Brand watch : Cyrus

[chebby]

I was alluding to the rack.... and there's some floozy sitting by the side of the Cyrus. *mosking*

Hopefully it's the owner who bought it to replace her loser ex-boyfriend's Crosley!

 

[Alberich]

Haven't been able to look at my Cyrus the same way from the day I realised all the internal components are upside down !

In all seriousness though I personally don't mind the shoebox look. If the savings that are made on the mass molding of those little chassis are invested in the internals, that's fine by me.
I've had amps with far superior build quality and finish than Cyrus but few of them have delivered up the music in the way those little boxes do.

 

[steve_1979]

I think the half width boxes look cool. One of the best systems I've heard was a pair of top of the range Vienna Acoustics floorstanders on the end of several thousand pounds worth of Cyrus separates. I'm not sure exactly what models but there was a CD player, a pre-amp, two mono power amps, and several PSUs there.

It didn't sound bright or harsh or lacking bass or anything like that. Just well balanced and very clear with that feeling of lots of power in reserve even though it wasn't being pushed. The clarity, smoothness and ease of the sound actually reminded me of top quality active speakers.

I've never heard one of the low or middle ranger Cyrus systems though so I have no idea what they are like.

 

[plastic penguin]

Joking aside (sorry steve), when matched correctly, Cyrus can sound impressive. And I like the dinky proportions.

 

[plastic penguin]

Duplicate post

 

[steve_1979]

Joking aside (sorry steve), when matched correctly, Cyrus can sound impressive. And I like the dinky proportions.

Nah I don't mind. I was just kiddin' really.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Not many people hear the signature systems which are seriously impressive. There aren't many that do detail, dynamics, speed and insight as well. Think Electronic music like kraftwerk and the speed and dynamics, and that's what Cyrus is about. Not as deep on bass tonally as some systems but with those mono x300 amps they go seriously deep anywY, but who needs loads of bass at home anyway?

 

[plastic penguin]

Not everyone wants eye-watering detail retrieval. IMHO emotion is more important.

My old Leema Pulse had very grippy bass, every bit as good as any price compatible Cyrus. The ebb and flow in the LFs was staggering. The Tucana takes that a few levels further up the scale.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

If you are spending £5k plus you can get detail and everything besides pretty much. I don't know what you mean by emotion, but what's most important for me is detail so you can hear all the layers and the way the track is made up, then dynamics and ability to go on and off. Then speed. But Cyrus has lots of emotion in the music in the signature stuff. Your Tucana should do these well too, but I wouldn't expect almost all amplifiers at the level of the pulse to compete with amplifiers in the £8-£10k Range. Sorry not real world. You can't say that the Cambridge audio recommended would be as good as your amplifier. It just doesn't work I'm afraid.

 

[plastic penguin]

If you are spending £5k plus you can get detail and everything besides pretty much. I don't know what you mean by emotion, but what's most important for me is detail so you can hear all the layers and the way the track is made up, then dynamics and ability to go on and off. Then speed. But Cyrus has lots of emotion in the music in the signature stuff. Your Tucana should do these well too, but I wouldn't expect almost all amplifiers at the level of the pulse to compete with amplifiers in the £8-£10k Range. Sorry not real world. You can't say that the Cambridge audio recommended would be as good as your amplifier. It just doesn't work I'm afraid.

Intimate sounding is what I mean "emotion".

I wouldn't recommend Cambridge with MA speakers. They don't match very well.

I've never said the Pulse would compete with 5k or 8k amps. I did say "price compatible" Cyrus amps e.g. Integrated such as the 8XP.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

Oh yes sorry, price compatible. Yes I'd maybe agree. Although the 8 2 dac (not old 8xp) with qx dac card and a psx-r2 power supply is a very good combo. But maybe not same price.

Intimate I think is lots of detail and dynamics and layering, which cyrus does extremely well at signature level. It's also very natural because the more lifelike and detailed the more real it is. So long as you don't have to much edginess and raspiness, like with digital recordings and when you get lispiness on female vocals. But I don't get that much, only with bad Recordings. Making it warm in the mid range like if you go for naim pre and power stuff at say £5k worth of kit, which I've heard with my speakers, takes this detail away making it less lifelike, more smoothed out, and it seems to give the impression of less dynamics in the mids because of this bass smoothness. That's why I couldn't get on with the leema. Also the Cyrus and pmc twenty5 match works extremely well and is balanced with cyrus giving an adding kick of detail and dynamics and the pmc's giving decent smoothness anyway. The pmc's are very dynamic already and I hardly hear any combo in shops as dynamic and detailed as my system at the same price. It tends to be too smoothed Rich hi fi with detail removed. Don't really like that sound atvexpense of dynamics and detail. My impression is if you want to get the richness On top of the detail and dynamics I have already you have to spend a lot more. I've heard about £16k of naim stuff with some twenty5 24s which I sat listening to for an hour. It had absolutely everything. Detail, dynamics, smoothness, richness and power.

People often say they don't like a sound, until you go to the top of the range. So I wouldn't like naim stuff around the same price as mine, but go and hear the really top notch naim stuff, it's a different league. It's the same with Cyrus, I'm sure it's more marked with less bass smoothness the cheaper you go. In fact it is. I had a 6dac like that, hence why people say they don't like Cyrus and I probably can't blame them, but with 200 and 300 watt mono power amps in the cyrus signature stuff it's not the same thing at all as you've great amounts of bass thump. I tried my system with some Michell alectos. Huge mono power amps, and bags of power, and not much difference in power and bass.

Id agree with Cambridge audio, they have really good sources but the amps are not much cop. But you tend to get that where the amps in the brand are maxed out at £1700 it seems.

 

[CnoEvil]

People often say they don't like a sound, until you go to the top of the range. So I wouldn't like naim stuff the same price as mine, but go and hear the really top notch naim stuff, it's a different league. It's the same with Cyrus, I'm sure it's more marked with less bass smoothness the cheaper you go. In fact it is. I had a 6dac like that, hence why people say they don't like Cyrus and I probably can't blame them, but with 200 and 300 watt mono power amps in the cyrus signature stuff it's not the same thing at all.

Speaking for myself....if I don't like a brand, then that applies all the way up the range....but brands that I do like, I find get better and better as they go up the range.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

That's fair enough and your taste. But on the music sound front, I think the problem cyrus have with their relative budget stuff, is that the basic amps are very low power. So the 6dac is over £1000 and it's a 40 watt amp. It's detailed for what it does but not much guts to say something like a rega elex r, which probably competes better in all areas at similar price. Also the rega will give a lot more rounded smoother sound which tends to be the preferred sound of anyone who has heard music through past cheaper systems. Also likes of creek and rega etc. Comes from all our old stereos pumping out smooth sound. Remember the 80s tape to tape all in one units etc, doing this.

Same too with Cyrus 8dac, now only 70 watts. The elicit r from rega has much more power and it will be smoother and it's a similar price to the Cyrus 8dac. So what people are often reacting too and fairly is the preference for more punch and bass, for less detail. That's fair enough. But when you go to signature you get everything. I'm not really interested in the brand per see but the sound, but I do think Cyrus customer service is shocking. I don't like marantz as a brand, nor most Japanese hi fi, but give me some of their really top stuff, I'd bite their arm off.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

They had a Cyrus one with some pmc 25-23s I think this year. Not sure about last. But when I went in their room downstairs they had their full signature system like mine, in a rack in the corner and not plumbed in to speakers. Just a display of the units. But this is quite a bit better than a Cyrus one obviously. I suspect they had the full sig system last year on demo.

I'd say it would work with rega (rs5 rega right?) as they might bring out more detail in those regas. I demoed the rs7s before I bought my pmc's but I think exposure amps have equally lots of detail, so if you are doing anything speakers is what I'd look at if I were you. Only my preference for a bit more detail, and dynamics and bass response. the rs7s were easily outclassed by pmc twenty 23s, but just my preference.

 

[jjbomber]

Not everyone wants eye-watering detail retrieval. IMHO emotion is more important.

Absolutely. The toes tapping are as important as the ears ringing.

It's a bit like cars. Mercedes build a better car than BMW, technically well ahead. Which would I rather to fling around a corner at a silly speed? Give me the BMW every day of the week.

 

[plastic penguin]

I can only vouch based on my own experience, but Cyrus, as with Rotel amplification, and if poorly matched, can veer into an analytical presentation. That, IMHO, is down to an overly detailed sound that can make Cyrus sound thin and uninvolving (lack of emotion). However, with the right speakers that could be nulified. (This is based purely on integrated amps from Cyrus).

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I heard spendor a6r with Cyrus signature stuff and I thought the spendors a bit toppy on high frequencies, unlike pmc's (20-23) which I bought and a much better balanced with bass and treble. If you go for pmc at some stage I'd heavily recommend the twenty5 range I bought, which would go awesomely with exposure I'm sure. Exposure is a little bit like Cyrus I think, lots of detail and dynamically strong. I heard some new exposure amps in an isotek demo this year. Some Larsen speakers like the neat iota alphas, were used. Not particularly expensive amps or these Larsen speakers and I was really impressed with the exposure amps.

I don't know why Cyrus used the a6r with the signature stuff but maybe to bring out more detail and higher frequencies, and the older 20-23s were maybe a little bit too relaxed on detail, but this cannot be said of the 25 range. They are easily better then the a6r imho. You'd notice a big jump up from rs5s I'm sure.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I can only vouch based on my own experience, but Cyrus, as with Rotel amplification, and if poorly matched, can veer into an analytical presentation. That, IMHO, is down to an overly detailed sound that can make Cyrus sound thin and uninvolving (lack of emotion). However, with the right speakers that could be nulified. (This is based purely on integrated amps from Cyrus).

i found rotel totally different and not analytical and detailed at all with some tannoy dc6t Se speakers. I bought the cyrus 6dac about 5 years ago which I've long since sold, but I demoed a rotel intergrated amp with a dac around a grand, I think the ra12, and the 6dac was easily more detailed or analytical if we call it that. I agree it's all about the speakers. My spacious tannoys I had with big soundstage weren't hugely bass wacking but I got a very dispersive sound with the 6dac, and all in a good combo. The tannoys were quite warm too so that was already there, a bit like my pmc's are warm but in another level.

 

[jonathanRD]

They had a Cyrus one with some pmc 25-23s I think this year. Not sure about last. But when I went in their room downstairs they had their full signature system like mine, in a rack in the corner and not plumbed in to speakers. Just a display of the units. But this is quite a bit better than a Cyrus one obviously. I suspect they had the full sig system last year on demo.

I'd say it would work with rega (rs5 rega right?) as they might bring out more detail in those regas. I demoed the rs7s before I bought my pmc's but I think exposure amps have equally lots of detail, so if you are doing anything speakers is what I'd look at if I were you. Only my preference for a bit more detail, and dynamics and bass response. the rs7s were easily outclassed by pmc twenty 23s, but just my preference.

The Cyrus room in the basement in Bristol 2016 definitely had Spendor A6R's because I made a note of them and posted on this forum about the vinyl demo.

My Exposure pre/power is not going anywhere but you are correct about my speakers - they will be my next upgrade. I am really enjoying the sound from my setup at the moment, but by all accounts I can improve the sound with better speakers. But unless a deal comes along too good to miss for a pair of Spendors or PMC's I will wait a while before looking properly.

 

[jonathanRD]

At the 2016 Bristol Show, I heard some Cyrus electronics in between a Mitchell turntable and Spendor A6R speakers - that sounded very good indeed. It was in the Cyrus demo room and as I was at the back, I could not see what the Cyrus models were.

Curiously, over the years my local dealer never suggested Cyrus despite stocking them. It was always Rega, Arcam and Naim put to me first for amplifiers, and a local pre-power set up I forget the name of. Maybe they felt based on my current kit at the time, Cyrus wasn't for me?

 

[plastic penguin]

About 18 months ago I dem'd (Richer Sounds) a Cyrus Lyric with Tannoy Precision 6.1. I didn't like the presentation at all. I commented on here at the time that I thought Tannoy would be better suited to either Arcam or Roksan Kandy. Tannoy IMO requires a less edgy presentation.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

I know some people on a forum who have tannoy precision stuff with Cyrus but I think you are right, this tannoy precision stuff is very detailed and it might be over the top with Cyrus. A bit like if you put kef reference (also very detailed) with Cyrus. My tannoys I had were far from massively detailed hence the cyrus 6 dac worked. I heard a lyric with some monitor audio silver 2 speakers in richer sounds about 2 months ago and I liked that combo. Quite balanced. But the Cyrus one is a lot better and punches above its weight with its class d amplification, so rather than the lyric, which is a bit of a compromise with all the streaming and cd stuff in it, I'd always go for a Cyrus one instead. You can put the Cyrus one with ridiculously sized speakers and it still works well. But I think it's like a £1400 amp in the guise of a £700 one.

 

[jonathanRD]

I don't know why Cyrus used the a6r with the signature stuff but maybe to bring out more detail and higher frequencies, and the older 20-23s were maybe a little bit too relaxed on detail,

From memory the demo was all about the quality of vinyl - using an expensive Mitchell turntable to play a 'quality pressing' of a vinyl album from the Beatles - one that had been reproduced from the original tapes. They streamed first a digital version and then the vinyl version. Not sure what tricks they were playing (if any) but everyone in the room agreed that the vinyl version sounded the best.