Bryston A3 Speakers, $3290 Per Pair
(37.5h, 9.25w, 15d, 53 lbs, 87 dB, 6 ohms, Walnut, Black, Boston Cherry))
Bryston’s A3 is THE speaker that separates the men from the boys. Or, more specifically, A3 distinguishes muscle and upper crust quality manufacturing, from mediocrity and spotty reliability.
A3 is priced right there with a zillion Chinese imports. It is built to a better, more beefy level of performance. Not only does A3 wield a heavy sledge hammer in the bass, it sounds Steinway Smooth and is tough as nails. You’ll find its $3k-ish competition isn’t close- in sound or durability.
A3 is built in Bryston’s own factory in Canada and comes with a 20 year warranty. Not bad for starters!
A3 delivers tectonic plate moving bass. As you look at the modest size of this tower you might not suspect that. But I promise- it does.
You see, A3 is not some flimsy tower from half way around the world, built in a job house, that will be lucky to make it through its 3-5 year warranty period. A3 is made of thick Canadian Rangerwood which is more dense and yields tighter/clearer sound than MDF. It is reinforced with bracing struts that run horizontally and vertically- creating a matrix of rigidity which can only be surpassed by far more costly materials.
Bryston builds its own drivers in its own house, in Canada. They don’t buy them from a vendor!
Bryston drivers are built to their Reference Standard. Every Bryston driver has to graph within a scant variance from STANDARD. Bryston makes its own drivers it has total control of the manufacturing details. Consequently, all drivers perform close to “perfect.”
With the imports you’ll get driver graphs all over the board. They are not built within slight tolerances from a standard. They have no chance of sounding as transparent, or imaging as well as Bryston. If you need a tweeter (for ex) down the road, there’s little chance it will sound identical to the one it replaced- or the tweeter that is in the mating speaker.
Bryston sends all of its speakers through a torture test before they’re passed on to ship. The speakers have to pass a battery of measurements tests and survive a 24 hour burn in marathon before they’re cleared to come to us. The other guys… screw drivers into a box and blast them out the door five minutes later.
A3 is a full fledged 3-way, using one Titanium tweeter, one cast frame Anodized Aluminum 5” midrange, and a pair of cast frame 6.5” Anodized Aluminum woofers. The frames and magnet structures are extremely hearty which is why Bryston generously offers its 20 year warranty. Bryston speakers even come with their own, hockey puck styled leveling feet. You don’t need spikes.
Lets analyze driver technology a bit more. Bryston’s drivers use contiguous, non sandwiched materials of Titanium or Anodized Aluminum. They do this to insure the drivers move in a linear fashion and don’t have any flex loss or extraneous resonance. When companies “sandwich” materials, it’s like swimming with your boots on. For example, B&W uses a what they call a carbon dome tweeter. But what it actually is- is an aluminum dome with carbon particles sprinkled on to the aluminum in attempts to make it stronger. Swimming with boots on. Their Continuum cone mid drivers are constructed like Kevlar. It’s a woven composite material. Swimming with your boots on. Their woofers are called aerofoil. That’s their buzzword for using paper skins, with styrofoam in between the skins- to create a woofer sandwich. Swimming with your boots on.
What about the imports? You typically find a lightweight MDF cabinet that MIGHT have a little stuffing in it. The drivers are typically not cast frame construction- they’re stamped. The cones are routinely constructed of paper or plastic. This has become the industry standard.
The imports are typically made in job houses we’ve never heard of- that belch out MANY brands. One such job house can ship brand A today, brand B tomorrow and some radar detectors the day after. They’ll make speakers for YOU, if you wire them the money. They’ll give you a menu of parts to choose from. Tweeters are column A, mids are column B, woofs are column C, wood finishes are column D, etc. The speakers will arrive at your door with your company logo on the box. You never have to touch them. The first time you actually HEAR them is when you open the first boxes. While there might be three or four drivers in the box, these imports are often just 2.5 ways. Sometimes the sneaky SOBs will incorporate passive radiators that look just like active drivers and hope you won’t ask too many questions. See Polk XT60 and KEF Q950.
The imports are typically supported for their warranty period and not much beyond. Most of the well known brands you see advertised will NOT have replacement drivers in a decade. Parts at that juncture have to be procured from enterprising third parties- who know they have you over a barrel. You’ll pay dearly. Further, the part you buy to replace a defective is likely not to be a very close match for the original. Your chances of getting transparent sound and well focused imaging is only a hope and a prayer.
With Bryston, a decade down the road you’ll only be half way through your warranty period. I can tell you that a decade flies by pretty fast. Investing in Bryston now, not only gives you better sound, but you’ll be shocked at repair costs from the other guys.
A3 has remarkably deep bass. Its timbrel balance is smooth- not biting. As a die hard classical piano fan I love that the midrange and top end aren’t brittle or glassy. Bryston speakers are absolutely voiced to be Steinway Smooth.
If your budget is anywhere $3k, please step up to Bryston’s A3. A3 will give you better sound than the imports and 5 years down the road, you won’t be vulnerable to a rip off repair.
