anyone would buy the B&K after listening to the Bryston (A/B). The Bryston is a major step up from the B&K even with 50% less power. I was concidering a Proceed but the sound is different, altered to sound sweet or warm (sort of like my Perreaux). When listening to the Bryston it sounds like its off in between tracks. When watching a movie, it sounds like a good movie theater. I bought the Lexicon 512 which is the Bryston 9BST with Lexicons name on it. List price for the Lexicon is slightly higher ($4K). Must have good speakers (you can't find them at Circuit City).

Similar Products Used:

Perreaux, Adcom, B&K, Lexicon, Proceed

Vice-Like control of loudspeakers, extremely neutral, very low noise floor, effortless

None

The Bryston 9B ST THX is a stunningly clean amplifier which maintains a vice like grip on the loudspeakers (Mirage OM-10's) Music springs forth from a dead silent background, clean and musical. All the standard audiophile adjectives apply (and are more than deserved). This is simply a breathtaking amplifier for the money. The Bryston is an incredibly neutral power amp, it simply gets out of the way and allows the music to flow. Many amplifers are described as having a certain sound.. this is not true of the Bryston. Being so neutral it will reveal the sonic signature of any component placed in the sound chain. Dont use this amp if the rest of your electronics are not up to the task. Music is effortless, clean, detailed and incredibly life like. Highly reccomended.

Similar Products Used:

Proceed, Krell, Levinson, Classe

very neutral, excellent warranty

I am very pleased with this amp and intend on keeping it a very long time. While I liked the B&K amps, I found the 9B to be much more neutral sounding. I've had the volume turned up pretty high and the status LEDs haver never indicated that the amp was clipping.

The speakers I'm using are the M&K S150 THX system. I was reasured of my decision to go with Bryston whe I was told by M&K that they use Bryston in-house.

As others have mentioned, this amp is also sold under the Lexicon label. I found this to be reasuring also as I am using a Lexicon MC-1 as the processor. The problem with the Lexicon version is that the warranty is not nearly as good (3 years vs. 20 years) and the Lexicon's slightly lower price isn't enough to make up the difference in warranty.

There is a pro version of the 9B that people are selling at places like the Yahoo store. Other than the large painted letters on the front of the amp and potentiometer in the input circuit, they're identical. The audiophile argument against the pro version is that you don't really need the pot and it's just somehting extra in the signal path.If you search around, you can get the same or better price. Don't waste your time with the pro version (and make sure to ask what you're getting if the price seems a little to good).

What many people don't know is that this amp can be ordered as a two channel and perhaps three & four channel which can be upgraded later by adding more amp modules. My intent is to purchase a 2 channel 9B then to move one of the mudules from the 5 channel to the new 2 channel, ballancing the amp load per power cord and spreading out the status LEDs. There is no sonic benefit to this so I guess it's just a geeky thing to do but if you've plunked down $3K on amp like this, you're an A/V geek anyway. :)

Similar Products Used:

Evaluated B&K 2220 & 3220.

After reading several reviews, I finally bought this amp yesterday. I have a home theater system which includes Martin Logan Aerius i's for front & rear channels, Cinema for center, and Lexicon DC-1 Preamp/processor. As soon as I turned this baby on and started listening to stereo music, I was blown away by the sounds that were coming out from my speakers! Very detailed, natural mid-range with clean treble sound was instantly noticed. Bass was also tight, not muddy. 20 years warrenty is also very impressive. This one is a definite keeper!

I bought the 9BST early January and now have had a chance to listen to it over several months. Two words describe its performance well: clean and powerful. I have a Proceed AVP for processor, and Toshiba 3107 for DVD.