Felix- You must of remembered something from another thread.
Charles- Not more noise during playing something, just kind of the noise floor at idle. (Which I guess would translate to absolute s/n. but that's not really what I'm trying to get at.)
I'm not really saying a less powerful amp would better performing than a higher power version, just that for a particular application, could it be a better fit?
Yogi- Yes: same (or very similar) design in each case, just lower or higher power versions thereof.
Actually, I have a 4b-st (250W/ch), but I haven't had any luck in finding a "matching" 200W/ch, 5 channel amp for 7.1.
So I just made a deal for a 5b-st and an 8b-st. (120W/ch, 3 chs plus 4 chs.) And I'm still somewhat trying to rationalize that. Mike- right on: the 250W 4b-st is only 3 dB "louder" than the other two. And, Bryston always includes actual power testing results with their amps, and that 120W/ch monoblock module always tests to around 150W/ch. (But the 4b-st I have tested to exactly 300W/ch!)
As far as hiss, I'm just talking about idle. Someone else told me they had this experience too. Not 10 feet away from the speaker at the listening position.
Ear right up against the speaker kind of thing.
Remember, one of my "assumptions" is that I will never overdrive the smaller amp, so distortion from that never comes into play. (I will watch for this though, the color of the Bryston LEDs will tell me if that happens.)
Wayne- Hard to explain what I'm trying to get across. A friend of mine (same guy as up above) mentioned something about trying to run a pre/pro (receiver) referenced to Avia at as close as possible to 0dB to try and use the benefit of all the bits in the bit length of the DACs. ("More" dynamic range.) And then I add my experience with the equipment I use at work. And someone mentioned on the Outlaw site about using the 7100 instead of the bigger 755 or 770, again, to specifically use a greater portion of the power band of the amp in typical useage. Just made me think and try to connect them all. One last try: I have a V8 Mustang, right? Once a month or so, I do 0 - 80 mph runs, going to redline in gears 1, 2, and 3. In other words, I want to specifically use as much of the power envelope of the car as I can (at that time). Sort of different in that I want to clean the fuel injectors, break anything that will break at my choosing of time and place rather than randomly. Any of that make sense? Maybe it doesn't apply to power amps? (But the hiss thing I have heard myself on two occasions, and it wouldn't surprise me with the Brystons too.) Kind of like would I expect any "better" performance by running in the mid-voltage/current range of the output devices rather than in the bottom 10-20% kind of thing. I don't know... :b