General; Welcome; Description; Features - Bryston BCD-3 Owner's Manual

General

Welcome

Thank you for your purchase of a Bryston
BCD-3 redbook CD Player! Our most advanced
DAC technology combined with our legendary fully
discrete analog circuitry and a professional grade
optical pickup mechanism constitute state of the
art CD playback that is accurate, refreshing, and
a testament to the resilience of the medium. We
welcome your feedback and hope you enjoy your
new BCD-3 for many years to come.

Description

The BCD-3 is a state of the art CD player capable
of playing commercially produced audio CDs and
burned CD-R and CD-RW discs. Discs are loaded
through the motorized drawer type transport
mechanism. Both digital and analog audio outputs
are provided facilitating connection to analog
preamplifiers and digital-to-analog converters.
Internal digital to analog conversion is with a
balanced pair of high quality ICs. The optical pickup
and DAC are clocked by a single high precision
quartz oscillator operating at a natural multiple of
the 44.1kHz sampling frequency specified by the CD
format.

Features

Bryston BCD-3 includes the following features:
• DACs and transport slave to single master clock
for jitter free performance
• Dual balanced AKM digital to analog converters
based on BDA-3 design.
• Fully discrete class-A operational amplifiers
form the analog output section
• Balanced XLR and single-ended RCA audio
output
• AES/EBU XLR and BNC S/PDIF digital audio
output
• Remote control via ethernet, USB, RS232, or IR
• Available in either 17 inch or 19 inch wide
C-Series dress panel in silver-toned (clear
anodized) or black anodized aluminum.
4

Shipping Box and Packing Material

Please keep the original shipping box and all
packing material. This will ensure the BCD-3 is
protected in future transport. In the unlikely event
you have a problem and must return it for service,
you must use the proper packing material. Ship
the BCD-3 only in the original packing material
as the unit is not insurable by carriers otherwise.
Replacement packing materials consisting of a
shipping carton with plastic foam inserts is available
from Bryston for a small fee.

Installation

Ventilation

The BCD-3 is a cool-running line level component.
It generates far less heat than amplifiers and many
other components. It can be safely placed inside
furniture or an equipment rack. However, it should
not be tightly enclosed. Some airflow is desired.

Connecting to A/C Power

Please check the Data Plate on the right rear of
the CD player to verify power requirements agree
with your location. Plug the IEC-320 C14 end of the
power cord into the BCD-3, then plug the other end
into an approved and grounded A/C receptacle.

Connecting to a Preamplifier

Fixed level analog output is provided via left &
right stereo pairs of XLR fully differential balanced
outputs and RCA single-ended outputs. Balanced
output is usually preferred when available on the
partnering preamplifier especially when long runs
(greater than 3 meters) of interconnect cable are
required. Connect the Left and Right outputs to the
respective inputs on the preamplifier. Note that the
BCD-3 has no volume control therefore should not be
connected directly to an amplifier!
You may also connect the BCD-3 to an external
digital to analog converter using either the AES/EBU
(XLR) or S/PDIF (RCA) output.