“One of the big surprises though this year was the introduction of the Bryston line of speakers.
No need to introduce the Canadian manufacturer and its no-nonsense balls-to-the-wall electronics pairing finesse with huge muscle at prices mere mortals can hope to be able to afford one day. They took the same approach to speaker design. To my complete and utter disbelief it worked.
I said disbelief because nothing could be further away from what I usually enjoy than a large tower with two dome tweeters, two dome midrange drivers and three woofers per side. The off-chance that such a conglomerate could actually sound coherent, nimble and fun baffled me but the fact was, this system with a BDP-2 file player and BDA-2 DAC driving a pair of massive 28B-SST2 power amps into the $6.495/pair Model T speakers sounded pretty good, engaging and lively without harsh edges.
I am not about to renounce high-efficiency widebanders or simple two-ways. If I did though, the Bryston Model T would mandate further careful listening. Compared to the similarly priced Rosso Fiorentino the Bryston packed far more bass power and slam but gave up on midrange resolution and tonal accuracy. For a first attempt and at this price, color me impressed.”