BrianRussell BRYSTON
If you’ve visited any hi-fi show in Australia and gone into the Bryston room, you will most likely have met the President of Bryston, although you probably didn’t know it, because Brian Russell rarely identified himself as one of the owners of this famous Canadian manufacturer, much less the President of it. He also didn’t talk much about the products he demonstrated — he preferred to let the music he played speak for him. So if you can now recall a very large man in a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt wearing sandals who almost always remained seated, selecting songs manually on his laptop for replay through Bryston electronics and, most recently, Bryston loudspeakers, well that was none other than Brian Russell.
Sadly, Brian passed away on September 28th last year, aged 68. James Tanner, Bryston’s VP of Sales and Marketing, posted that: “Saturday I lost a terrific friend and business associate. Brian Russell passed away in his sleep from a suspected heart attack. He was 68 year old. I worked with Brian for more than 45 years and he was the most kind and caring individual I have ever known. He came across as a rough gruff bear of a guy but deep down he had the emotions of a teddy bear. I will miss him a lot and I am still in disbelief over this.”
His brother Christopher Russell, who is Bryston’s CEO, issued the following statement to the media: “It is with utmost sadness and a broken heart that we pass along the news of the sudden passing of Brian W. Russell, our President and Overseas Distributor Liaison. Brian was well-liked by all who knew him, his travels took him to all parts of the globe and he made friends and cohorts everywhere he went. Brian had worked at Bryston since the 1970s, and was easily one of the most valuable and hard-working members of the Bryston team. We will miss his hearty, jovial presence and his warm-hearted good spirits most deeply.“
Although the Russell brothers — Christopher and Brian — are often credited with founding Bryston, the company was actually founded in 1963 by Tony Bower, Stan Rybb, and John Stoneborough, who used the first letters of their surnames to form the now-iconic company name. But the trio did not built audio equipment back then, they built medical equipment and industrial electronics. Bryton’s best-selling and best-known product was for many years its AG-1 Aggregometer, a blood analyser used to diagnose platelet disorders, but sales had dropped away because one of its competitors developed and patented a new type of aggregometer that delivered faster, more accurate results, and required less blood for analysis. Chris and Brian’s father (John Russell Sr), a former NASA engineer had purchased Bryston in 1967 just prior to the invention of the new aggregometer. However it wasn’t until Chris joined the company a few years later that the company built its first audio product, the Pro 3 power amplifier, whose performance and reliability were so good they turned the company’s fortunes around.
When asked by Stereophile magazine’s Richard Deutch why Bryston amplifiers were so popular with audio professionals, and used in so many recording studios around the world, Chris Russell told him: “The single biggest reason professionals like us — above and beyond that [we make] a great amplifier — is that they can make a lot of money with our product, because there’s no down time. It lasts and lasts and lasts. And if they do have a problem, we typically solve it in less than 24 hours, which is highly unusual in the audio industry.” He didn’t mention the fact that Bryston amplifiers come with a 20year warranty, because this is now common knowledge.
The story behind Bryston’s 20-year warranty is worth re-telling. Says Tanner: “We implemented the 20-year warranty in 1990 when we were 18 years old. Even though back then we had a 5-year warranty we had never charged for a repair. So after 18 years, of seeing our original amplifiers operating without issues we decided to make it official and offer a 20-year warranty.”
“So the warranty was never about who pays for it — it was the outcome of building a product with the best possible parts and with the longest-term reliability in mind.”
“Many people assume that we just build in the cost of inevitable repairs, but we don’t. We work really hard to design robust gear that will outlast us all. Furthermore, all our electronics products go through a 100-hour test cycle at our factory before shipping to ensure quality.”
Richard Deutch posted the following tribute to Brian Russell on the Stereophile website: “A larger-than-life presence with a quick wit and extensive knowledge of audio, Brian was a stalwart representative of Bryston at audio shows. At one such show, the 2013 Montreal Son & Image, Brian was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. In my show report, I wrote: ‘Brian is a big, tough guy, so I figured we wouldn’t see him crying when giving his award acceptance speech — but I think he came awful close when he said that he owes his achievement to each and every member of the Bryston team.’ With his passing, the Bryston team—and indeed the world of audio—has suffered a great loss.”
George Poutakidis, the founder and general manager of Bryston’s Australian distributor, BusiSoft, said he’d cherished Brian’s visits to Melbourne, their dinners and their conversations and that he was deeply saddened by the news of his passing. “Brian was the first in the hi-fi industry to support me and BusiSoft and I will never forget this,” he said. “He was a fantastic person and will be sadly missed by the hi-fi industry.”