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This wasn't really news to me. I've known it ever since I first hooked up a subwoofer over twenty years ago. But most subwoofers have built-in low-pass filters that operate no lower than 40Hz. I knew that using a subwoofer with the Tidal Pianos would provide too much overlap between speaker and subwoofer - and that wouldn't be any good. I also wanted to try filtering the bass from the speakers in hopes their dynamics would benefit as well. They did. I love Peter Gabriel's Up CD [Geffen 06949 33882 4]. I've always loved his work and this CD is full of deep,
deep bass. "Signal To Noise" is my favorite cut. Its refrain turn up the signal, wipe out the noise is one we all should relate to. In terms of dynamics, I've always found the song a little wanting. As the song develops, it builds to crescendo and for me, that crescendo has always seemed dynamically truncated. It's always fallen a bit short of where I wanted it to go. Sometimes I'd even tap the remote volume just to cheat and goose it a little. One day I played the song on the mighty Mark & Daniel Apollo IIs and suddenly the song was everything I'd dreamt of and more. It absolutely erupted in my room. But why?

After investigation I realized that it was because I'd just been playing the CD louder than usual. The speakers just sound great loud. They exude a sense of ease and are so free of distortion that you can play them loudly without a hint of just how loud they actually are playing. I was then forced to face the fact that my Tidals couldn't play that loud. Well, that was then and this is now. Once unburdened from producing deep bass, the Tidals are now free to sing much louder and with a greater sense of ease than before - and that with twenty-six 300B tube watts! I can't tell for sure if the speakers are more microdynamic now or if they sound that way as a result of a much cleaner and more articulate bass presentation with less slurring and distortion. Still, the overall effect is one of increased speed and agility.


When used with smaller speakers -- with which I'd been able to achieve a pretty good mating to a sub without the active crossover's aid -- I still achieved gains with the 10B. Low-level bass details rose to the surface where they remained smeared and submerged in the muck before. The additional benefit of being able to adjust the roll-off for both speakers and subwoofer is a cleaner splice for a smoother, lump-free transition. Even if you're getting along fine with your subwoofer/speaker combo, good reasons to try the 10B remain.


Lastly, most speaker buyers will never outgrow the Bryston 10B. You can upgrade speakers to your heart's content and you'll not make the 10B obsolete unless you upgrade to truly superior speakers. As a matter of fact, once armed with the 10B and a really good sub or two, you may find that you can actually downsize your speakers and concentrate on quality rather than quantity. Your significant other will love that.


Conclusion:
I'm buying the Bryston 10B-Sub active crossover. It's one of the most significant things I've done for my system in terms of not only aiding the achievement of excellent deep bass quality but also in terms of alleviating the last remnants of listening fatigue. No matter what changes I'll make in the future, I'll never have to compromise here again. That makes the 10B a particularly good investment.


Adding the 10B and a subwoofer is so much more than gluttonous bass. It's about turning one's attention to some of the most important and difficult-to-reproduce frequencies in the audible spectrum. It's not just about adding slam to the bass drum; it's about adding tonality to double basses and expanding the spatial characteristics of the soundstage and improving the dynamic performance of your system - while getting more slam from your bass drums to boot. It's also about gearing your system up to explore all the bass tones and textures you're likely missing out on right now. Hell, it's also about increasing the fun factor. There, I said it. The Bryston 10B active crossover serves both the music and the fun. What more can you ask?
Sidebar 1: As a fellow tube fancier, I feel stimulated to further enhance John's message by wholeheartedly agreeing with him. Ever since my Avantgarde Duos, I've owned at least one speaker with active bass systems, meaning two active subwoofers integrated into the speakers. I also acquired WLM's mighty Duo 12 sub and their most feature-laden System 6 active crossover which allows for 3-way filtering (albeit at fixed frequencies rather than the Brystons' more flexible floating points). The ability to subtract low bass at 80Hz from most main speakers (WLM's fixed low-pass) creates just the kind of improvements John describes. This is particularly true for the usual triode amps. Preceding them with an active crossover turns them into bandwidth-limited reproducers so their ultimate performance is no longer short-circuited by their inability to compete with powerful transistors in the lower two octaves. I might go as far as suggesting that unless you filter out those frequencies, you have not heard your low to mid-power SET at its best.


The second message of this review is the vital importance of infrasonics. Especially in triode and single-driver speaker circles, it's popular to focus on the midrange "where all the most important data live". Sumiko Audio (the former US importer for REL subwoofers before acquiring ownership in the company) was famous for demonstrating the benefits of superior subwoofers on solo vocal tracks. While common sense suggests that female vocals contain no low bass information to make a subwoofer completely redundant, in this instance common sense proved always more common than sensible. The very subtle cues hidden in the low frequencies brought to life by the subwoofer would invariably improve the focus and dimensionality of the singer, at times even the sweetness in the treble.


While it's good advice to get the midrange right first, it's equally good advice to not stop there but eventually build out the stereo reproduction down into the lowest frequencies. More lives there than is intuitive. As John said, most the time it's not about more and louder bass but rather, the subtle but eerily realistic spatial cues that place the performers fully in three-dimensional space. Occasions of room-shaking shudders from 16Hz organ notes or deep synth pulses are mere sideshow attractions compared to how all that low-level textural stuff improves the bands above the bass. - Srajan Ebaen


Quality of packing: First rate.
Reusability of packing: Very reusable.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Extremely easy.
Condition of component received: Perfect.
Completeness of delivery: Complete.
Quality of owner's manual: A stack of stapled papers but very complete.
Website comments: Very nicely presented, organized with lots of information including PDF files of owners manuals.
Warranty: 20 years - the best in the biz.
Human interactions: Excellent - as is their reputation for service. Bryston is one of the real class acts out there and a thoroughly professional outfit.
Bryston's website