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Once upon a time there was a band from South Florida who wore cowboy garb and had a singer of Cuban ancestry who sounded a lot like Roy Orbison. Soon the big boys from Nashville came down and signed this band up. Everyone was so happy—this li'l ol' multicultural act was going up to Tennessee to squeeze into the country-music mold and make lots of money.

Bryston may be the most senior of the bunch. Founded in the early '60s, it has been manufacturing continuously ever since, exporting a good proportion of its wares to the US. Unlike most high-end manufacturers, however, it targets the…

Description: Solid-state monoblock power amplifier. Class of operation: AB2. Balanced and unbalanced inputs. Rated power output: 500W continuous sinewave power into 8 ohms (27dBW), 800W continuous sinewave power into 4 ohms (26dBW). Distortion: less than 0.01%, 20Hz-20kHz at 500W, IM or THD. Rated slew rate: greater than 60V/µs, parallel mode, 120V/µs, series mode. Sensitivity: 1V for full output. Rated input impedance: 10k ohms. Rated full-power bandwidth: 1Hz-100kHz. Damping factor: over 300 at 20Hz, ref. 8 ohms.
Dimensions: 19" W by 5.25" H by 15.5" D.…

Following its one-hour, 1/3-power preconditioning, the Bryston 7B was hot all over—heatsinks, top, back, and front panel. Too hot to touch comfortably for more than an instant, it nevertheless continued to operate without malfunctioning. I should point out that this preconditioning test is a worst-case operating mode for a class-B output stage. In normal use, the 7Bs ran cool enough that you could leave a hand on them all day long.

As noted above, the Bryston 7B is actually two different amps, depending on whether it's hooked up in its series or…

The original 7B was intended to be Bryston's most powerful amplifier. The first designs were reverse-engineered from the company's 250Wpc 4B power amplifier by dropping that model's power-supply voltages to enable it to provide more current, then bridging the two channels (series operation) or paralleling them. The result was the Bryston 6B, a subsequent redesign resulting in the 7B. TJN reviewed the NRB-THX version of the 7B in October 1993 (Vol.16 No.10, pp.193-202), praising it for its "sweet...subtly…

Stuart Taylor was working in a sound studio in Toronto in 1972 when he purchased one of the very first Bryston amplifiers. Over the years he kept up a close relationship with the Russell brothers, who ran Bryston, and in 1988 came to work for them. Taylor's first assignment was to redesign Bryston's four-channel Home Theater amplifier, the 8B. Though the job began as a routine fine-tuning of a product before it was to be reintroduced to the market, it quickly led to major redesigns of all Bryston amplifiers.

Chris Russell, Vice President of Engineering…

Following its one-hour, 1/3-power preconditioning, the Bryston 7B was hot, though not unusually so considering its rated power output. I ran a complete set of measurements on each on the 7B-ST in its series mode (recommended for 3-8 ohm loads), with selected measurements in the parallel configuration (including the 2 ohm tests). Most of the measurements were made in the balanced mode this time around, though a number of significant measurements were repeated in the unbalanced mode.

The input impedance of the Bryston measured 16.7k ohms, balanced and…

Description: Solid-state monoblock amplifier. Output power: 500W continuous into 8 ohms (27dBW), 800W into 4 ohms (26dBW). Distortion: 0.007%, 20Hz-20kHz at 500W, IM (60Hz+7kHz, 4:1, SMPTE method) or THD. S/N ratio: 106dB ref. rated output, 90dB IHF. Slew rate: >60V/µs parallel mode, >120V/µs series mode. Damping factor: >300 at 20Hz at 8 ohms, equivalent to an output impedance of 0.03 ohms. Input sensitivity: 1.4V for full output, unbalanced; 2V for full output, bridged. Input impedance: 50k ohms unbalanced, 20k ohms balanced. Polarity: non-…

The Bryston 7B-ST was more assertive and full in the bass than the Simaudio Moon W-5, with a bit more sparkle in the treble. This difference made the W-5 a better match with the Apogee Duettas, but made the Brystons happier with the Genesis 500s and the PMC and Coincident speakers. Large dynamic contrasts were more distinctly terraced with the W-5, but one could argue that they were more seamless with the Brystons—a toss-up, the outcome of which was greatly influenced by the tonal balance of the partnering speaker.—Kalman…