Well, one option is to attempt a repair. This is a dual mono design, so you have 50/50 chance it's a power supply issue and fixable. OTOH, at that age you need a full recap anyway. You might get more from e-bay than a trade.
Replacing Bryston 4BST for Aerial 10Ts
I've been happy with my system but the amp is dead. I'm running a PS Audio PerfectWave DAC with Bridge 2, Audio Research SP16 tube pre, and a Bryston 4BST into Aerial 10T mkii speakers. The Bryston failed recently, blowing 2 fuses in the right channel. It's 3 years out of the 20-year warranty. In my conversation with Bryston, they mentioned an option for trade-in credit toward the 4B3 or other product and I'm waiting for those details. My local dealer (Rochester NY) loaned me an Atoll IN100, which (in bypass mode) is underpowered relative to the speakers but which gives me a sense of the Atoll sound. He suggested the Atoll AM300 (https://www.atoll-electronique.com/en/products/power-amplifiers/am300/). The 4BST gave 400 watts per channel into these 4-ohm speakers. The Atoll offers 280 watts per channel into 4 ohms. I'm interested in power to resolve detail. Typical listening is chamber music, orchestral, piano, acoustic world music, and some electronic composers. The 4B3 offers 500 watts per 4-ohm channel. I'm waiting to hear from Bryston on the trade-in credit and lean that way because the 4BST was magnificent. Any thoughts on Atoll, on Rogue (also on offer from my local dealer), on the 4B3, or something else with the power to make these big speakers sing?
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Bryston amps have evolved significantly and that amp owes you nothing at this point so I’d say it’s time to move on with newer Bryston or something else. I recently brought my fully upgraded McCormack DNA 0.5 amp over to a friend’s house who runs a Bryston 3BSST2 and we both preferred the McCormack across the board. It was more dynamic, robust, with better fleshed out tonality with more weight and naturalness. In short, it made the music come more alive. Here’s a DNA-1 you could have sent right to SMcAudio for upgrades and for around $4200 all in you’d have a true SOTA amp It puts out 185Wpc into 8 Ohms and doubles into 4 Ohms so should have no problem with your 10Ts Just another option to ponder, and best of luck. |
This Van Alstine will make those speakers sing! https://avahifi.com/collections/power-amplifiers/products/dva-set-500-stereo-power-amplifier |
Good suggestions here about contacting Bryston and ask for more in-depth advisory and options for your consideration since they do rebuild older amps. Reading the Bryston support forum there was a thread about one owner wanting to upgrade from 4BST to 4BSST and notable differences back in 2014, ten years ago. If I were in your shoes, for $800 you could ask if its just [same] parts replacement only -or- any form of a platform upgrade to newer gen amp design in any way? If its a parallel repair move at best A) you could ask what other new or used amp they have around [trade-in] to see if money might be spent on one of the newer generations amps instead. or B) could they re-use your chassis and transformer and put the newer generation guts in your chassis somehow for say $1500 w/warranty - worth asking. I’d be curious to see what they could do for you. Best of luck. |
Bryston amps dont seem to have a “house sound” like say a McIntosh. I have 2 7bSSTs that drive my woofers and when my ARC was out for te-tubing and biasing they ran the whole show. To my ear they were detailed and fast. Things like cymbol and bass cello decay were clean and realistic. All that being said were I you I’d buy a lightly used set of 7bSSTs for 5k before spending that anount on a 4b cubed. To my ear The cubed upgrade from the “Super Steve Tanner 2” is so subtle it’s unnoticeable. That’s just one man’s opinion and “your results may varry” 😇 |
A couple of years ago I provided a detailed post here regarding this same subject which I can now no longer find. I own a Bryston 4BST that at that time was a few years past the 20-year warranty. Bryston had an upgrade program in place for any generation amp to restore it to its original specs with new parts. I took them up on this. It cost about $1,500 though there were several options for upgrades that could be selected at different price points. My amp received extensive upgrades including all capacitors and output transistors. The amp was tested and burned in before it was returned with a new certificate of performance and three-year warranty. Bryston is known for repairing any amp of any generation at any time for any owner. I am very satisfied with the performance of my amp finding it as transparent and resolving as before with all of the power that I need. The sound is consistently open and well defined, with no hint of noise, distortion, or compression. I also own Bryston's BP 25 pre-amp and use both with my Dynaudio S1.4 LE speakers. My listening tastes are mostly classical - symphonic, chamber, and opera - and jazz, mostly small group. A few years ago, Soundstage Network published a review directly comparing the performance of the 4B3 to the 4BST. The 4BST acquitted itself well considering its age and it had not been reconditioned, but no, it's not a 4B3 and can't be made into one. At considerably less than the cost of the 4B3 though Bryston can and will make your 4BST continue to perform very well for years to come. Good luck with your decision. You can't lose with either one.
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I own a 4B3 and use it to drive PMC 25.26i. It's superb. I also have a 3BSST and have used 3BST and 4BSST in the past. They are all good, but I like the sound of the cubed series the best. Personally, I've always felt the 3B line is the goldilocks size-wise, so if I were to order one new I would aim for a 3B3. |
