Bryston 7B Vs. Krell KAV250a

Foreverhifi, I usually agree with most of you comments and opinions but I strongly disagree here. I recently purchased a new Bryston 14BSST. I searched extensively and looked at many amps available under $10,000. I did not want to go that high but figured if I am willing to spend $5,000 I need to consider $8,000. I did not find the Krell units to be any better sounding than the Bryston at all. As a matter of fact I dismissed the possibility of buying a Krell in my price range almost imediately. I found the Bryston to be a more pleasing sound and had a deeper and more balance soundstage a lower listening levels in my system. Of course our ears are all different and this is only my opinion. However, your comment about people thinking Bryston is better than they are is a subjective opinion on your part and does not fairly represent those of us that decide the Bryston units sound better to us or in our system. I, however, have friends with Krell amps and they have decided they sound better in their system and are happy with that decision.

Further, ratings and reviews in magazines are baseline opinions at best. Having been involved with the publishing industry for years I can say with authority that EDITORIAL is almost always ADVERTISING driven. I am sure we have all read a rave review about a piece of equipment and once we hear it ourseves, scratch our head and wonder what the writer was thinking. A friend in Editorial review of Heavy duty trucks once told me, when you read a review, read between the lines and take any minor critisism offered and maginify it. This is true with all reviews in every publication. Consider this, one bad or even accurate negative review could cost a magazine many thousands if not millions of dollars in ad, trade show and banner advertising revenue. Your comment that
"someone got paid there" is speculative and posibly slanderous.

In any case, as I started out saying you are usually right on track and I look forward to your next opinion.

htong, as for your original question, I happen to love the Bryston 14 BSST which as been compared to the 7 BSST line in reviews. I am in the process of marrying it up with a tube preamp and have been very satisfied with the results I have found while going through the demo process. If you can get both units in your home to demo them in your own system, that would be the best way to decide. Both companies represent state of the art equipment offering their own sonic signature to music.

Happy listening.

Foreverhifi2000 yahoo, I would suggest that your insinuations should be taken back. You are free to like whatever brand you want, but a line should be drawn at accusing a well respected company of wrongdoing without any evidence at all. Your sideswipe of Bryston does not increase your credibility, in my eyes at least. I am very satisfied with my 7B STs and would recommend them to anyone who wants great sounding amps with bullet-proof construction and a company willing to stand behind their products for the long haul. My comments should not be interpreted as being negative toward Krell. Take all you read, especially by well meaning but often ill-informed but no less opinionated audiophiles, with a large grain of salt. Let your ears decide by using the amp in your system and room, listening to music you enjoy. All the rest is secondary.

Brystons and Krells have the same level of performance but Brystons are much cheaper and to me make more sence. I admit that Brystons can't be rated "Class A", but Krells despite being always rated "Class A" in Stereophile wouldn't go into that category as well even close... None is perfect on that issue.

This is very interesting. I too have been tempted to pick up a Bryston as a way of trying out BIG power at a low price. If the criticisms are warranted, it would call into question the judgement of the reviewers who use Bryston amps as their reference (REG in TAS, for one). Guess I'll have to find out for myself, but that's always the case, isn't it?

Interesting, indeed!
Somehow I stopped to pay attention to the power ratings above 100W/ch at all, seing signal of music so variable that even mega-powered amps tend to clip on unexpected freequencies under a bunch of different reasons.

Brystons in its whole line is the clear example. They don't clip painful or distructive, but sometimes you realy need to realize these second-octave piano notes that sound realy distructed especially on uncompressed recordings. I know that Brystons have to be matched carefully to the speakers. Vandys despite their lack of efficiency might be probably the best match to Brystons.

Seing rating of 500W/ch in Bryston 7B-st, I believe that less than third in terms of performance will be valuable.
I can say about Krells absolutely the same or maybe better designed, but still they sound too far from reality.

There are plenty of good "drivers" other than Bryston and Krell that can drive with the same output: Plinius, Pass, GamuT.