Bryston vs Rotel amp for B&W setup

[alpina]

Hi all,

Our speaker choice is 95% decided and will comprise of either:
1. 804s with htm3s with 705s with aws750; or
2. 703s with htm4s with 705s with aws750.

Assuming for a moment that we go with option 1, we would love to hear your opinion of which of the following amp will best suit our application. Our choice atm is made up of:

1. Bryston 9B-SST
2. Rotel 1095
3. Rotel 1077

Will the 9B and 1077 sound underpowered when compared to 1095? Will they handle 804's better than ok?

Really interested to hear comments on 9B as it cost more than the 1095 and 1077 combined.

Want to make the right choice with components first time as we are having our av rack custom built to fit the components and modifications to joinery will be difficult once fabricated.

If I was to go with option 2 speaker choice, would your advice change at all?

Regards,

Julie

[EddThompson]

well, the bryston has a 20 year warrenty, and given the b&ws have a sensitivity of 90db, i would say it will have more than enougth power to drive to silly volumes.

the other matter is whether the power ratings are with all channels driven and how acurate they are, so not the be all and end all.

Also, listen to them both with your selection of speakers, i for one hear very little difference in amplifiers, far less than say a different speaker, or even where you speakers are in the room.

so, to round up, money no object, bryston, last as long as your cabinet, other wise im sure the rotels (either) would do the job just as well.

edd

[gizlaroc]

I don't think it is even fair to compare the Rotel with the Bryston gear, the 1095 won't get anywhere near the Bryston.

Have you listeneed to all this stuff?

I personally don't like the speakers so can't comment on them, but the amps are very different from each other sound wise.
Parasound do a couple of nice multichannel amps.

[alexs2]

Whatever the speaker choice(and mine would be the 804,in your list,rather than the 703),if you have the money,go for the Bryston.

A single one will outperform the Rotels,and will honestly give you performance similar to Krells,but at a better price and with the 20yr guarantee.

Of course,having said that,if you don't mind older amps,you can still find KSA200 Krells for that sort of money,if you don't mind the heat and the electricity bills!

[alpina]

Originally Posted by gizlaroc

Have you listeneed to all this stuff?

only heard the 1095 and 1080 (though not on my shopping list) - fortunately both on 703, 705, 804 and 805s. happy with sound of rotel. as for the bryston, i dont think that there is a dealer in australia that sells them alongside b&w's so a little hard to audition before purchase.

bryston is on our shopping list because hubby and i have agreed on the compromise of not getting speakers larger than 703/804s so there is a little change.

we are customising our av rack so we have to get the components right first time as rack will be made to fit components.

personally the 20 year warranty doesn't mean that much to me though i appreciate its a big selling pt for the bryston - we simply dont keep our gear that long. what is important is that its bullet proof for as long as we have it - we would envisage it to be our main amp for 5 or so years, then off to another room for a further 3 maybe = total 8 or so years.

just surprises me that the advise was that a 1075 would not adequately power 804s and that i should look at the 1095, though the 9b and 1077 are rated same as 1075 but should be ok to power 804s

cheers,

julie

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by alpina

personally the 20 year warranty doesn't mean that much to me though i appreciate its a big selling pt for the bryston - we simply dont keep our gear that long. what is important is that its bullet proof for as long as we have it - we would envisage it to be our main amp for 5 or so years, then off to another room for a further 3 maybe = total 8 or so years.

just surprises me that the advise was that a 1075 would not adequately power 804s and that i should look at the 1095, though the 9b and 1077 are rated same as 1075 but should be ok to power 804s

cheers,

julie

A Rotel 1075 certainly will power 804s,if not to ear splitting levels,but it will not do so with the same finesse or reserve as the Bryston would.
It's also fair to say that the degree of detail,imaging etc you would get with the Bryston is rather better than the Rotel.

As to similarly rated amps.....yes the 2 may be rated at the same power outputs,but this is also levelled at things like Krell and Levinson,where a nominally 100W amp may cost several times that of another manufacturer...much of the difference is in the components,plus the reserve and the amp's ability to deal with a difficult load,as most of the 800 series B&Ws are.

I would also have no worries about the Bryston's reliability,as they are often (ab)used in studios with no problems.

In all though,if you are happy with the Rotel sound,and wanted to save a significant amount of cash,then they are decent amps,and Parasound should also be looked at.

[gizlaroc]

I also agree with Alexs2 regarding secondhand amps, they have not moved on that much in the last 10 years or so, and you can get some real bargins if buying used.

[Nic Rhodes]

Originally Posted by gizlaroc

I also agree with Alexs2 regarding secondhand amps, they have not moved on that much in the last 10 years or so, and you can get some real bargins if buying used.

come on guys, no strictly true is it?

we didn't have blue LEDs 10 years ago

[lovegroova]

I used to own a 1095 and it drove my 805 Signatures/HTM2 (old style) well enough and it represents fantastic value for money. To suggest it "won't get anywhere near the Bryston is not true", it's an overstatement. It's not as good as the Bryston for sure but it is very good, for the money, especially for half the money.

If, as Alex says, a 1075 will power 804s, then a 1095, which has a lot more juice, will work fine. The other advantage is that it is so big, so when you do upgrade, pretty much any amp will fit in the slot.

I'd spend the money on the better speakers, which will have a far more significant effect on the overall sound than the amp. The key statement you made was that you are happy with the Rotel B&W sound.

I'd also agree with 2nd hand, if you can do it. I exchanged my 1095 for a Krell KAV250a/3 (from 1998 wth a blue LED!) for the front 3, and a Rotel RB03 for the rears.

[gizlaroc]

Originally Posted by lovegroova

I'd spend the money on the better speakers, which will have a far more significant effect on the overall sound than the amp.

I would argue that fact all day long, you can get £200 speakers to sound awesome on the end of a £10k system, but try getting £10k speakers sounding good on teh end of a £200 system.

You need to get the procesor and power amp sorted first, then taylor the sound with speakers. imho of course.

[Peter Baker]

Bryston is high end, whilst Rotel is good but not stunning. I've heard both and the Bryston just has that magic. Of course the front end will also have to be up to par for you to hear the difference

[alpina]

would a 6b (300*3 and roughly same price as 9b) be a better option for fronts with perhaps a 1080 for rears? ideally a 4b for rears would be ideal and look prettiest but pretty sure budget wont stretch. or just stick to 9b?

julie

[gizlaroc]

I would rather have a 6B across the front and something else across the rears.
How much music do you listen to?

[alpina]

this forum is addictive

i would say that we are predominantly HT listeners - say 70/30

Would a 6b and say a 4b or 1080 not be overkill for 804/htm3/705 combo? 300*3 bryston amp for 804s sound like a lot of power. for the record our room size is 5mt wide * 12mts long * 3.5mts high and we will be sitting on width wall - ie, 5mts from speakers

wow! if i go down this path, i hope i get a good discount (definitely serious money for us) and to think initially we were looking at inwall/inceiling speakers running off the 2600. thanks to forums like this and the fact that our renovation has come up better than expected look where we are now

cheers,

julie

[gizlaroc]

We are here to help you spend!!

You can never have too much power in an amp, all it does is give you more control, better soundstage, make it smoother at higher levels and generally improve the sound.

Have you searched the local classifieds to see what is on offer, or ebay for that matter.