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In Reply to: need 5 channel amp recomendations posted by Eric J on February 15, 2000 at 21:52:04:
There are currently a lot of fantastic choices out there. I just read reviews on Rotel and B&K 5-ch amps that indicated that they were very good for the price. I went with a Bryston 9BST for several reasons. The 20 year warranty is wonderful, and the sound and power reserve is absolutely amazing. I have driven my system to ridiculous levels (not my usual listening style, but I wanted to see what this amp would do when pushed) without the amp even so much as batting an eyelash. Smooth sound top-to-bottom with no sense of treble grit or strain. Well rounded with superior imaging and soundstaging. The build quality is fantastic and I couldn't be happier with the sound. Strongly recommended that you do NOT make a purchase without first auditioning the 9BST.
Hope this helped!
How much would the Bryston cost me?
Hammer is right--about $3800 list, but you'd be a fool to pay that much. I got mine 10 months old from a guy in Canada for $2600! I'd check out Audiogon.com, Ebay, etc. to see if you can pick up a used one first (but don't hold your breath--these amps are incredible and I don't expect you'll find them too often on the used market). The transferrable warranty protects you 100%. Bryston does indeed stand behind their products 100%.
Each amp is thoroughly inspected and burned-in 300 hours before it ships. Each comes with a "birth sheet" which specifies specs as tested. Mine is approximately 155 watts/ch with around .003% THD+N. Mind you that those 155 watts are clean, clean, clean from 1-155. The amp acts like it has more like 250 or 300 watts IMO.
Definitely check it out and feel free to ask me more questions if you wish--I think that you'll be hard pressed to find a better amp in it's price class.
Power is a real big concern for me, my Platinum Ref 1's are very innefficient about 84db and they are 6 ohm nominal. With that said, you said your amp is rated at 155 per channel, is that from the birth sheet and what is the power at 6 ohms VS. 8 ohms? I have been using a B&K that is 135 x 5 and I can drive it to clipping with DD or DTS sources. I need enough power to prevent clipping over the long run. I'm sure the amp sounds great, never talked to anyone who did not love the Bryston amps. Thanks!
Eric, I'll have to crawl up in the attic and pull it out of the box, but the 155 is into 8 ohms, so you're going to get more into 6. How big is your listening room? Do you watch your movies at calibrated levels? With the power reserves that the 9BST has, you'd have to have a huge room and drive your system to insane levels to clip the amp. Let me know the size of your room and your volume preference and I'll pull the sheet for you in the meantime.
Room size is 24 x 19 with 9ft ceiling. I like it pretty loud on movie nights, the B&K I think is overated as far as sheer power goes, plus its THD is more like .1 at 135 in 8ohms. I think the Bryston might do it, Im gonna go give it a lsiten, I appreciate your help!
Eric,
I would have to agree with Gary's suggestion. The Bryston 9BST is an awesome amplifier. The list price is $3800 but you should be able to do better than that. The extra you'll end up spending will even out in the long run. Very few companies stand behind thier products like Bryston does.
Visit thier web site and get the 800 number and ask them some questions and you'll see what I mean. 20 year warranty with this quality is piece of mind. The warranty is transferable and helps maintain thier products value.
-Hammer
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