Awesome Bryston 5 Channel 120 WPC Power Amplifier

The following summary is excerpted from an excellent review at "HomeTheaterHiFi.com" edited only for brevity and timeline consistency.

"Bryston is not only a company that has been in business for more than 40 years, but it is the only company that warranties their products for 20 years. They started out four decades ago just fixing anyone's Bryston amplifier for free, because so few of them broke down. So, when they went bigtime, they had to choose a warranty period. How about 20 years? OKAAAAAAAAY!

The Bryston 9B-ST is the five-channel power amplifier version of the 3B-ST (two channels), 5B-ST (three channels), and 8B-ST (four channels). All of these amplifiers are modular, with each module having its own complete power supply, including an 0.25 kVA (250 watts) toroidal transformer, dual 15,000 µF power supply capacitors, and ±60 Volts on the rail, providing 54 Joules per amplifier channel (that's 1,250 watts of toroid and 270 Joules of energy storage total, which is a LOT for a 120 watt/channel, five-channel power amplifier). Four bipolar output transistors per channel deliver 120 watts per channel into 8 Ohm loads and 200 watts per channel into 4 Ohms.

On the surface, it doesn't look intimidating does it, in a world filled with five channel home theater amplifiers rated at 120 watts per channel? One thing though: look at the weight . . . 59 pounds. That's pretty heavy for a multi-channel amplifier of such a modest rating. The reason? An absolute KILLER build quality. After all, this thing is supposed to be around for at least 20 years.

No fewer than 28 screws hold the cover on the chassis. Four screws attach each side, and four screws hold each of the five amplifier modules in place.

Each module is covered on both lateral sides (in other words, covering the transistors, resistors, etc., and also covering the underside where the solder joints are) by metal plates to seal out dust (the edges of each module are covered too), which over time, can decrease the heat dissipation of various circuit parts in uncovered amplifier boards.

The Bryston 9B-ST Rear Panelrear of the 9B has a three-prong (grounded) AC cord receptacle on the left, and then each of the modules' end panel, having an XLR balanced jack, slider switch for selecting balanced or unbalanced RCA (gold plated), and a 6 dB position for increased sensitivity in the balanced input (1 volt input produces 100 watts output into 8 Ohms instead of 2 volts input with the normal balanced switch setting).

The five-way speaker binding posts are unique and will be welcome to those of us who use spades and bare wire connections on our speaker cables. Each binding post has the usual opening in the back for a banana plug, Bryston 9B-ST Speaker Binding Post, but the front end has a slot and hole that serve as a convenient guide to slip the spade or bare wire into (see photo at left). It's very simple, very clever, and very useful.

The front panel has a push button on/off switch and five LEDs that indicate power on. They turn red at channel clipping. Massive handles let you carry the amplifier or move it around on a shelf. Actually, the handles add kind of a nice look to the front.

We tested the Bryston 9B-ST with our reference home theater system, including the Yamaha DVD-S700 DVD Player, Yamaha DSP-A1 (used as a processor with the pre-outs going to the Bryston), Krix Speakers, and Nordost cables.

The first thing I would like to say is that the Bryston performed like a much more powerful amplifier. Undoubtedly, this is due to the massive amount of current available from the power supplies. 270 Joules is a large number for a five channel amplifier of this rating, so transients are given the large (short term) juice that they ask for. Bryston amplifiers had a reputation, some years back, of slight brightness. That has all been worked out of the design now, and the 9B sounded terrific at any volume I cared to set it to. Also, there is a tremendous amount of fine detail in this amplifier, something I only rarely hear in home theater power amplifiers. I could detect almost no hum, even though we have a very hum-inducing setup with lots of components and interconnects going all over the place.

The square wave response (10 kHz ±15 Volts) is practically straight up Bryston 9B-ST Square Wave Response and down with nice tight corners, and only a small amount of overshoot. Measured bandwidth was 360 kHz (down 3 dB from 10 kHz sinewave value at ±20 Volts). This is a very wide bandwidth, which means no phase shift in the audible band. The 9B uses two voltage gain stages and four current gain stages, which give the large bandwidth.

In summary, the Bryston 9B-ST is a real wow product, with astonishing build quality and great sound. It has been designed for very high fidelity at modest power. However, I consider it to be conservatively rated, probably sneaking quite a bit more power for those high impact movies than one might imagine. It is obvious that Bryston has chosen to set standards rather than follow them."

Specifications:

Bryston 9B-ST Five-Channel Power Amplifier

120 Watts RMS/Channel into 8 Ohms; 200 Watts/Channel into 4 Ohms

THD: < 0.01%

Damping Factor: 500

Size: 5 1/4"H x 19"W x 16"D, Weight: 59 Pounds

This 9BST has been freshly serviced. Now it measures very nicely; about 130 W into 8 ohms per channel, distortion per channel between .001%. and .003%

Asking $2995 for this extremely well-built, great sounding Bryston Power amplifier.

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