My brother has the BHK250. It replaced his old Bryston 14B-SST power amp. The Bryston was a beast of an amp at 600w per channel, but the BHK sounds more robust. The BHK just has more richness, textures, and live to the sound, not even a close comparison!
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Do you like rummage sales? If so, youâre going to love vinyl.
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This is good info, thanks. I am considering the S250 to replace my Bryston 4B3 (300/500W). While the cubed series is more refined and better bass than the older Brystons, I still find the bass too lean with my Thiel speakers that go down to 2.4 ohm.
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The BHK 250 is a âsweetâ sounding amp, smooth as warm honey. The fact that you can fine tune its sound by tubes is a plus. Make sure you give it space to dispel heat.
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This was my scenario, long-time Bryston fan with the BP-26, 4B3, and the BDA-3. With generous discounts and trade-ins, tried the BHK250; never looked back. Full rack of PS Audio gear presently.
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Well that fixed my bass problem! The BHK 250 is a much better match for my Thiels than the Bryston.
However, surprisingly it is not a good match for the BHK preamp. It is a noisy preamp and there is way too much gain in the amp (30.5dB). The Bryston has a handy switch allowing the gain to be selectable (23/29dB). In the low gain setting the noise is inaudible from the listening chair.
If there was a way to dial down the gain on the BHK amps they would be a slam dunk.
Welcom to the forum,
Careful with us bunch, if you want to do less impulsive buys in the future, stay away 
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Listen to jazz and female vocals with that combo. You just might change your mind.
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What tubes are you using in your BHK preamp? I would fathom a guess they are 6 volt tubes. I use 12 volt tubes and have no issue with noise. My speakers are quite efficient at 93 db per watt.
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No complaints about the sound. It is wonderful actually, when the music is playing loud. I am just worried about the noise floor of the preamp now. The heat generated by the amp is also a lot more than the Bryston (not surprisingly).
I am using NOS RCA 12AU7A âclear topsâ with full set of measurements indicating they are low noise. I have installed a spare of the same that was just tested strong (emission 79%) and low noise (0.03 mV in both triodes) with little to no improvement. They are similar noise level as the stock tubes that were well used but the preamp is still not as quiet as my ancient Sonic Frontiers preamp. I have never used the 6-volt setting on the preamp.
Are your speakers more than 100 db efficient? I canât understand why you have a noise issue. Are you sing balanced or unbalanced connections. Mine are all balanced.
No they are 90dB Thiels and using all balanced. The noise stops when you mute the preamp (not the source).
Very strange. You may want to have the preamp checked out as that should not be the case. Another thing you could do is put a pad in line between the preamp and the amp.
As someone who owned that combination for over five years and ran it with 93db Verity Otelloâs all balanced I can assure that the problem is not a gain mismatch. In and of itself I found the BHK preamp to be noisier and more tube picky than any preamp I ever owned but what you describe is not normal even for it. That is just a bad unit. I wouldnât as a demo worry about any repairs. Either another new unit or move on to another tubed preamp.
I also have a Mark Levinson preamp, and that pre feeding the M1200âs is 100% silent. With the BHK pre I do hear a little noise, but is only a little. The amount of magic with the BHK pre is just wonderful, and trounces the Levinson pre. A small amount of noise to me is irrelevant.
I do not know if the level of noise in your system is normal or abnormal.
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The BHK Preamp is not a bad preamp by any means but the sample he has may be⌠If one is going to put the ear up to the speaker you will hear a very low level tube rush. It dawned on me that the source is the fact that it uses an unique way of controlling the volume. It varies the gain of the tube instead of using a variable resistor like most other preamps. This allows the tube to drive the output stage without any restriction. With a variable resistor putting the tube output on the far end of the control with the wiper operating on the lower end of the control. The exotic PS Audio control has less detrimental effect on the the signal.
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Impulsive deletion? 
Gain and volume are two different things, so I donât understand what you are saying.