Bryston vs. PS Audio


I'm looking to upgrade my amp/preamp, currently a vintage Luxman R117 receiver. Two candidates within my price range would be the new PS Audio GCC 250 integrated and used Bryston separates BP 25 pre and 4BST amp. I am interested in your opinions on which might work better with my modest system:

Soliloquy 6.3's
Anthem CD-1 (modded)
Discovery IC's
Synergystic Research (Sig. #1)cables

Of course, I would appreciate any other recommendations you might have in the under $3k category, especially ideas on mating a tubed pre with a solid state amp. I listen to all kinds of music but more rock and folk than jazz and classical. Thanks for your help!

Steve
shoff

Showing 1 response by chazzbo

With Bryston of course you are getting famous warranty If buying try toi get as much left as you can).Know that they changed transformerin early models of ST so again new is better.Very coservative so you'd probably bench closer to 300 wats (my freinds went 290/280 a side on bench).I like cleannliness of sound that is good choice for revealing speakers like yours.Phase button while some folks don't think is important can make difference on some recordings and fortunately both have it.I was thionking BAT,vintage Sonic Frontiers,some old Krell to etc to get Phase control.Had it once for a few eeks while wroking for dealer that had it on Adcom CD player where with meter knew eveything was inphase so on certain CD's it made difference.
Am poersonally oall over board with what I have had (CJ,Krell,Mac,Mesa baronm-I iss that amp boy) and have wanted to tryeverything I haven't had like good class A Threshold or hybrid Copunterpoint.But reading new reviews of the PS gear I think this may be wave of fiutre.They aloong with Bel canto have made Class D that does not sound like garbage.Think the flexiblity of the integrateds being able to defeat power or line section when the bug hits (unlike other integrateds where you have to throw baby out with bath water).Got great write/follow ups in Sterophile where rviewer said it sounded even beter than Class A HCA series they first had.Plus you have other products like power supply,outlets,etcand of course active line coditoners.Not that that should make a big difgference but a lot of Naim,LinnRega etc owners feel that you get products thsat are voiced together in design you'll have "synergy".Am maybe most impressed with the phono stage if you ad it.Esy to adjust with gain,mono,and pahse on front panel for $1K.Just got a buddy a Brystoin det up for his Maggie 3.6's because I know it's a great match.But I own an EAR 40 watt tube amp and am going to try to gear PS gear myself.If you read anythiung about the NHT trio system that made such a buzz at shows (winning best of atr many a year ago) they had a digital amp and DEQX processing. freind bought $3,600 pre/pro and got and old pair of Dahlquist speakers to sound damm close to the $10K Infinity Preludes he had hanging around.Point is I am tube guy or lean that way but think we are in era where enginers are starting to make digital pay off (not only less heat/better effciency but good sound which wasn't the case with first Class D products.In fact PS does not even use the trm because oif the bad press).You won't be unhappy given your gear with the Bryston but find a PS dealer an compare it to more traditional amps on hand and see what you hear if this is possible.Also read some consumer reviews and look for some on line reveiwers like 6moons.com though I am not sure they have goten to it yet.
G'luck
Chazz