Cyrus Leaves the Shoebox: The 80 Series, Live in Norwich
For forty years, ever since the first Cyrus One in 1984, you could identify a Cyrus amplifier with your eyes shut, just by the size of the box. The Huntingdon company built almost everything into the same half-width diecast case — the "shoebox", with its little control lip along the front — and kept faith with it long after the rest of the industry had spread out to full width. It became the most recognisable silhouette in British hi-fi. It was also, quietly, a limit on how big a power supply you could fit inside.
The 80 Series is the first time Cyrus has let go of that box. And on Thursday, 23 July, we're giving it a proper hearing at Ber Street, with Cyrus's Jason Saxon here in person across three sessions.
Why the bigger box the whole point
The interesting part of the 80 Series is what the extra width is for. A larger chassis leaves room for larger power supplies inside the unit, and that matters more than it sounds: Cyrus reckon it delivers the sort of performance previously reserved for a separate external power supply. Put simply, performance that used to need a second box now lives in the first one.
The range that results is refreshingly clear. The 80 AMP is the one-box answer: a 150-watt-per-channel Class A/B integrated with BluOS streaming, an ESS Sabre DAC, an MM/MC phono stage, and HDMI eARC built in, so a turntable, a television, and your streaming library all land in the same amplifier. For most people, it is all the hi-fi they will ever need.
Then there are the separates, which are what this event is really about. The 80 PRE is a full streaming preamplifier — the same BluOS platform and Sabre DAC, balanced XLR throughout, a proper balanced headphone output and a 5-inch display — and the 80 PWR is the power amplifier built to partner it: 200 watts a side in stereo, or switch a single unit to bridged mono for 300 watts. Add a second later and you have a pair of true monoblocks, one for each speaker. Everything is made in the UK and carries a five-year warranty, which tells you how long Cyrus expect you to keep it.
One detail worth knowing, because it's unusually honest for a hi-fi brand: the 80 Series is not a walled garden. The 80 PRE is happy alongside the smaller 40 Series — a 40-series CD player, phono stage or the TTP turntable — so you are not forced to replace things that are already good. You buy the piece you need and grow into the rest.
What you'll actually hear on the day
We're running two rooms because the most useful thing you can do with the 80 Series is compare the integrated against the separates and hear for yourself what the extra boxes buy you.
In the demonstration room, the 80 PRE and 80 PWR will drive a pair of OePhi Transcendence loudspeakers, wired throughout with OePhi cable, with a Cyrus 40 CD player and power supply alongside — the 80 PRE handles streaming itself, so there's no need for a separate streamer in the rack. In the main room, the 80 AMP integrated takes on a pair of PMC Prophecy 5 loudspeakers, with the Cyrus turntable and a 40-series phono stage set up for anyone who wants to hear the range play vinyl — most likely with a REL subwoofer underpinning the low end.
Bring a couple of records or a few tracks you know intimately — the ones where you know exactly what should happen and when. That is when the difference between a good integrated and a real pre/power stops being a specification and becomes something you can hear across the room.
Book a session
Sessions run at 11am, 1pm and 3pm on Thursday 23 July, each with Jason Saxon from Cyrus on hand to answer the awkward questions. Places are limited by the size of the room, so it's worth telling us you're coming — drop us a line or give us a call and we'll hold you a seat. If you can't make the day itself, the full Cyrus range lives at Ber Street year-round, and we're always happy to set it up properly for a listen.
Contact Us Via
