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Bryston 14B-SST2 Power Amplifier
"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess"
- Oscar Wilde
Bryston gear: Made in Canada. Sold in China (and everywhere else!)
^ 14B-SST2: An iron fist inside a cashmere glove.
My 14B2 is nicknamed, "Thor".
A beautiful black unit, the last 14B2 from the factory.
20-yr warranty (not kidding).
Thanks, Robert and Simon. Got full trade-in value for my 4B2 amp.
Manual:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/642628/Bryston-14bsst.html
For my unit:
Intermodulation Distortion SMPTE was 0.00153% (Left), 0.00182% (Right)
Noise (20 Hz-20 KHz; dB below rated output): Balanced: -119 dB; Unbalanced: -114 dB
My opinion: An iron fist inside a cashmere glove. 14B2 is a Class AB amp that makes music playback sound effortless. Speakers seem to have disappeared. Gobs of reserve power. Soundstage is deep, with width beyond the edges of my speakers. Mahler's 3rd symphony (Bernstein/NY Philharmonic) is the ultimate test of a power amp's smoothness of dynamics and control of drivers. 14B2 passed with flying colors -- I heard every detail clearly and coherently, with the throttle wide open. Bass is accurate and tactile, treble much more tolerable at louder volumes. Music is timbrally rich. Supreme driver control: Startlingly quick, smooth transitions between fortissimos and pianissimos. And the dynamic range is astounding. The softest sounds at low volumes are conveyed with spatial precision, tonal accuracy and sumptuous texture. This amp's for life. I believe that Bryston mastered the Art of Amplification with their squared-series of power amps. I had 4B2 for a few years before 14B2 came along. Both times, I was astounded at the performances of these gems. To anyone who doubts the importance of a power amplifier in a 2-channel system -- don't hesitate. Next to speakers, it's a centrepiece of a high-performance system.
Reviews of 14B2:
http://stereo.net.au/reviews/review-bryston-14bsst-power-amplifier
Bryston (bryston.com) first opened for business in 1962 as a manufacturer of medical equipment. The company was purchased in 1968 by John W. Russell, an ex-NASA engineer. Together with sons Chris, Brian and John D., they first started exploring the field of accurate, reliable audio amplification in the early 1970s. Since that time Bryston has become legendary for their hand-built quality, superb performance and dependability under load in the home, professional and commercial markets. Bryston applies precision manufacturing techniques and materials in the assembly of their electronic equipment that are more typically utilized by the military and aerospace industries. Bryston is based in Peterborough, Ontario Canada, northeast of Toronto, and is sold through over 150 dealers in North America and 60 countries worldwide.
Bryston's amps - they LAST. 20-yr warranties + no decrement of performance:
http://hometheaterhifi.com/editorial/blogs/bryston-bp-25-stereo-preamplifier/
From Bryston's website:
"The Bryston 14B-SST² dual channel (stereo) amplifier is basically two 7B2 monoblocks which have been combined in a dual mono modular design and has the power to drive, with breathtaking ease and clarity, speakers which have been considered "impossible" loads".
Power Output: 600W per channel into 8 ohms; 900Wpc into 4 ohms
Input Impedance: 50 Kohms Single ended; 20 Kohms balanced
Distortion (IM or THD + noise): <0.005% 20Hz to 20kHz at 600 watts into 8 Ohms; <0.007% 20 Hz to 20 kHz at 900 watts into 4 Ohms
Noise: Measured with input shortened 20 Hz to 20 kHz: >110 dB below rated output 29 dB gain (-75 dBu); >113 dB below rated output 23 dB gain (-78 dBu)
Slew Rate: >60 volts per microsecond
Power Bandwidth: <1 Hz to over 100 kHz
Damping Factor: Over 300 at 20 Hz, ref. 8 ohms
Dimensions: 48.3 cm wide, 17.8 high, 48.3 deep
Weight: 41 kg
The 14B-squared amp's rear panel. 900W into 4-ohms.
From the Bryston forum on AudioCircle:
"A few years ago, we had a review in a Swedish magazine that pronounced the 14B to be 'perfect'. That was not based on 'he liked it'; it had nothing to do with auditory preference, it had to do with transparency. The reviewer had and still has a setup where he can literally 'bypass' an amplifier to drop it out of the signal path, (dummy speaker load, gain-reduction L-pad, leading to a second amplifier to the speakers). The 14B turned out to be impossible to detect in the signal path, on any signal they tried, from simple guitar music to full orchestra ffff, to an electronic metronome with instant rise time and no overshoot. And it was the first audio device in his history to do so. That does not mean the amplifier is actually 'perfect', of course. It just means that it is not contributing, (or subtracting), anything the ear can detect, to or from the signal path in an otherwise exemplary system. From that result and many others of our own, we concluded that static distortion measurements do not tell the whole story. It would seem that if static THD and IMD are low enough, 0.001% or -100dB, they cease to be relevant factors in the transparency of the device. More important are time smear, deviations in frequency-response, dynamic distortions, noise within the device or from RF interference, etc. "
Read the full review here:
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