Many integrateds lack a headphone jack,…
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For a home-theater setup, you could purchase the three-channel Bryston 5B-ST power amp for $2465, use it for the left, center, and right front speakers, and then use the power-amp section of the B-60 for your surround speakers. For an audio-only system, you could add a Bryston 2B-LP stereo amp for $850 and bi-amp a pair of speakers—assuming your speakers allow for bi-amping. Total cost: $2345. That's for a state-of-the-art line-stage and 60Wpc times two—something to think about before you spend over $2000 on someone else's integrated amplifier.
Lonnie Brownell reviewed the B-60R in July 1998 (Vol.21 No.7):
The Anti-High End.
That's who I felt like with this amplifier and it felt all right. Good, even. Let me 'splain.
You've been to the shows, you've read the 'zines, you've visited your local hi-fi salon—which means that you've seen the BIG SYSTEMS. Big speakers. Big amps. Big turntables even, fer crissakes. You know it's what you want, what you would have if you could. It's enough to give a guy (but probably not a gal, as gals seem to be more sensible about these things) System Envy. Size does matter.
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Sidebar 1: El Bee's Associated Components
Comparisons were made with the JoLida SJ 502A integrated amp, and also with the Sonic Frontiers Anthem PRE 1L/AMP 1 combo. Analog playback: Linn Axis turntable, Linn Basik Plus tonearm (with stock Linn wiring), Benz Micro Glider cartridge. A VTL 2.5 preamp and the Anthem PRE 1P phono stage were used for their phono sections (reviews of both forthcoming), linked via XLO Pro Type 100 interconnects. Digital playback: Enlightened Audio Design CD-1000 CD player, connected via Synergistic Research Alpha. Speakers: NHT 2.5i and Joseph Audio RM-7si…
Sam Tellig wrote again about the B-60R in October 1998 (Vol.21 No.10):
J'ai eu un coup de foudre, as some French hi-fi critics like to say. "I had a thunderclap."
This time it was literally true.
Early last summer, lightning struck the transformer on the street outside our house and the lights went out with a terrible bang. Fortunately, I had disconnected the two hi-fi systems but not our home theater setup—Marina's seestem, in which I'd installed the Bryston B-60 integrated amplifier that I wrote about in May 1997 (Vol.20 No.5). I had also neglected to disconnect the…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The Bryston B-60R was hot, but not alarmingly so, following its one-hour, 1/3-power preconditioning test. The B-60R's line input impedance measured 51.6k ohms at 1kHz, a comfortably high value that should be compatible with any consumer program source. The Bryston's output impedance is very low—under 0.04 ohms up to 1kHz, increasing to 0.06 ohms at 20kHz. The output impedance at the B-60R's tape outputs measured 49.5 ohms and was virtually unchanged with changes in source impedance, indicating buffered tape outputs. The output impedance at the preamp outputs…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Solid-state line-level integrated amplifier. Inputs: Four gold-plated RCA line-level, one tape loop. Outputs: ¼" headphone jack, 1 pair 5-way speaker terminals. Pre-out/main-in RCA jacks.
Preamplifier section: Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz, ±0.5dB. Maximum output: 15V. IM or THD at 3V output: <0.005%. High-level sensitivity: 500mV. Rated noise: 100dB below 500mV, 20Hz-20kHz. Input sensitivity: 500mV. Input impedance, 50k ohms; tape input impedance, 10k ohms. Preamp and tape output impedance: 100 ohms.
Amplifier section: 60Wpc into 8 ohms (…
Back in 2003, while auditioning the Burmester 001 CD player ($14,000, reviewed in the December 2003 Stereophile, Vol.26 No.12), I discovered that my system sounded much better if I bypassed my preamplifier and ran the 001 directly into the power amps. I concluded by suggesting that potential customers consider building a system around the 001 itself and forgo a preamp altogether. The response from Burmester fans was immediate and unambiguous: As good as the 001 was on its own, it sounded even better run through its stablemate, Burmester's 011 preamplifier ($15,999). The pair had, they…
Another component of the Burmester's sound was its huge soundstage, which stretched to well outside my Thiel CS6 loudspeakers and beyond the front wall of my room. Its height was also large, and varied as necessary to describe the venue. In some cases, that meant putting the front rows of the audience well below my Thiels—listen to Rickie Lee Jones' Naked Songs (CD, Reprise 45950-2) to hear what I mean—and in others, it meant locating a concert hall's ceiling high above them.
Individual performers were also large—arguably, in some instances, too large—but not distractingly so. The 011's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-chassis, remote-controlled, full-function solid-state preamplifier with integral moving-coil phono stage. Inputs: 6 balanced line (XLR), 1 unbalanced line (RCA), 1 balanced phono (XLR). Outputs: 1 balanced (XLR), 1 unbalanced (RCA), 1 headphone (1/4" phone jack). Tape/processor loop: unbalanced (RCA) inputs and outputs. Input sensitivity: 250mV for unity gain. Input impedance, line: 10k ohms, all inputs. Input impedance, phono: 8 user-selectable levels, 10–1k ohms. Output impedance: 66 ohms. Frequency response: 0Hz–>200kHz. Line-stage gain…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: VPI HR-X turntable & tonearm, Lyra Titan cartridge.
Digital Sources: Burmester 001, Ensemble Dirondo CD players.
Preamplification: VTL TL-7.5 line-stage preamplifier; Sonic Euphoria PLC, Placette Remote Volume Control passive line stages; Ensemble Fonobrio, Sutherland PhD phono preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: VTL S-400, Simaudio Moon Rock, Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Thiel CS6.
Cables: Nirvana S-X Ltd., Audience Au24, Nordost Valhalla, Silversmith Silver, interconnects & speaker cables. AC:…