The perfect blend of highly advanced technology & devotion to old-world craft

In a world of commodity purchases - where most things seem to need frequent upgrading, repair or replacement - have you ever wondered how Bryston can offer a 20-year warranty on every product we make? What is it about the way we design and manufacture our equipment that enables us to back your purchase with such a comprehensive, unconditional and fully transferable warranty?

The answer would quickly become apparent if you were to tour Bryston’s manufacturing facility in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada (one hour northeast of Toronto). No automated mass production here; no robotics, no moving assembly lines. Every Bryston audio component is handcrafted by people who take tremendous pride in building the very best.

This focus on quality goes much deeper than our assembly processes; it literally represents the driving force behind our entire approach to business.

It starts with exceptional design.

The extremely talented engineers in our design department begin working on each new product with a clean slate. Nothing is taken for granted. Just because we’ve employed a given design solution for several years doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it. We’re always questioning our assumptions. We believe it’s the fastest way to improvement.

Our engineers are never constrained by design costs for functionality. On the contrary, we challenge them to create the finest products they can; to source and use the best components; to move Bryston equipment ever-closer to perfection, while maximizing performance and reliability.

At Bryston, we take a holistic approach to our overall designs. Our significant investment in highly sophisticated CAD software allows our engineers to study 3-D renderings of every component part. Learning is shared among our whole team. Circuit-simulating programs show us how components are actually performing before we build the first prototype. Our engineers use this software to ‘pre-assemble’ entire amplifiers in real-time install each nut, each bolt, each capacitor on screen – testing for flaws, seeking even better solutions.

As part of our design discussions, we ask ourselves what we can learn from each new project and how we can apply it to our existing line of components. In fact, research and development are key to our ongoing success. We’re constantly challenging ourselves - and our suppliers - to develop new materials, new processes and new circuitry... new ways to reproduce superb sound.

Excellence in manufacturing.

Starting with a bare circuit board, for example, each component is hand selected and installed, every wire is cut and bent by hand, every connection is hand soldered. Sure, we could do the job much faster by employing wave-soldering machines typically used in large assembly operations. But that would mean exposing the entire board to a molten-metal bath, which is a source of extreme heat shock that could result in long-term reliability problems. Bryston’s focus on excellence just doesn’t allow for these kinds of short-cuts.

The skilled technicians that build Bryston products are not pressured by schedules or quotas. On average, it takes 30-35 person hours to assemble a single Bryston amplifier or preamplifier. Quality, not quantity.

We firmly believe that employees who feel valued are much more inclined to produce great products for our customers. That’s why, for example, we strive to make our manufacturing facility an exceptionally clean, friendly and comfortable place in which to work. Full-spectrum fluorescent lights wash the work area in a replication of sunlight to create a more natural, human environment, and the entire plant is air conditioned to enhance this level of comfort. Other progressive human-resource initiatives, such as flexible work hours and the opportunity to share in the company’s financial success, reflect our respect for everyone who works at Bryston.

Testing, and more testing.

At the point of final assembly, many manufactures immediately pack their amplifiers into boxes for shipment. However, at Bryston, there is still much more to do. Each of our fully assembled products is connected to what we call a "burn-in table." For example, during 100 hours of continuous testing, our amplifiers are monitored through a range of input cycles and thermal stress levels to duplicate a broad spectrum of operational loads. If any failures occur, we want to catch them here, before you begin using our product.

Then, and only then, are Bryston products sent to the final quality inspection area for a comprehensive and carefully documented test of all their functions. The printed results of this computer-aided analysis are actually shipped with each unit. During this intensive procedure, we reject any product that falls outside of our advertised specifications, or an even narrower band of specifications that we use for internal testing. As a result, you can expect each Bryston product to perform as least twice as well as the advertised specifications.

Protecting your investment.

In fact, our 20-year warranty drives us in a different direction from the typical commodity manufacturer. We consider your purchase of a Bryston product to be an investment. To protect that investment, we use only the very best component parts and the very finest manufacturing processes. We’ve learned that it costs us less in the long run if our products last longer. If a capacitor fails 19 years down the road, it’s going to cost us the same to replace it - and probably more - than if it failed one minute after the customer bought our equipment. So our ongoing objective is to deliver complete and lasting reliability.

Moreover, we understand the power of word-of-mouth advertising. Many people consider Bryston their final purchase. They’ve found the best and now they can stop looking. They know their Bryston component will provide outstanding listening enjoyment for decades to come. And they’ll probably tell their friends and colleagues about their purchase. Therefore, it simply makes good economic sense to produce the very best products we can, resulting in extremely satisfied customers who will become life-long advocates for our company.

Catering to the discerning buyer.

Consider the beautiful mechanical watches for which the Swiss are world famous. With modern quartz technology, it’s relatively easy to produce an inexpensive and highly accurate time piece. In fact, 97% of watches made in Switzerland today are quartz-driven. Yet, Swiss mechanical watches still represent more than 50% of that country’s watch market in terms of dollar volume.

Clearly, people are drawn to the exceptional, hand-crafted quality of a Swiss mechanical watch. Why? Because they understand and appreciate the care and skill that went into making it. To these buyers, it’s almost as if the watch has a ‘soul’ - a part of the craftsperson’s life force inside. Buyers want to own and hold onto something like that.

In a very real way, Bryston combines this old-world devotion to craft with highly advanced technology to create products with which people can form a similar affinity. Everyone at Bryston puts a little bit of their heart and soul into their work, always trying to do the very best they can.

It’s this collective sense of caring that produces audio components discerning customers desire to own. It is Bryston’s continual focus on excellence that enables us to back our products with the finest warranty in the industry.