Cyrus 3 VS Cyrus 7

Likewise if you are ever down this way - there's a lot more Lego now as well!

Also - before I forget (again): what was that really, really slow Gymnopédie disc of yours?

 

Simon, re the Cyrus 7, put it aside for a few days and look afresh at the weekend. Staring at circuits full of SMD for a problem that just doesn't seem to be present will drive you bonkers. Drives me bonkers when it happens.

 

Gymnopedies et Gnossienes Reinbert de Leeuw on Philips (1995)

More Lego you say? Now you're talking!

Regards

 

interesting thread indeed. Ive owned many cyrus amps over the years and always ended up coming back to the 3. Its a solid bit of kit.

Lately though, i've been using a 3i... and genuinely dont think it deserves the bad press it gets. Having owned 3 original 3's now... with and without PSX-R's, i'd genuinely say that the 3i is not that dis-similar in sound. In fact in some ways i prefer it. It doesnt quite have the bass heft of the original 3, but the top end is a little better, and it still turns in a remarkably smooth performance. The power amp stage as far as i know is still identical to that of the original 3, it was just the preamp design that changed to bring it more up to date.

I'm going to experiment soon with adding a PSX-R to the 3i.

To give you some idea of its relative brightness... myself and a friend recently compared the 3i to an audiolab 8000S. In every case, we found the cyrus to be smoother, sweeter and more pleasant to listen to than the audiolab which tended towards brightness and upper midrange forwardness.

The only area of excel for the audiolab, was in terms of projection of midrange, hence good vocals. Stronger bass (most likely an effect of its larger current reserves and bigger power supply) and slightly wider soundstage.

It's my hope that adding a PSX-R will bring some of those elements to the 3i.

 

Gives you a beefy fully regulated supply - much in the same way as found in top end Naim and Exposure amps.

If you don't need more than 50w per side and the facilities are adequate, a 3/PSXR is difficult to beat at any cost.
That power rating is also pretty conservative.

 

yeah.. well ive added a PSXR to a cyrus III and it brought good benefits, id imagine the same of the 3i.

Its worth noting that cyrus quote the power with PSX-R to be 60watts rather than 50... so theres clearly a good bit of grunt coming from the PSX-R

 

We used the standalone Cyrus 3 to power the Kensai at the Park Inn hi-fi show a couple of years back. Given we were using a speaker rated at 83dBw and filing a large room for 3 days solid, I'd say that speaks volumes for the Cyrus 3. That experience really enhanced my respect for these little amplifiers.