BEST BUY! MOST BANG FOR THE BUCKS!
GO GET IT!

NEED A LONG TIME TO BREAK-IN

I've been using a pair of Bryston 4B-NBR since'95. After comparing and shopping for months I decided to get these for few reasons:
* 20 WARRANTY:
You can not go wrong with this! I had both of 4B's brought back to Bryston shop in Toronto,Canada for service in '99, one blew-up few transistors, another had a tranformer burned completely after I fooled around with them. I got back them back fixed and fresh as new after couple days, no questions asked, no hassels, no B.S, they didn't even ask for any invoice or receipt. The technicians are very helpful and friendly. That's exactly like what they said "Music for generations". I've been dealing with quite a few of other manufactories' warranty (as a owner of audio/video store), Bryston's the best so far! Two thumbs up for them! Please consider this, good sound, good qualtiy and good service is what count in long term!
* SOUND QUALITY:
After comparing and reading numerous reviews, I decided Brystons amp would fit within needs. So far so good, I'm still happy with its sound and performance, the only minor problem as other've already said these babies take a loooong time to break-in. Mine repaired-4B amps took almost six months regular use (four to six hours a day) to sound as its should. I did bring it back to complain, after a series of tests and comparison I gave up. Bryston never tell you about this! Make sure you break-in these beauties as hard as you can.
Last words, If you consider getting Brytons products, GO FOR IT, you can not go wrong with 20 years warranty and their famous sound and quality built, I don't have money to burn so I've always looking for BEST BUY PRODUCTS, this is one of them.
PS. I also own a number of other products from Sony (The worst in customer service), Panasonic, Yamaha, AMC, Parasound, Paradigm, Classe Audio, Toshiba... NO ONE offers the same level of service as Byrston. Try them!

Power and Accuracy of producing sound.

None so far.

This is my second review on this ad after giving this amp enough time to break in and here's the results:
Very transparent, excellent imaging (well defined location of musicians), very detailed, very quite etc..... for short, all of the good qualities of an amplifier should be. Anybody who gives this amp a score of 1 might want to try my set up mentioned below and I want to hear what they say. Happy listening to everybody.
Amp - 3BST
Preamp - CJ PFR
CDP - CAL Icon Mark2 (HDCD)
Speakers - Legacy Focus
Interconnects - Silver Bullets 4.0, Transparent Music Link Plus and Kimber PBJ.
Speaker cable - Kimber 8TC

Similar Products Used:

4BST and Classe

I'VE HAD MY 4B-ST SINCE JANUARY AND IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER THE MORE IT BREAKS IN. I REALLY LOVE THIS AMP. ITS AN UPGRADE FROM AN ACURUS A-200 WHICH WAS AN UPGRADE FROM A ROTEL. I'M USING IT TO PUSH MY NHT 3.3'S. THIS AMP HAS IMPROVED EVERYTHING IN MY SYSTEM. IT DELIVERS FULL FAT SOUND FROM HIGH TO MID TO LOW. I'VE LISTENED TO EVERY TYPE OF MUSIC ON IT. ROCK, CLASSICAL, JAZZ, NEW AGE, AND EVEN COUNTRY. IT DELIVERS NICE TIGHT BASS WITH GOOD PUNCH TO IT.

I HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS GETTING AN AIRY OPEN SOUND FROM IT ON ANY CLASSICAL TRACKS, OR NEW AGE TRACKS. AS A MATTER OF FACT IF YOU TRY A TRACK FROM ENYA'S WATERMARK CD CALLED "LONG SHIPS" (#10 I THINK) YOU WILL FIND DEEP POWERFUL BASS AND WHOOSH. THAT'S RIGHT BABY. AIR. AND ON THE CLASSICAL SIDE OF THINGS. COPELAND'S "FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN" FILLS THE ROOM NICELY.

ALTHOUGH THIS IS A SOLID STATE AMP, AND THE TUBE CROWD MAY NOT GET THE FEEL THEY WANT FROM IT. I CAN'T KNOCK THAT. IT'S A MATTER OF TASTE. THIS AMP IS POWERFUL AND I HAVEN'T HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH IT CLIPPING EARLY. UNLESS YOU CONSIDER A VOLUME LEVEL CERTAIN TO BRING ON EAR DAMAGE CLIPPING EARLY, YOU SHOULD HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH IT.

BRYSTON PRODUCTS ARE A GREAT VALUE, AND ARE BUILT TO LAST. THE 4B IS BUILT ROCK SOLID, LOOKS GOOD, AND HAS A 20 YR WARRANTY. I GIVE IT A FIVE ON SOUND AND VALUE. ITS A GOOD AMP.

excellent sound, rugged build, & great customer service!

?

The 4BST is a great amp in every respect! I've had it for about 2 months now and don't think it's lacking for anything. I listen to classical, jazz, pop, and techno music - this amp handles the full range of music beautifully with clear highs (not harsh or grainy at all) and well-controlled, defined bass.

I picked the 4BST in blind A-B tests against Krell, McIntosh, and Adcom. I also listened to the 3BST - the 4B produced a cleaner, more powerful sound.

Bryston customer service was top-notch. I had a couple of installation questions which were both answered quickly by via email.

This is my first Bryston amp and I'm loyal customer now!

Incredibly well built, excellent clean sound in every respect. 20 Year warranty!

Needs a break-in period to remove preliminary harshness

I initially was disappointed in the harshness of the upper midrange reproduction. I thought that perhaps this was due to a lack of "breaking in" (and that was exactly the problem). I ran this amp round the clock for a few weeks and the initial "harshness" has completely disappeared. This is also a somewhat unforgiving amp because of its extremely low distortion levels. If you have a weak link in another component of your system, it may stand out more with this Bryston. If you give this amp an appropriate break in period and match it with first class components - you have a "5" rating all the way, and an outstanding value for the price. Add the 20 year warranty, and your amp selection decision becomes very simple. Read the reviews compiled in the Bryston website for additional endorsements.

Similar Products Used:

Krell

Awesome power and sound, Quality construction, Great customer service and Warranty

Cant really think of any

I purchased this amp about 9 months ago and very satisfied thus far. The main difference between the thx version and st version is that the thx version has 12 volt trigger switching to turn the amp on and off via a low voltage trigger used in home theater gear. I dont have much to compare to, as my previous stereo was a Harmon Kardon reciever, but I can say that the difference was unbelievable. Adding the bryston to my system has given much more listening pleasure than replacing my old Energy ESM2s speakers with Von Schweikert VR4.5. I can not believe how much difference the amp makes. The low end punch is out of this world. I had to send it in becuase it was damaged cosmetically in shipping and the Bryston customer service was top notch.

Very tight bass; exceptional separation; tight, detailed image; 20 year transferable warranty; responsive customer service.

Nothing major; perhaps a bit bright on highs, e.g. cymbals.

First, I wanted an amplifier that could drive my Magnepan 3a's and let the music shine through with thorough separation and detail. The 4bst does just that, particularly in the mids, thus granting vocals, cellos, pianos, and acoustic guitars a remarkable presence. I think, therefore, that the Bryston complements well the Magnepan's forte: a forthright, soliciting, even seductive image. The Bryston also keeps the bass relatively tight, something difficult with planar speakers, It thus protects other tones from cancellation, thereby protecting the separation that drew me to the Magnepan's in the first place. True, like many solid state components, the 4Bst rings a bit brassy --and just a bit-- in the upper reaches, but I've found that a hybrid pre-amp (mine is the Sonic Frontiers, SFL-1) softens it just a bit as well as adding depth to the image. [I thus recommend that pairing, even as I confess that I am not only NOT a tube-devotee, but more often than not underwhelmed by a compression being passed off as warmth.] Note also that with the warranty, the Bryston is a safe demo or used purchase given the transferable warranty. Concerning break-in [noted often below], I've been pleased without much of it, but then, I do have a demo and will have to see whether it gits any better as time progresses. This is a remarkable piece, and for the price, astounding.

Bryston service

none.

I had some noise problems with my transformers in my 4B. Bryston replaced both transformers. No questions asked, within 2 weeks. Now that's service!! With the 4B's fantastic performance and rock solid 20 warantee, hew can one go wrong.

Neutral, transparent, superb mids, effortless, extremely low distortion, warranty

Speaker binding posts just dont work with spades, get banana's on your speaker cables

I use the 4BST with Vandersteen 2CE. The Vandersteen's need an amp that can best control the base without compromising the delicious mids and highs. The 4BST is a superb master of base. The base is crisp and fast. The highs are detailed without being harsh. The mids especially voices have the ability to touch the soul. I can listen to the combination at live performance levels for hours without fatigue. I find that the combination has the ability to impact emotions (not something you hear very often about solid state devices).

I expect to use the amp for at least 10 years. An amp you must listen to before spending larger amounts of green.

Similar Products Used:

Bryston 4B, ADCOM, Rotel

Dynamics, control, musicality, accuracy, power, 20 year warranty, reliability, performance, price.

I hate the canadian binding posts on the back of these things.

I have had this amp and the Bryston 5BST for about 2 years now. Over that time, I have had the chance to plug in some of my friends amps into my system, changed out all of my cables and perform some other upgrades. I am now convinced that to get a better sound you have to spend a minimum of twice as much at least. The Bryston has incredible control from the top to the bottom of the frequency range. It is not bright, harsh, forward, reticent, dark or any of those things. On the contrary, it is very musical and has a fully developed and beautiful midrange, awesome bass and higher frequencies are sweet, but not harsh at all. It is not particularly finicky about what components you have upstream or downstream, but will reward you significantly with improvements in sound if you invest in topnotch components. Specifically, cables can make a big difference and I wasn't really into this until I got this amp. I've used Audioquest Topaz then Rubies but the biggest leap forward in my system was changing to Cardas Cross Speaker Cable and B.E.L. The Wire SP-1 Interconnects. The 4BST just sounds incredible! and I can't believe it costs only $2495.

My system is:
Bryston 4B-ST
Bryston 5B-ST
California Audio Labs CL-25 CD/DVD
Proceed AVP-S
B.E.L. The Wire Interconnects
Cardas Cross Speaker Cable

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B&K, Yamaha, Classe, Aragon