Brick Wall group buyer's report

After all this time, I still feel the same about my Brick Wall as I did when I first picked it up (about a year-and-a-half ago). Just a few weekends ago, after reading a few members' comments about restricted dynamics, I bypassed the BPT BP-3, plugging everything into the Brick Wall directly. For assessing macrodynamics, I played the following:

• Weinberger's "Polka and Fugue" from Schwanda the Bagpiper (Track 18) on XLO/Reference Recordings' Test/Burn-In CD (XLO/Reference Recordings RX-1000)
• "The Battle" (Track 3) from the Gladiator soundtrack (Decca 289 467 094-2)
• "Hit" (Track 4) and "Assault on Ryan's House" (Track 7) from the Patriot Games soundtrack (RCA 07863-66051-2)

For microdynamics, I listened to:

• "Three To Get Ready" (Track 4) on Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out SACD (Columbia/Legacy CS 65122)
• Bach's Goldberg Variations played by Murray Perahia (Sony Classical SK 89243)
• Chopin's "Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35" on the Vladimir Horowitz: Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Liszt SACD (Sony Classical SS 6371)

Simply put, in my rig, for microdynamics, the system sounded better Brick Walled than not. The feathery stuff emerged more effortlessly with the Brick Wall in place than with it out -- still a step down from the BPT BP-3's ability to improve in this regard, but better than going directly into my wall outlet. Also, doing the zero-bit-track-playing-with-volume-all-the-way-up routine reveals that my rig is quieter with the Brick Wall in place than when it's not. Again, putting the BP-3 in place further improves this.

For macrodynamics, my rig exhibits no degradation whatsoever with the Brick Wall in place versus plugging directly into the wall. Everything that sonically explodes does so with no less magnitude or drama with the Brick Wall in place.

Do I expect that the results will be the same for everyone? No. Net effect for me? Well, let's just say that the Brick Wall's stayin' -- nothing but positive in this rig.

NOTE: I haven't tried the Brick Wall in a speaker-driving rig, so I can't comment on whether or not the Brick Wall would restrict dynamics in those sorts of configurations. Again, I'd guess, as with anything, results would vary there, too -- from rig to rig, and from person to person. Also, I haven't yet tried this with the PreHead as the headphone amp (only the Max), so, if/when I get the time to do so, I'll try it with the PreHead, too.

Sacrilege!

Also, in case you haven't heard yet: New BPT products and upgrades coming soon!

And just so I'm not entirely off-topic: I didn't participate in the group buy, but I do have a Brick Wall unit, and have not noticed any negative effects from it. It sits in front of my BP-Jr in my system.

I did things a bit differently. I just plugged the HTS2000 right into the Brickwall (today in fact...I've been lazy about plugging it in)...and the results were surprising to me. I heard an increase in dynamic range, and a degree of clarity that startled me. I still need to let it burn in, and see what develops, but the initial impression is very favorable.

When I received mine I just plugged it in and it was hard for me to tell if the Brick Wall made a difference as I was auditioning IC's at the time and any difference I heard I attributed to the different IC's.

I didn't try and AB the Brick Wall until I saw the thread about the loss of dynamics and my IC audition was complete. I noticed the loss of dynamics and was surprised. I tried this a few times and came up with the same results every time. I don't really consider my components power hungry by any means, but I decided to order their 2-outlet model and see if that makes a difference.

What are your thoughts on how satisfied YOU are with your Brick Wall purchase in terms of how it has effected the sound of your setup?

In my system, the Brick Wall made everything sound extremely sterile, bright, and lifeless with no bass whatsoever; almost like a high pass crossover was engaged.
However, I did manage to keep it for my computer, and it seems to have slowed down my fans to the point where they are not nearly as loud as they used to be.

Interesting to see how things react in different setups.

dparrish, in my setup, I did not notice any major sonic change after adding the Brick Wall unit in front of the BPT unit.

The 'wall made my audio system hard, thin and bright. Didn't last a day.

I was about to return it when I tried it on my Home Theater system where it made a tremendous difference in the TV picture quality (a Pioneer Elite RPTV). I have the sources (HD, DTV, DVD, etc.) and the TV all running off a single unit. Result was an amazing and completely unexpected difference, i.e. deeper colors, clearer and more stable picture.

CRESCENDO, you should have your power from your wall outlet measured. dhwilkin, you ain't kiddin', eh? Seems like the effects vary widely from person to person, and rig to rig.

jude, it's amazing, isn't it? Hard and bright and thin are the last words that come to mind when using it in my system, but if that's what other people are hearing, then all I can say is that I'm glad it works in my system!

The Brickwall murdered my system, and really restricted what it was really capable of. I sold off a power cord that probably would've been awesome for me if I had simply not been so stubborn about keeping my gear plugged into the Brickwall a month ago. I feel pretty stupid now about not simply trying it straight from the wall in the first place. I sold my Brickwall, went with a Monster HTS2000 now.

I think Jude's onto something. If Crescendo's fans on his computer are being slowed down by the Brick Wall, I'd think there was not enough power from the outlet too, and I'd also expected the Brick Wall to be detrimental to sound. I wonder if everyone who is reporting negative sonic impressions with adding the Brick Wall are running from wall sockets that have too little voltage to be able to spare some for the actual unit. If this is true, I'd have expected some verbage about it on the Brick Wall site.

For me, surge protection is critical, so even if it "murdered my system", I'd still need it in place, but since I've been having fairly good results from my system, I doubt this is happening in my apartment. I'm unwilling to try everything raw from the jack now to find out. Sorry.

Exactly. CRESCENDO and Vert (and others), consider having your voltage measured by a professional electrician (if you don't have the means or know-how to do it on your own). Mine is quite good on voltage, no matter the time of day, but is noisy with crap from other household gear (sump pump, refrigerator, etc. -- even though they are on separate circuits at the basement box level). That whole fan bit strikes me as very odd, and, again, makes me wonder just how serious your power problems really are.