Coming back to this thread with my conclusions a couple months on if this is helpful for anyone. The Contour 60i’s have been sold and replaced with Harbeth 40.2, and the Bryston amps are still here but I also have an ARC Ref 150 in the house for amplification duty. I thought the Dyns had smoothed out, but it was just some tracks that sounded okay. My conclusions:
Harbeth 40.2 are superior in the mids and highs. I never gave the Dyn’s full break in, but they were just never going to be as good. The Dyns have superior bass, tight and almost subwoofer like.
My room does suck and it matters, exacerbating my issues with the Dyns. With the wrong track (particularly rock with high pitched electric guitar sounds) my system is a little screachy....even with Harbeth + ARC tube amp + ARC tube preamp. Unfortunately, it is not a dedicated audio room, and my wife will not allow me to put whatever I want on the walls and over the damned uncovered GLASS windows and door, so I need to figure a plan there.
The Bryston SS amps (7BSST2) are not materially harder or more grainy than the ARC tube amp, and they are slightly more precise. But on whole the REF 150 sounds superior to me - bigger sound stage, bigger & more "live," dense and real sound overall. I am likely a tube convert now...unless somebody wants to lend me their D’Agostinos!
So that’s where I am. I am happy with the Harbeths and ARC 150 addition, and the system sounds quite good with many tracks. (I am using all digital front end, and vinyl would probably help, but I am not going to deal with tubes AND vinyl!) An REL subwoofer or two may be in the future to fill out the bottom end, and I need to figure how I can improve the room and keep the peace at home. Thanks for all the help from you more experienced fellows! Repo
Harbeth 40.2 are superior in the mids and highs. I never gave the Dyn’s full break in, but they were just never going to be as good. The Dyns have superior bass, tight and almost subwoofer like.
My room does suck and it matters, exacerbating my issues with the Dyns. With the wrong track (particularly rock with high pitched electric guitar sounds) my system is a little screachy....even with Harbeth + ARC tube amp + ARC tube preamp. Unfortunately, it is not a dedicated audio room, and my wife will not allow me to put whatever I want on the walls and over the damned uncovered GLASS windows and door, so I need to figure a plan there.
The Bryston SS amps (7BSST2) are not materially harder or more grainy than the ARC tube amp, and they are slightly more precise. But on whole the REF 150 sounds superior to me - bigger sound stage, bigger & more "live," dense and real sound overall. I am likely a tube convert now...unless somebody wants to lend me their D’Agostinos!
So that’s where I am. I am happy with the Harbeths and ARC 150 addition, and the system sounds quite good with many tracks. (I am using all digital front end, and vinyl would probably help, but I am not going to deal with tubes AND vinyl!) An REL subwoofer or two may be in the future to fill out the bottom end, and I need to figure how I can improve the room and keep the peace at home. Thanks for all the help from you more experienced fellows! Repo
