Bryston 3b, 4b and Denon (1 Viewer)

[Rob Wallenberg]

I cooked up some crack pot scheme involving a Bryston 3B a 4B and a denon 2803. I was kinda thinking about using the 4B to Power my paradigm Monitor 11's, the 3B to Power my Paradigm ADP-170's and then finally using the denon to power paradigm cc-370. At this point ive only got the two seperate amps and the reciever. My question was will this arrangment sound silly with the wide range of power output on all 3 of my amps. The 4b is 250 x 2, the 3b is 100 x 2 and the denon is only 90 watts to the center channel.

 

[Arthur S]

As long as you can use your receivers test tones to balance the actual speaker output, it won't matter.

In an absolute worst case scenario, the gain of the different amps could be so different that you could not achieve the proper balance from your speakers. This is almost certainly not going to happen but that is the worst case.

The different power output of the 3 different amps, (2 external, 1 internal, is not a problem).

Set it up, balance your speaker output and let us know if there is a problem. If either of the external amps have gain controls that will help.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

It’s a ridiculous idea, Rob. Send those Brystons to me c/o General Delivery, Katy, TX.

Seriously, the power difference doesn’t matter much. It’s like when you tool around town in a 500 horsepower sports car. The 4b won't put out the power it has available unless it’s asked to. I’ve been using a 250-watt Adcom for my L/R mains and the receiver for the other channels for years, and it’s worked fine.

The only problem that might arise would be if your receiver was overtaxed driving the speakers you have, and distorting. Using outboard amps for some speakers but not others would end up with those left on the receiver still distorting.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[MikeDuke]

I have the 4b-ST and the 5b-ST. The 5b is the same as the 3b only with one more channel. I have the 5b on the center and surrounds and the 4b on the front L/R. I have not noticed any major problem with volume

 

[DaveHo]

I would power the center with one channel of the 3b & use the Denon's amps for the surrounds. This should give you a more consistent sound stage across the front. In addition, the center would certainly benefit from the additional power the 3b will be able to deliver. I wouldn't really view it as "wasting" a channel on the 3b as it should be able to delver slightly more power with only one channel in use.

-Dave

 

[Jason GT]

I second the idea of using the 3B for the CC instead of the surrounds as the CC is far more important than the surrounds.

In fact you may be able to bridge the 3B and not "waste" a channel of it at all.

 

[Arthur S]

Rob

Will you be using the Large speaker setting or the Small speaker setting?

 

[MikeDuke]

Powering the center speaker with the amp will make a huge difference. I started to hear dialog much cleaner and clearer when I did that. On SPR I heard dialog on the beach I never heard before. It should make a noticeable difference.