Quad, Cyrus or Bryston?

[admin_exported]

Hi people,

I currently own Epos12.2 speakers and am looking for a serious top class amp. I'm considering the following;

Quad 909 stereo which has 140watts, the Cyrus monoblocks which are 150 watts, and the Bryston 3BSST2 which puts out 150 watts. There is also the Creek destiny which has 100watts. What do you think people?

Cheers : )

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

The watts mean very little and the amplifiers you mention all have very different presentations. What pre-amp and source are you using and what do you listen to? What are you trying to achieve with the new power?

I would suggest that all of the amps you have listed may be overkill for your speakers for the price of two cyrus monos or the Bryston you may get a better sound investing in a new set of speakers.

As a straight choice with no further info I would take the Bryston.

 

[Anonymous]

Gosh, what a mix of different sounds!

Creek - if it's anything like the Evo, with those speakers you should get a good PRAT sound. Not quite as PRAT as Naim but pretty rhythmic and forceful. Good for rock, pop, etc.

Cyrus - heard lots of good things about the MonoX but never heard them myself. I believe they'll sound fairly forward with lots of punch, detail and focus.

Quad 909/99 - very smooth, warmer than the others (esp the Cyrus MonoX) but with probably the best midrange. Current Dumping design is somewhat different to the other amps.

Bryston - very neutral and in control.

What sort of sound do you like?

 

[Anonymous]

You need to think this through, if you are looking at this quality of amplification it would be better to start from scratch.

Now your budget might not stretch to buy the whole sysem in one go, but you should audition until you find the sound you are after and build up the system as you can afford it.

Speakers need to be of much better quality to do justice to these amps you mention. Would put Musical Fidelity, Sugden in the list as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi people thanks for all responses. What am i trying to achieve with the power amp? I simply want to buy an outstanding power amp so i won't need to worry about upgrading later. I want to get it right from the start. I currently own Epos M12.2's, but i also own the Epos M22 speakers and am going to purchase PMCTB2I speakers in the near future. I will be using a passive Creek pre amp to run my new power amp and i want to buy something really special.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with the two previous responders. Your shortlist consists of different sounding gear.
I listened to the Quad, Cyrus and Bryston although not all together. My clear personal preference would be Bryston although I would recommend the 4BSST which is a lot more articulate than the 3BSST.
All of the above amps are a bit OTT for your speakers. But that shouldn't put you off. Buying the Bryston would give you unlimited options when and if you decide to upgrade your speakers. There aren't many speakers that the 4BSST couldn't drive.

 

[Anonymous]

quantum:Hi people thanks for all responses. What am i trying to achieve with the power amp? I simply want to buy an outstanding power amp so i won't need to worry about upgrading later. I want to get it right from the start. I currently own Epos M12.2's, but i also own the Epos M22 speakers and am going to purchase PMCTB2I speakers in the near future. I will be using a passive Creek pre amp to run my new power amp and i want to buy something really special.
Getting a 'special' poweramp maks more sense if you are considering getting the PMC speakers. Try to listen the the Byston 4BSST with the PMCs. Some dealers sell them both. Do you live in london?

 

[Anonymous]

Im in melbourne, and unfortunately the PMC dealer doesnt sell Bryson. I'll definately go with one of these amps because from my understanding and research they are all quite special. Some people enjoy the auditioning, but personally i find it annoying lol, particularly if you have to go to different shops. The thing is different shops means different speakers and listening rooms ect, and the more variables that are introduced to the demo the harder it is to accurately compare sonic characteristics betweeen different amps. I might be able to borrow one of the amps, and possibly take it to an other shop.

 

[Anonymous]

I would go bryston, i own cyrus but at my local dealer they sell everything naim cyrus arcam audysee the lot also pmc and bryston. On occasions i have listened to many systems there but recently listened to a pmc and bryston combo, The guys are really good there they warned me not to listen to it because once heard eveything else will sound broken they said, guess what they were right the pmc speakers were those huge big things on metal standsthe amps were around 3500 it was silly basically they said everyone who could afford that setup once listened to bought it now my stereo is broke.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi sjj.

Which PMC model are u talking about ? for 4B ?

ak.

 

[Frank Harvey]

quantum: Hi people,

I currently own Epos12.2 speakers and am looking for a serious top class amp. I'm considering the following;

Quad 909 stereo which has 140watts, the Cyrus monoblocks which are 150 watts, and the Bryston 3BSST2 which puts out 150 watts. There is also the Creek destiny which has 100watts. What do you think people?

Cheers : )

Well, those three manufacturers are all quite different, so it's worth an audition if you can. All three can pretty much drive anything, so you'll not have any issues in that department.

The Quad is very smooth with a lovely organic midrange, the Cyrus has a nice fat bass to it, and the Bryston, to me, is the most neutral one of the bunch. Choose to suit.

 

[Scissor_digits]

sjj - just as an FYI a certain national newspaper is currently running a competition for £10k worth of Bryston and PMC kit.

 

[Anonymous]

Got to be honest..I've heard PMC's being driven by very expensive bryston gear and It just did not do it for me.

At the same time heard PMC's being driven by much cheaper naim gear and I thought there was no contest. I cannot comment on quad but I've always thought cyrus presents very similar to naim so I would be tempted to at least have a listen to the cyrus but do try and even the price points if you can. Cyrus dealers to have a habbit of just setting up simple set ups. make sure you go for the full cream experience ie pre , power(s) +a smattering of psxrs on everything for good measure and all hooked together with good cables.

If the cyrus set up is more expensive remember you can always achieve it in stages which possibly the bryston you cannot.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Did you hear the set up at a hi-fi show? I usually find that Bryston and PMC just don't perform anywhere near their potential at hi-fi shows because of the small hotel rooms - PMC needs room to breathe, especially on the end of Bryston.