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From: ph@ama-1.ama.caltech.edu (Paul Hardy)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Bryston preamps
Message-ID: <8400@uwm.edu>
Date: 17 Dec 90 14:04:17 GMT
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In article <8276@uwm.edu> jacob@psyche.mit.edu (Jacob Feldman) writes:

   Concerning the request for opinions on Bryston preamps--

   About two years ago I did a fairly extensive preamp comparison
   in the <$1000 range, which included extensive home listening
   of the Bryston, VTL (tube), PS Audio 4.6, Adcom, and also
   the much more expensive Threshold FET 10 (~$2200).
   ...
      The VTL was, well, tuby. Very noisy and unreliable sounding,
   too, with all sorts of tonal problems, like rampant coloration. 

   -jacob


Which preamp was it?  I have a VTL Super DeLuxe preamp, and the thing is
DEAD silent.  The phono section is the best I've heard, though I haven't
had the nerve to audition anything more expensive (you know where that
can lead!)  The phono section sure beats the Moscode SuperIT that it replaced
(and that got me back into tubes after years of assuming tubes were defunct
for, well, "obvious reasons"), and it was better than any solid-state preamps
in its range (on a MM cartridge, a Stanton 881).

I think the phono section that's in the Super DeLuxe is used in some of their
less expensive preamps like the DeLuxe, which is a Super DeLuxe without the
outboard power supply.  I suppose having an outboard supply makes it quiet,
in all fairness.  I never listened to the DeLuxe.  I got the Super DeLuxe
after reading favorable reviews, followed by favorable listening sessions.
That was three or four years ago.  I'm still perfectly satisfied with it.

                                   --Paul