Classe or Bryston?

Why not just go for a pair of used Classe' M-700's ??? These are 700 watt @ 8 ohm monoblocks and sound far more refined than any Bryston stuff that i've ever heard. This much juice can surely drive anything that you would throw at it and still be loafing. You should be able to find them for somewhere around $2800 - 3200 for the pair if you do your homework. Sean >

I DISAGREE WITH THE PREVIOUS POSTER. IMHO THE BRYSTON'S CANNOT BE BEAT AT THEIR PRICE POINT. I HAVE LISTENED TO BOTH AND FOUND THE CLASSE'S TO BE BLAND. IT IS ALWAYS SUBJECTIVE OF COURSE BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE MEASUREABLE DISTORTION ON THE BRYSTON'S, THE BUILD QUALITY AND THE 20-YEAR WARRANTY I THINK THEY ARE THE BEST THING IN THE MARKET. IF YOU REALLY WANT SOME AWESOME POWER GO WITH THE BRYSTON 7B-ST MONOBLOCKS AT 700WPC. GOOD LISTENING!

I disagree with the Pro Classe choice. Bryston 7B's will blow away the Classe M700's in every respect. Thats right every respect. If you seriously listen to both and choose the Classe M700's over the Bryston 7B's you should get your ears checked or simply save your money and buy a transistor radio.

Us agressors need to stick together on here. There's far too much politeness going around! I don't have an HT setup, but Krell makes better amps than anybody outside the US, except maybe Burmester. DEFINITELY BETTER THAN ANY COMPANY FROM CANADA!!!

The answer here becomes an issue of what you are looking for. If your objective is for optimum home theater performance the Bryston will wow you and your friends-it is impressive in its ability to create a large enveloping soundstage-but it cannot match the pure musicality of the Classe. I'm using two Classe 151's with Aeriel 6's (cj preamp). Emotionally involving in a way the Bryston cannot reach. I auditioned the Aeriels-cj with the 7BST's in the same room. If you want music- go Classe, if you want great sound effects while watching Hollywood's latest trash- go Bryston.

I'M not into home theater anymore just plain stereo. But I still know it's lame to mix and match channel power and speakers. Don't people know that the most optimal sound quality and refined sound will come from matching everything. every speaker should be the same, all the wires should be the same, and all the amp channels. that way all the the sound comeing from each speaker will be matched and blend harmoniously together. I don't care if the amp is from the same company. If it's not the exact same amp it's going to have different sonics. and maybe the speakers have the same tweeter and woofer but if the enclosure is different than guess what? the overall sound will be different. I'm sure the sytems sound great but they could be so much better. I'm tired of hearing about the great gear people have then finding out how chinnsy they set it up.

And I don't have an HT setup either. Glad to hear that you know how to set up your system. I agree, most 'philes out there don't have anything close to a "correct" setup.

First to Carl.... You've been watching that South Park movie too much. ******************************************************* Then to Tjreed..... Why don't you get emotionally involved with a woman? ******************************************************** Now The Speaker choice... Bryston or Classe... Now don't get emotional on me...but lets see (flipping through the recommended components in Stereophile for the last few years.... yep there's the 7b's in class A every damn year. Now (getting out magnifying glass) nope can't find the Classe other than the Omega: Hmmmm price is $15,000 U.S. dollars. $5,000. for the Bryston 7B... I am starting to get emotional... and for you south park fans that like Krell ... $11,000. which other reviewers published preferred the Bryston 7b's. For home theater it is desireable to have everything match but if you find some bargains out there a proper setup can be accomplished quite well by knowing the specific technical information regarding the speakers/ amplifiers and spending a few bucks to modify. If you don't know what your doing... Just go and sell everything you have and start over. Even running Bryston's powerpac 120 to five identical speakers may likely sound better than the mix & match approach...especially for home theater... and if you have any intention of playing dvd audio....etc..

The above posting, in regards to Stereophile's recommended componets as a measure of the amps ability to be worthy, is plan foolishness. First, Stereophile recommends only those componets it reviews. If they haven't reviewed it you won't see it. That does not mean it is not worthy or not closer to the aboslute truth. Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing Stereophile. I have subscribed to it since 1989 and enjoy reading it. It is very entertaining and informative. It is, however, not the last word on products and should never be used in that fashion. Anyone using it in that manner is suspect. To me, and may be I'm just sensitive, but flip responses as, na, na, na, na, X amp has been recomended Y years by Z magazine and A amp has never been mentioned is total foolishness and demonstrates the inability of the individual to support their ideas and their ignorance. Please, lets be a little more intelligent when expressing our ideas. Or may be we just given up our confidence to draw our own conclusions through what we hear. As a wise man once said, "If you by a system recommended by a friend you will get a system that sounds good to a friend but may be not you." P.S. By the way, I do believe that Stereophile reviewed the Omegas and found them to be state of the art performers. But, ultimately that is for the listener to determind.

I agree with Ramstl. I love Stereophile, but to have blind faith in their reccomendations is a pathetic practice indeed. I don't like Southpark, it's annoying. I like Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and Futurama in that order. My favorite comedy is "There's Something About Mary". "American Pie" was pretty good too. I loved "Caddyshack", but after the 100th viewing, it gets kind of trite. And, I could use a woman myself, but audio is my bitch right now. It's worth the tradeoff, for a while...

Thank you all for your interesting responses; most seem either silly or irrelavent, so I guess I should have been more specific - I was seeking input on prevoius experience with matching Aerial 8's/center/surrounds with the Classe CAV-75 or 150 or with the Bryston 9b/4b/7b. As I already own both the Bryston 9b and the Classe 150, I'm quite familiar with the sonic signiture of each unit, and wanted to know which expansion option retained the most uniform result. Sure it would be great to have everything identical (and in a acoustically perfect room) but get real; for the moment, I think most audiophiles would rather spend the extra fun money on music playback, and home theater is a sideline hobby. Five Aerial 8's with the Krell fivepack hooked up with Transparent Reference would be wasted on Home Theater, and it will be a long time yet before the recording industry has successfuly mastered a comprehensive library for DVD-Audio.

Emmett, I agree totally about DVD-Audio. I apologize for being irrelevant (that needs to go on my headstone when I die, heh heh). I've not heard the amp speaker combo you ask about, and hope you can try the amp in your home before you decide. Using ASC Frecoes to damp side, back, and front wall "first" reflections will make more difference than comparing two power amps, especially if they have somewhat similar sonic charactersitics. ASC 16 inch full rounds in the corners behind the front speakers will make the bass in the room unbelievably tighter, smoother, and higher rez. Not that you or anybody ever wants to follow my suggestions...Good luck anyway...

Carl, I already live in the wonderful tubetrap forest of all sizes, shapes, and colors. Much fun. I enjoy the benifits of an excellent dealer who allows home audition of many fine toys. He doesn't stock the specific amps in question, though, so I was looking for imput on-line. Thanks again. Do continue to encourage others to enter the magic forests of ACS.

stereophile also said that bryston amps are powerful and dynamic. Thats what they do right. but they said what they don't do is that they are not very airy, detailed or transparent. I prefer the latter which is why I like my classe. But It's just a preferance thing so I wouldn't slam bryston. Also, sorry if I came off a little pushy about the system matching. I know you can get a great sounding system with different gear. It's not ideal but we all do what we can. I don't have the ideal system for me but I suppose I never will. And if I did then a month later I would want something else. It's all about enjoying what we can have.

Glad you have ASC's. They're essential.

I auditioned a Classe CA-100, CA-200, CAV-150 (own), Bryston 4BST, Krell, Audio Research, Krell, etc...with Aerial Acoustics 10ts + Lexicon. My opinions: The Classe CA-200 was, by far, the most musical amplifier. The midrange was as good as the Audio Research and very smooth and realistic. The highs were great. However, the bass was weak and the soundstage wasn't as crisp as the Bryston. So, if you want to do HT, get the Bryston. If you want to do music, get the Clasee -- but, whatever you do, do NOT underpower the Aerials. The CA-100 sounded horrible -- very compressed -- running on my 10Ts. You will notice that the caps on a CAV-75 are much smaller than those found on even a 100/150 watt CA amplifier. So, I could recommend CAV-150 bridged to 300 for center and surrounds and a CA-200,300,400 for fronts (8's) Best Regards, Happy Listening, Mark

If you like romantic... go Classe... Honest, detailed(but not bright or forward) go Bryston. Classe a little to syruppy for me...

Actually, the biggest problem I had with Bryston was the brightness in the highs...Classe had none of this... BTW, my system is almost flat and this "brightness" wasn't imagined. (Aerial Acoustics 10Ts)

First in response to Ramstl.... Hey .... I already contributed to this thread... and voiced my opinion... then I added the opinion of stereophile... You note that you read stereophile... and since 1989 you state that it is informative. But to reference stereophile is ignorant....hmmmm sounds a bit bewildering to me. To read what a pro writes about a product is for the individual to absorb and place whatever value they feel justified in. Same as some clown on a thread that adds absolute feckless commentary. The fact that it adds absolute zero is the measure of one's absolute ignorance. You also note that they did review the Classe... (and it not in the recommended components), but start with they don't recommend amps they don't review. I get a splitting headache just trying to follow your logic. The logic displays an intellect two points greater than a stick. One more suggestion .... get a dictionary. I demo'd the classe and quickly dismissed it as an option. The dynamic range of the music was lacking. All the Bryston product line utilize the exact same crossovers. I would still recommend based on the financial considerations, (which appear to be important in your decision) sell the classe and 9b... get the Bryston powerpac ...... I use it for the front channel. The resale for Bryston is the best... why? ... Why can Bryston put a 20yr warranty? Why do they stay in business with one of the lowest budgets in advertising? The answer to the original thread is too obvious.

When Stereophile recommends a product it is a great product. When a product does not make their short recommended list it does not mean it is not a great product. I tried both with my NHT 2.9's, and the Classe CA200 sounds much better. The Bryston 4Bst was too bright for these speakers.

Ahh you should have tried those speakers with the 7b's .. Hey if your happy thats all that counts right. I run 4 Energy Veritas .with the 7B's and that works great for me. Now Hear This ...I was giving advise to the gentleman that was mixing and matching the two... I still say for the application he should run Bryston.... get rid of what he has and start over. The power pac 120s work great for home theater, actually they sound better than the 3b. You can make up your own cables and speaker wire as well and save a bundle with mono block amps. NHT makes a good speaker btw. I ran a 4B Bryston before moving up to the 7B... the nice thing about Bryston is that it is so easy to re sell and loose practically nothing. You know I sold a Bryston preamp here at audiogon and i received a great price for it. The guy that bought it used it for 8 months, bought a car and resold it for what he paid for it. Also Bryston rechecked the unit on the spot before I shipped it, fixed a loose battery assembly on the remote... and for no charge.... just some great talented people.

In response to Audioears. I will make this simple. You will not see any mention of amps Stereophile has not reviewed in there recommended issue. Of course this is just logic. How can you recommend something you haven't reviewed. Believe me, there are plently of great amps that have not been reviewed in Stereophile. Also, to reference Stereophile as the "last word" is foolishness. To use it in part as resources is smart. Call me crazy, foolish, bad grammer user or speller, but I believe the final choice should reside with one's own ears. Oh, by the way you need to check your grammer and spelling.

In response to Audioears. I will make this simple. You will not see any mention of amps Stereophile has not reviewed in there recommended issue. Of course this is just logic. How can you recommend something you haven't reviewed. Believe me, there are plently of great amps that have not been reviewed in Stereophile. Also, to reference Stereophile as the "last word" is foolishness. To use it in part as resources is smart. Call me crazy, foolish, bad grammer user or speller, but I believe the final choice should reside with one's own ears. Oh, by the way you need to check your grammer and spelling.

Audioears, Yes I know it is their not there. I guess my publisher missed that one!

Ramstl.... I never suggested that Stereophile be used as the "last word"... In fact no one on this thread has... it is simply a draw on your imagination. I would agree with you that it is smart to read information in Stereophile but you have to learn to read between the lines, especially for products that are within the family of high advertisement money. Everybody does have their own preference when it comes to audio reproduction. A full, warm low end coupled by a extremely neutral midrange, and sweet clear highs... thats what i like and thats what brought me to Bryston 7B.... these factors along with all the other things i already mentioned... great warranty ... great value... great resale value ... great quality... great customer service ... They simply have it all. And thats my final answer...

I would agree!

I would agree!

The Ariel 8 works great with Classe Omega amp. Not bad with Bryston 4BST either. I got bored with the 8s after a year, however, and sold them.

I would vote for the Classe, but since I own one, I'm biased. Classe isn't very good for preamps, but their amps are a great value.

Audioears - for the record the Classe CA 200 was in the April, 1997 issue under class B and taken out in shortly thereafter because that model was upgraded cosmetically to the 201. Hey, all the advertisers can be found in rec. comp. somewhere - including Bryston! A few years ago John Atkinson ripped the Polk flagship line. Polk was always good for ads every month including the inside cover. They pulled their ads. Then the 'phile did a review on some Polk monitors and you got it, recommended them. Now Polk's back in the ad rotation!

With regards to the 'cosmetic' upgrade on the Classe 200 to the 201, that is half true. They modified the CA-200 at some point in its production life (I think it was in 1998 or 1999) but they did not change the name at the time. You can tell the difference between the two models because the revised CA-200 has the heat sinks on the side instead of the back. They then did do cosmetic changes to make it the CA-201. Thus the model Stereophile reviewed and the model available today are not identical internally.

Nhorton - you sure about that? I've never seen a 200 with heat sinks on the side, I know the 300 and 400 I've seen have always been on the side. Anyway, mine are on the back and IMO it is a great amp, I did alot of comparison shopping/critical listening - I think it has the most natural sounding midrange of any SS amp available.

Very sure, I have one of the late model CA-200's and the sinks are on the sides. Before buying I wrote to Classe to confirm that they did do a revision and they confirmed it. Here is the content of the email: Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 17:39:36 -0700 From: Robert Reply-To: [email protected] To: Noah Horton Subject: Re: CA-200 vs CA201 The CA-201 is identical to the last version CA-200 (hest sinks on the sides) except for the cosmetics of the faceplate. cservice r

Interesting...thanks for the info. Enjoy the music!

Now which amp should be suited for 804 nautilus, please help

Try the new 6B-ST from Bryston. Three channels at 250W.