We love the Bryston folks. We really do. They make stellar products with the industry’s best warranty- a mere 20 years P&L! But they’ve been more than a little guilty the last couple of years in announcing a product- and then it doesn’t actually come out for MONTHS!

     It’s just not fair to whet our appetites and then keep us hanging on the line so long! Such is the case with the spanking new BP-6 preamp.

     Bryston brought out the phenomenal BP-26 in 2004 for $3900. It’s a great product! It features a two chassis design- outboard power supply chassis of the same size as the control center. But we were sure hoping something less expensive would follow. In the fall Bryston announced BP-6 was in the offing for about $2525.

     BP-6 has landed and absolutely lives up to the advanced billing. The power supply is on board. It has a detachable power cord but you don’t have to place an outboard “wall wart” power supply module as some companies do. The BP-6 has a large supply on board and is still silent.

     You can get the BP-6 in black or silver. You can get it with phono built in ($1200 MC/MM, $550 MM). You can get it with a built in DAC ($1300). $2525 includes remote. If you don’t want remote BP-6 runs $2150.

     The standard version comes with four high level inputs AND a full tape monitor loop. It has a headphone jack. If you buy it without remote you can later just buy the hand held remote ($375) and you’re set. BP-6 features all single ended jacks.

     We’ve saved the best part for last. How does it sound? Wonderful! Musically it is just like its predecessor, the venerable BP-25 to these ears. BP-25 was, for its duration, among the very best preamps available on the market. It was known for smooth character and silent background. BP-6 sounds the same. BP-6 is cheaper because it doesn’t the same massive array of connections as BP-25.

     To make a long story short, Bryston is later coming to market with this piece than we would have liked. But now that it’s here, we forgive them!

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