Sim Audio's Moon line. I tamed my farely bright Legacy Focus with the Moon amp. Great match for these speakers. Bryston is know for a brighter top end! I tried the 7BST's in my system and found them too bright for the Focus. If your system is bright now I'd strongly suggest staying away from the bryston line. Not sure what your budget is but the Sim Audio W-3 can be had for around $1000-$1400 used. There's a Sim Audio W 4070 on ebay for sale @ $525 right now. Not familiar with the Celeste line of components but the review was good... if you go by reviews and not your own ears. If you have the ability to audition amps in your system before you buy I strongly suggest you go that route. Reason being is that your ears may perceive bright from one amp that another may find, the same amp, to be fine.
looking for a warm ss amp....
for my paradigm studio 40s. i hate a bright treblely sound! i currently use signal cables and a denon 3802 reciever. i have had many people tell me to go with bryston or anthem, but both have been out of my price range so far. which of these have a warmer sound? how would rotel or b&K amps sound with my speakers? they seem to cost much less. since i can only buy used, i really do not have the opportunity to audition the different amps. i will continue to use the denon as my pre-amp.
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Fishcall, despite what others say, I think you're on the right track. I don't know about your 3802, but in my 5800 the power amp is the bright-sounding part. The preamp and DAC are pretty neutral. By adding a warm sounding power amp to your preamp outs you may achieve exactly what you want. Try some Audience AU24 ICs to connect them. This IC is superbly neutral throughout the bass and mids and rolls of the treble a little. Cardas cables also work well in this situation. Whatever you do, don't buy Bryston. You'll be worse off than you are now. |
A lot of Bryston bashing here, so I'm coming to Bryston's defense. I don't think one can make a blanket statement that Bryston SST series amps are bright or harsh. Detailed and accurate, yes. I'm using a Bryston 14B SST (previously used a Bryston 4B SST), EMC 1-UP, First Sound Presence Deluxe II preamp, HT Truthlink, MAS Gray and MAS Black IC's. Detail without brightness is superb. I had been using a Bryston BP25 preamp and experienced some harshness at LOUD rock-concert volumes, but never at normal listening levels, and the addition of the First Sound has eliminated any harshness. Also, the use of either HT Truthlink or MAS Gray IC's tames some harshness even when using the BP25. If you want a warm, syrupy sound then a Bryston is not for you, but an SST series amp is a tremendous bang-for-the-buck on the used market, and you might find that experimenting with a 3B SST or 4B SST, and selling it later ends up costing you no more than shipping. You may actually keep it! |
I recommend strongly the Plinius 8200 (mkII, preferably). See: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?ramps&1041792473&read&3&4& |
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