APMH

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I have the Musician III for 5 months now, long enough to break in and evaluate the amp. I was hoping someone else would comment first so I can compare notes, but no luck. Nevertheless, I still like to share my two cents with those who might interest in this amp. I’d owned the Musician I, II, and now III. After the Musician II was sold, the buyer asked me why I sell the amp and what do I think of its sound. I told him that I sell so I can upgrade; because the sound of Class D amp is like CD sound in that it takes time to improve and mature. As to its sound, I said: “you get good sound at a reasonable price. If you want the best, go for Lamm, Tenor, or Hacro”. Sometime ago, a person with some authority in the audio industry told me that the Musician is the best. Of course, I believed him only half heart, until one day I saw him using the Musician II to drive his $60,000 speakers to spectacular sound. The fact that he could have any expensive amp but used the Musician says a lot about the amp. After I got the Musician III, I upgraded in steps the digital cable, interconnect, speaker cable, and the DAC. Each time, the sound of the system improved and that keeps me upgrading because I could hear the subtle differences. This indicates that the amp is not the bottle-neck in my system and I am sure that the sound can still improve further with better components or clearer AC power that some have suggested; even though the sound is very life-like already. I don’t have the Musician II any more so I can not compare the II and III directly; especially it is not fair with the upgrades. My sense is that the Musician III has better bass extension and definition; the overall sound is smoother and more natural. I do have the VTL Compact-100 and Joule VZN-100 for comparison. The Musician III sounds better than the VTL and as good as the VZN. As compared to VZN, the Musician has better bass, faster, more dynamic, and slightly wider soundstage; the VZN is slightly sweeter and three times more expensive. The sonic differences, however, are very small. I know people with different taste and budget have different requirements; so they have to decide what is best for them. For me, however, the Musician III has come a long way from Digital I and is getting close to the best amps out there.

tonemaniac

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Spectron has announced the Musician 3 that should be shipping or will be shortly. There should be certain meaningful design changes that go well beyond the cosmetics, although the core analog > digital > analog gain circuits may be the same. That could potentially make the past reviews, this one included, obsolete. A long coexistence with the Spectron line has taught me that digital amplification is in its early adolescence, somewhere on the learning curve where analog solid state was in the 1980s, in a manner of speaking. The Spectron requires a different approach to putting a system together. Power cords and other choices will not have the same effects that they do with traditioanl solid state. The Spectron relates to sonic information differently. You will have a far more intimate connection with the recording engineer's choices. Consequently, any comforting euphony or tonal padding you have been accustomed to won't be there. Previously disregarded frequency humps or RF contaminations, poorly cleaned contacts or questionable AC from an old receptacle will appear in the sound. After years of trying to figure out the Spectron, I still cannot believe how different recordings sound from one another. I never noticed this with other amplifiers.

Strengths:
A rare amp that has genuinely adequate power. You need all of that energy to create believable music. At its best, a pristine truth telling instrument.

Weaknesses:
Exquisitely sensitive to the quality of power it receives. You may have to work double hard to supply the amplifier with the power it needs to work right. Some users have reported that they get this by adding the Exactpower waveform corrector. I had significant differences with good quality parallel AC line filters. Changing the AC receptacle to an audiophile grade version made an unexpected difference. Mating with the right AC cord will be an important decision too. Spectron has had reliability issues with the Musician 2 model. They are now issuing the Musican 3. Some potential customers, myself included, are waiting to see if the Musician 3 has solved these.

Similar Products Used:
Krells, Counterpoint, VAC, Yamaha VFETs, Crown, Quicksilver, Cello, others

Price Paid:  $2200.00 from AudioGon

Summary:
Well, I hate to be one of the few to rain on the Spectron "love fest" here, but while the Musician II is certainly a very good amp - especially at this price point, it IS NOT the "giant killer" that many claim (including pro reviewers). One can immediately see (or rather hear) how this amp quickly captivates a listener. It does indeed have speed, low noise floor, neutrality, etc. That said, after becoming "adjusted" to the character of this amp, (something that I couldn't put my finger on, for a long time)it became obvious that the reproduction lacks the 3-dimensional roundness, and that elusive sense of "realness" that a choice few other high-end amps serve up. No, I'm not talking euphonic colorations either (regarding *other* amps) again, I'm simpy referring to a sterile, at times "dead" character to the Musician II, that once recognized, becomes hard to ignore. Also, I had (2) other amps on hand at the time I also owned the Musician II, one a mono-block tube set, the other a hybrid SS stereo amp, rated at 200 watts per ch. and 400 watts per channel, respectively, BOTH of these other amps sounded much "stronger" and more at ease than the Spectron. The Musician II always sounded strained at higher volumes, and seemed ready to split apart at the seams, when called on to deliver complex passages at high volume. I really wanted to fall in love with this amp, as it would have spared my funds for other areas of my system (or for more software!) but in the end, it just didn't pull together the complete musical package for me. The other amps I also had on hand for during the 4 months I owned the Spectron, the ASL "Hurricanes" and Parasound JC-1's, simply sounded more "real", "organic", more effortless, and more like the real musical event than the Spectron. The Spectron WAS able to keep pace in the detail dept., allowing you to hear EVERYTHING on the recording, but again, at the expense of ultimately not sounding completely "musical". Having said all that, I CAN say that if you have only around $2k to shell out for an amp (used), and can only own solid state, the Musician II IS one of the best I've heard, again, IN THIS PRICE RANGE. System; Martin Logan Prodigy (current) (Also had on hand for Musician II - VMPS RM40, Martin Logan ReQuest) Audio Aero "Capitole 24/192 cd PS Audio P300 "Power Plant" Acoustic Zen "Tsunami" ac cords Analysis Plus Oval 9/Silver Oval spk cable Analysis Plus "Oval Crystal" intrc. Shakti "Stones", "On Lines" Quantum Power "Symphony" (2) & "Symphony Pro" conditioners B.A.T. P5 tube phono stage Well Tempered Labs "Classic V" t.t. Dedicated listening room with dedicated AC lines, various room treatments

Strengths:
Mostly clear reproduction, ability to resolve lots of detail.

Weaknesses:
Not the last word in low-end "slam", sure doesn't sound like 1000 watts, see body of review.

Similar Products Used:
Antique Sound Labs "Hurricane", Llano Design "Trinity" R400, Parasound Halo JC-1, Innersound "ESL", Classe "CA301", AMC CVT mono blocks, Conrad Johnson "Evolution 2000", McCormack "DNA-1", OCM 500, B&K Sonata mono-blocks, Perreaux PMF3150, Carver M1.5t (going WAY back)

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Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
have lived with both the Digital 1 and the Musician 2 for years now. It is hard to understand why the Musician 2 hasn't been used as a performance benchmark when "breakthrough" designs like the Halcro receive widespread coverage. The Musician should be a standard reference point when other amplifiers are reviewed. As listeners, we have longstanding biases about which character makes for a better amplifier, then when we hear an amp with no identifiable character to speak of, we mistakenly believe that something is missing. By contrast, many other designs make a system sound like the speakers are wrapped in a blanket. The best single ended designs will get the microdynamics right, at long last, but have no authority in the macro. Other ones, such as the solid state monstrosities, can be either dull or shrill in the micros while they hurl boulders of sound into the listening area. The best quality of the Musician 2 is that so far I have not been able to make any distinction when it is doing microdynamics and when it is doing macrodynamics, so you get near perfect dynamic uniformity.

Strengths:
once warmed up, draws no attention to itself, uses moderate amounts of electricity. I guess that's the best thing you can say about an amp in the final analysis... there's nothing to say, you can focus on the quality of your source material without the grating thoughts about the amp sounding euphonic or acerbic or whatever

Weaknesses:
this isn't a sonic weakness but it is a design issue that should be remedied. The Musician2 has a very large transformer, very good for its sound, but has huge current inrush when the amp is switched on. I have knocked out the surge protector MOVs on two surge strips that shared a circuit with the Spectron. My 15 amp breaker often trips when switched on and the wiring gives an audible clatter in the EMT tubing the circuit feeds through. This amp is crying out for a SOFT START feature. Please, Please, Please ! Do something about this...

Similar Products Used:
I've lost count by now.

Price Paid:  $2500.00 from HiNotes

Summary:
This is a follow-up review to my original comments on the Sectron Digital One from 1999. I've noticed some concerns about reliability, but my unit is now in its 6th year of service without any problems whatever, and incredible as it may seem, it is only getting with age! I would definately repeat my 5/5 rating without a shadow of doubt.