Bryston loudspeakers are built in Canada like a BRICK OUTHOUSE. They sound great and are so reliable they come with a 20 year warranty! Nothing else does- except Bryston analog electronics!
And believe me, a five year warranty runs out a lot faster than you expect. Further, today companies look at service as a profit center, not a “thank you card” to previous buyers.
As we look at the wide wide world of loudspeakers, there are HUNDREDS of brands. Why should you consider Bryston? For starters, re-read the first paragraph.
Bryston speakers were created because designer James Tanner, Bryston’s CEO, saw an opportunity.
Companies who had made speakers in N America or Europe literally fought to stay alive as the recession hit in 2009. Their prices have rocketed up to unbelievable numbers compared to pre recession days.
Today they are charging ARTISAN pricing. You’re often looking at $30k a pair for a well built competitor with two 8s, a mid and tweet in a substantial cabinet. Bryston’s Middle T runs $8600 per pair and takes a back seat to nobody.
But this entry is about Bryston’s less expensive A Series.
Bryston A’s
Bryston’s A’s have been built around the company’s prodigious 6.5” woofer. Bryston’s Ts are built around an 8. These are no average drivers bought out of a bin from the other side of the world. The A Series woof is a very heavy, cast frame driver made by Bryston in Canada.
The A Series models are legit 3-ways with sophisticated crossovers. When you look at Bryston’s competitors, most are 2 ½ ways which can be OK, but aren’t as precise as Brystons.
When Bryston started making speakers they didn’t have their own facility for that purpose- even though they’ve made electronics since the 60s in Peterborough. James designed the speakers and had Axiom, a friendly Canadian speaker company down the road an hour, do the construction, assembly and shipping. The arrangement accomplished what Bryston desired- which was to have speakers built like a tank at competitive pricing. Bryston didn’t have to create a new building with all the logistics that would have doubled the price of the speakers.
The joint venture was an instant home run! Bryston and Axiom merged some years ago and now are ONE, with James as CEO. Some of our competitors have knocked the relationship of Bryston and Axiom. That kind of talk was mean spirited, foolish and moot.
The vast majority of competitors in the A Series price range ($4k per pair on down) are built by job houses in the far east. They’re lighter, flimsier and sound brighter than Bryston. There are some job houses making a dozen brands or more. You could literally create speakers from their menu of drivers and boxes, wire them money, and have boxes show up at your door that say “Milwaukee Speakers” or whatever. This is exactly how many brands you see in the rags are made.
What’s more, there are American and Euro brands who simply buy parts from vendors and assemble them. Their vendors can be ANYBODY. Yet the brands brag up being “American” despite having a bunch of cheap far east parts screwed into some box in the US.
I find it mighty haughty that guys who sell speakers like these denigrated Bryston speakers. Some of these companies even reasoned that they didn’t need to build their own drivers because Scanspeak or Vifa did such a good job that it would have been a waste of time.
James did the design. He hired Axiom to custom build them in their existing facility. Pricing landed quite fairly due to the efficiency of manufacturing. To start from scratch and create a manufacturing entity from the ground up would have ramped up pricing. Price always matters.
Bryston A Models
Bryston has made the Mini A, A3 and A2 speakers for a decade. We’ve sold loads of them with pride. Their top end is Steinway smooth and their bass is unsurpassed for definition and power for the price points. By the way, they are 3-ways and ALL STILL UNDER WARRANTY.
To put matters into perspective… we sold the Paradigm Studio 100 for about $3k just over a decade ago. I liked it. It had an open top end, though brighter than Bryston. Its bass however, wasn’t close to A3. It was skimpier and easily hit its limits if you pushed it. You don’t push your speakers- do you? It had a nice sounding aluminum mid driver that broke far too frequently a few years down the road. The price to replace that mid driver is $447. You probably blew two by the way. Oh, and the drivers are NOT AVAILABLE now. Paradigm is out of them and has no idea when they’ll be back in stock, IF they will be. I just called them! Oh, and if you do pay a grand for a couple of new mids, the warranty on them is 90 days. And remember, if you bought A3 at the same time, you not only have much deeper bass and smoother highs, you’re only half way through your warranty.
Bryston is a seriously, passionate, ethical audio company that makes speakers and electronics. You might wonder why I point this out. Isn’t everyone?
Well, NO. When you start reading forums online you’ll see many a speaker “company” is a guy or two who are working on a shoestring. They take your online order and, get back to you at their speed. Sometimes they’re responsive. Sometimes you have to chase them to get your speakers. How confident should you be that an outfit like this will come through for you with speakers? Or, even if they do, what are the odds that any warranty they offer will be good in a couple years? How about 20 years?! Bryston has 50 years (!!) of solid history and customer service behind it. Doing biz with Audio Emporium and Bryston is a safe proposition!
Time To Revise
Bryston has decided to revise the A Series speakers. They cannot continue to make these boys for the current pricing.
A Series Close Out
This brings us to the end of the A Series as we know it. We have Mini A black demos left at attractive prices that still come with full 20 year warranty!
They produce class shattering bass and yet have a Steinway smooth top end.