Price Paid:  $0.00 from TweekGeek

Summary:
My y-adapters from Synergistic Research arrived earlier than expected so I set up my 2nd amp (now with 200+ hrs of burn-in disc signal) next to my first, flipped the switches, rewired the speaker cables as per instructions, and voila, the monoblocks live! In a word, stunning!!

I have been knocked out by the sound of the stereo Musician III Mark 2, but I was not prepared for the increase in clarity, dynamics, resolution, soundstage depth and just an overall ease to the presentation. It's quite a combo when you use dynamics and ease in the same sentence. I told a buddy that the analogy is a pickup basketball game where one team is basically standing around in their dress shoes, suits and ties, yet still beating a group of youngsters 40-0. Total control, not a drop of sweat.

I did uncover an interesting anomaly. although I read on the Spectron site that the conventional wisdom was to use each amp's right channel as the red/positive side, I paid little attention, thinking it was a coin flip decision. Hwoever, there was a definite phase issue when set up the other way (left channel of each amp positive and normal phase). Why? Simon reminded me that it had to do with AC polarity, and that the majority of installations would have AC polarity set up correctly for right/pos, left/neg and not the other way around. And he was right (pun not intended).

The Spectron monoblocks are truly state of the art IMO. Combined with the rest of my system, I now have a Hubbell telescope that is beaming back warm rich colors of the universe, and I'm able now to tweak the rest of the system to discover subtle cosmic nuances heretofore unknown. It's very very cool...and musical as heck.

Strengths:
Dynamics, dynamics, dynamics
Ease...lack of listener fatigue
Control from all frequencies, especially the extremes
Power (of course....rated nearly 1400 watts at 4 ohms)
Musically warm yet revealing

Weaknesses:
None that i can find, assuming you can afford this level of amplifier

Similar Products Used:
McCormack DNA-500
Moscode 401 hybrids
Krell KSA-100

Price Paid:  $12990.00

Summary:
I've been using two Spectron Musician III SE in monoblock configuration for about 2 months now. When I ordered the second one, I was simply expecting a small improvement over using a single amp with my Maggies 3.6. I was wrong, very wrong. I don't like to quantify the quality of sound, but if I had to, I'd have to say that adding another amp more than doubles the listening pleasure.

A single SE produces a very articulate, taught and well controlled sound from top to bottom. Two amps in balanced mode bring all these qualities to a whole new level of performance that I honestly didn't expect. The sound is now more articulate, more effortless and way more three-dimensional than using a single amp. There is a more defined and refined sense of space between the instruments. This is something that a single amp is really good at. What is added to this is the depth of each instrument and their position in reference to the listener.

Instrument spaces are clearly defined with a single amp, but with these two amps in bridged mono-block configuration, the instruments are layered and coordinated much more precisely. I don't want to imply that a single amp does not provide this level of definition, it's just that two in balanced mode will orchestrate and coordinate each instrument in such a way the makes it quite easy to "see" exactly where each instrument is located in the soundstage. I can now tell precisely if the contrabass guitar is left and in front of the drums, or if the piano is in front and to the right in the soundstage. I can almost get up and measure the size of each instrument and how much space there is between them. That's how articulate the sound is now. I've listened to systems costing up to 150k and this is a phenomenon I had not experience before. This is quite an accomplishment IMHO.

Regards,

iSanchez

Strengths:

* Uncanny control from top to bottom.
* Soundstage definition and articulation.
• Absolutely grain free throughout the entire spectrum.
• 3-dimensionality of the sound.

Weaknesses:
None.

Price Paid:  $13000.00 from Galen Carol Audio

Summary:
I have owned a Musician III for a few years, which I then upgraded to a Signature Edition. My front end is a Marantz-7 SACD player with a BAT REX preamp, and my speakers are B&W 802D. Cabling is by NBS and power conditioner is Hydra-8.

I have compared the Musician III SE very favorably with VTL Siegfrieds (see http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1180897750&read&keyw&zzspectron). I love its sound and I am pretty happy with the service. A year ago the amp failed, they instructed me to remove plug-in modules which I shipped to them by air (and not the bulky amp!) and a few days later I received them fixed, plugged them in and continued to enjoy music! Still, I was seduced by the thought of a second amp in the system.

OK, a few weeks ago, I received the 2nd amp and I am running both of them in monoblock mode. According to the manufacturer, this mode of operation is fully balanced, which triples the power and doubles the headroom. It also doubles the slew rate and bandwidth and dramatically suppresses the amplifier’s inherent distortions as well as the buzz and noise.

The moment I connected this second amp the sound became ASTONISHING, simply unbelievable! The presentation is absolutely effortless. The impact is ferocious and the bass sounds to be noticeably deeper. I never had such an experience before in my life. Still, there was some “aggressiveness” to the sound. Gradually the music became silkier and silkier and now it’s more “liquid” and has much more finesse than stereo alone. The midrange acquired, for lack of a better word, “bloom” – true sweetness of real violin or high quality piano – as you hear them in life.

However, I am a cello player, so the accuracy of the representation is paramount for me. I can hear minute details now {Janos Starker Bach Mercury Living Presence SACD 470 644-2}, which I could not hear before and most importantly, these are true details, not some artificially sweet B.S., or cello made out of steel with all its steely “pleasure”. It’s the most natural-sounding amp I’ve ever heard. It’s timbre is downright spooky – competing with the very best tube units I ever heard. Every note is reproduced with a tonal correctness and warmth that is as close to the real cello or piano as I’ve every experienced in live concert.

Another attribute of these monoblocks is vastly improved three-dimensionality of the soundstage representation. “There” is really “there” and to such a degree that it’s simply stunning. When I close my eyes I feel that the instrument is here in the room – and yet, on another lever, I know perfectly well that nobody is here. My head is full of conflicting information and I am dizzy and can’t leave my listening chair...

This effortless presentation, powerful slam and deep bass combined with realistic 3D representation, and true minute details of the acoustic instruments, makes this amplifier much better than anything I was able to audition in my life, including MBL 90011, Gamut 200 MkIII-M, BAT VK600SE-M, Plinius SA-Reference-M, VTL Siegfrieds and CAT JL1. Sonically, it is simply in another league.

I must add to the list of the advantages of this amp its relatively light weight, low energy consumption and no heat generation. Probably, the most amazing aspect of this amp is its unbelievably low price, truly a fraction as compared to that of the above units!

OK, it’s time to turn off the lights and set the volume for concert hall level. Good night my gentle reader, I am gone…..

Strengths:
1 - life-like representation which I never ever exprerienced before
2 - unbelievably low price - for what it delivers

Weaknesses:
no, nada, none, nyet

Similar Products Used:
MBL 90011,
Gamut 200 MkIII-M,
BAT VK600SE-M,
Plinius SA-Reference-M,
VTL Siegfrieds,
CAT JL1