Authorized Reprint from AUDIO 12/02
AUDIO - Europe's Big Magazine for HiFi Surround and Music
TEAM
SPIRIT
When the most modern separate decoder/preamps and multi-channel
amplifiers combine their forces, they can shock the audiophile world.
Home-theater and high end sound can be combined - at the highest
standard.
Test Participants
Bryston SP 1.7 / 9B SST - 12,400 Euro
REVIEWER: Bernhard Rietchel
Different than in the "stereo world", where quite a number
of good and reasonably priced separate preamp/amplifier combinations
are available, the two chassis systems for home-theater amplifiers
only start to appear in the high end price regions. Therefore, the
combination tested here, is definitely not a mid-fi product. Anyone
purchasing separate home-theater products usually have had experience
in the land of surround receivers.
When choosing a processor-preamp it helps if one first clarifies
what the future central control of the home-theater installation
is supposed to accomplish. Because while the manufacturers of top
receivers in a sort of "comfort armament race" try to
fill the gigantic rear panels up to the last square centimeter with
connections for every eventuality, no matter how unlikely. The designers
of the separate preamps and poweramps, usually because of a lack
of space, must determine what is truly relevant - with sometimes
spartan results. On the other hand the small numbers produced also
enable highly complex, sort of tailor made surround preamps/processors
and poweramps, which are adaptable to the most varied installation-room
setups.
Fundamentally Superior:
Anyone who has compared a separate processor/power amplifier combination
with an surround reciever, is perhaps astonished by the quality
of sound enhancement of the single components. The "surround
separatists" obtain their superiority for the most part not
from any special parts or circuit tricks, but from a fundamental
advantage: for them components are separate and independent and
should remain so.
Separate preamp/processors benefit from the absence of those massive
interference fields, which are created in power amplifiers due to
the high currents necessary to drive speakers. With the highly sensitive
mix of analog and digital signal processing which takes place in
home-theater processors, the banning of electro-magnetic troublemakers
is all the more necessary because we are dealing here with five
amplifier modules and not just two.
Bryston: The pure doctrine
Anyone wanting to achieve unusually strict audiophile purity, even
with his audio-visual components, is well advised to consider the
equipment from Bryston. The company in the Canadian province Ontario
has specialized for decades in amplifiers, and has gained an exceptionally
exclusive, practically uncontested, spot in the thinly populated
borderline between high-end and professional applications. Apparently
no one else wants to build products that can simultaneously enrapture
sensible audiophiles while withstanding rough rowdies (professionals).
Also the 20 year warranty, which starts with the manufacturing date,
is transferable to all subsequent owners, and has found few imitators.
Products designed to last 20 years must look either timeless, or
must already look 20 years old when purchased - The SP 1.7 processor/preamp
to a degree meets both goals. At first glance it has the appearance
of a genuine stereo classic with its row of little input buttons
and its well laid-out combination of volume and balance knobs. And
it is exactly that in two channel operation: The signal passes a
bank of relays, buffers, the volume potentiometer, and finally the
output stages filled up with sturdy discrete transistors, and then
it's already outside again - through especially massive RCA jacks
which Bryston has custom made for them from solid brass.
When the Alps motorized potentiometer analog volume control is
used with the surround modes the volume control directs a voltage
for triggering the surround sound volume IC's. What remains is the
satisfying "rotating feel", the good old arc of a circle
from left to right stop, which is so much more pleasant than the
endless rotating of the modern twirling impulse "hamster wheel."
In actual operation aside from the tiny two-line LCD display which
is difficult to decipher from afar, the Bryston SP 1.7 processor/preamp
must be considered exemplary. The THX-Ultra certified processor,
with full 7.1 channel usability, and equipped with all modern formats
from Dolby ProLogic II to DTS Neo:6 reacts so logically and without
frills, its adjustment menus so intelligible, that the experienced
(rather than suffering from the Japanese joy of the bizarre) user
is overcome with a strange feeling: it can't be this simple, the
Canadians must certainly have forgotten something.
Indeed the SP 1.7 is only lacking one feature which is otherwise
standard: The preamp has no video connections, no component, no
composite, no S-video jacks, and therefore no on-screen display.
(There is now an SPV1 Video switcher available from Bryston if video
switching and on screen display is required). Of course the video
capabilities are not omitted by chance. Anyone who has to manage
multiple video sources, will order a separate video switch box including
a video screen menu generator connected into the SP 1.7 RS 232 serial
port. On the other hand purists, argues Bryston, connect their DVD
player, and perhaps also their Sat-receiver, directly to their projector/TV
and therefore do not have to purchase a senseless, perhaps even
sound adverse product.
 Additional
Comments
While other processors more or less elegantly limit dramatic film
crescendos, with the SP 1.7 the sound picture grew and grew. Some
scenes for instance, the masterfully orchestrated opening of the
romantic, creepy "Sleepy Hollow" only became enjoyable
via the freedom from distortion, the unwavering marching bass, and
the phenomenal dynamic range of the Bryston components.
Conclusion
Bernhard Rietschel - AUDIO-Editor
The road to ultimate home theater sound leads through separate
processor/preamps carefully matched with multi-channel power amplifiers.
Purists will find their absolute dream combination at Bryston.
SUMMARY
| Bryston SP 1.7 Surround-Preamplifier
|
|
List Price |
7,000 Euro |
| Warranty |
20 years |
|
Dimensions |
Shelfmount - 17"x13.5"x3.8",
43.2cm.x34.3cm.x9.7cm.
Rackmount - 19"x13.5"x3.8",
48.3cm.x34.3cm.x9.7cm.
|
| THE AUDIOGRAM |
| Sound RCA/XLR |
Outstanding - 105/105 Points |
| Layout |
Very Good |
| Workmanship |
Outstanding |
| Operation |
Very Good |
| PRICE/PERFORMANCE |
Outstanding |
| AUDIO Rating
- Reference Class |
Translated from the German by Peter Ullman
We invite you to experience the Bryston SST2 Series amplifiers
20 Year Warranty - A Generation of Music
|
