Skip to main content

Bryston Mini T Speakers

These are hands down one of the best modern bookshelf speakers I've heard in long time. It's not easy to "wow" me, and these have.

Being Canadian, I have a very soft spots for all things Canadian, especially if they're made in Canada. There are a lot of economic benefits to buy Canadian made.

The short story for the creation of the Bryston's speaker line is quite simple. James Tanner approached Ian Colquhoun of Axiom Audio to build him a reference pair of speakers. With that experience, James Tanner decided to create his own line up.

Yes, currently Axiom and Bryston are in partnership with one another. Two great Canadian manufacturers. And yes, while there is a lot of shared information from the two companies. The Bryston speaker line up uses different drivers over the Axiom line up. From the Axiom forum, you can find various information regarding this. For example, Bryston uses 3 different kind of 8" mid/bass woofers depending on which model one chooses.

While the exterior of Bryston speakers may look similar, they are built to a higher standard. Thicker boxes, more internal braces, higher quality crossover, etc.

The goal of the Bryston line up was "reproduce the full dynamic capability of music while remaining tonally neutral, crystal clear, and capable of capturing the subtle nuances of any recording."

In my humble opinion, the Mini T are exactly what James Tanner promised. They have wonderful dynamics, excellent on-axis and off-axis response, neutral and sounds excellent at both high levels and low levels listening. The bass on the Mini T is impressive, reaching into the 30Hz with authority. For my space, no subwoofers are needed. I've even gotten port plugs to tame the bass due to external reflections (room is untreated). 

They are everything that I loved about Canadian speakers and adds a whole new dimension. Some of my favourite Canadian speakers were/are Energy Pro 22, Axiom AX5, Angstrom Obbligato and PSB Goldi.

There are plethora of reviews on the Bryston line up and, while I was skeptical (as we all should), a lot of them were right on the money.

My favourite quality of the Mini T is their neutrality. People think neutral = boring. I disagree, to quote the late Audiokarma member - Toasted Almond: "Give me speakers that are neutral to the point of being boring. Almost boring. That's where the real magic is." It doesn't matter what kind of music I throw at them. The Mini T plays everything beautifully. 

While the Mini T may look quite pedestrian, there is a lot of engineering that went into these speakers. Not to mentioned these are build in Canada - Ontario. Plus all the testing - use of a true anechoic chamber and double blind testing.

The walnut veneer is also very nice. With natural wood there will be some discolouration due to oxidization of the oils from the cabinet and veneer underneath the grills. Personally, out of all the regular finishes, the walnut is my favourite. Classic veneer for a classic pair of speakers.

Specifications:

Frequency Response: 33Hz to 20Khz (+/- 3dB)
Impedance: 4 Ohms (nominal)
Sensitivity: 86 dB SPL @ 1 meter with 1 watt (anechoic)
Maximum SPL: 112 dB SPL @ 1 meter
Recommended Power: 10 watts to 250 watts RMS
Tweeter: Single 1.0"
Mid-range: Single 5.25"
Mid-Woofer: Single 8.0"
Crossover: 160 Hz & 2.3kHz
22.5” H x 10.5” W x 10.0” D
571mm H x 267mm W x 250mm D
42 Ibs (19 kg)
Made in Canada










Popular posts from this blog

Yamaha YP-66 Turntable

The rosewood vinyl wrapped twin sibling of the Yamaha YP-221, they are the exactly the same other than the colour of the plinth and instead of silver plastic bits on the YP-221 the YP-66 has black bits. This is your typical belt drive turntable of the mid to late 70s.  It's a 2-speed with automatic return (semi-automatic).  It's a nice entry level turntable with all the decent built quality that you find on majority of the Japanese made tables of that era.  It has a good sized motor and a decent weight.  Yamaha tables are like Sony tables, they always have decent quality components and they always look nice to the eyes.  The slight smoked dustcover and the rosewood plinth makes it quite unique to look at. Sadly, the antiskate weight on our isn't original.  It was missing when we got it.  After a bit of research we found the appropriate weight and found an appropriate weight to retrofit into our table.  We found a nice brass weight to fit with ...

Micro Seiki MR-622 Turntable

This is one of my greatest prize possessions, well for turntables.  The Micro Seiki MR-622 is a fabulous turntable, and definitely has been one of my favourite tables that I had the pleasure of owning. Everything about this turntable screams quality.  Even the 45rpm adapter seemed to be milled aluminum.  It has adjustable feet, a side pocket for accessories , a nice heavy die cast platter and even the top part of the plinth is cast.  All wrapped in a beautiful smoked dustcover and real wood sides. The Micro Seiki MR-622 is a fully manual, 2-speed, direct drive turntable.  This means, it's low maintenance and high reliability as there is less moving parts within the turntable.  It's just a huge motor, speed controls and Micro Seiki MA-202 tone arm, placed in a overly built plinth just like what one would expect from Micro Seiki. The MA-202 tone arm is a S-shaped tone arm with excellent tracking ability.  It has an adjustable counterweight and the...

Energy Encore 2 Speakers

My family were the original owners of these speakers. We actually had the entire Energy Encore 5.1 surround set, minus the integrated stands. Slowly, the rear speakers were sold. I kept the subwoofer to use with my sound bar, and the center channel broke. All that remained were these little guys sitting on the same shelving unit for the past 15ish years. I used them for a bit for my computer setup but, opted to use my Mirage Omni 350 instead. While these are considered "big box store" speakers, they are still great little speakers. These were made in Canada. Used their hyperdome aluminum tweeter that made Energy famous from the Pro22 days (thank you Burhoe!). A super nice black piano finish and sealed box, with a 4" long throw woofer. Some Specifications that I took from the web: System Type: Magnetically shielded acoustic suspension satellite Tweeter: 1" (28mm) Aluminum dome with cloth suspension Woofers: 4" (112mm) Multi-laminated aluminum polycarbonate c...