I was considering a C2600 / 14B3 combo so somewhat along the lines of what the OP is looking at. I had purchased, on a 30 day trial basis, a 4B3 and brought a demo 2600 home to try with it.
I really liked the 4B3, a lot. Very full rich dynamic sound with better bass than the competition for the money, and worked well with the McIntosh. The only area I detected any of the Bryson “hardness” people refer to is in the upper midrange, but only on some material (hard rock with lots of guitar). My thought was the 14B would be similar but with added transparency so I thought that was the direction I’d go.
But then I auditioned the Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated and that completely changed my plans and went with that.
I really liked the 4B3, a lot. Very full rich dynamic sound with better bass than the competition for the money, and worked well with the McIntosh. The only area I detected any of the Bryson “hardness” people refer to is in the upper midrange, but only on some material (hard rock with lots of guitar). My thought was the 14B would be similar but with added transparency so I thought that was the direction I’d go.
But then I auditioned the Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated and that completely changed my plans and went with that.