nick778

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Precision Audio Desi

Summary:
I have a B&W system consiting of all 800 series speakers. The Spectron Musician III SE MK2 drives my 803Ds. They are nominally rated at 8 ohms but can dip to slightly below 3 ohms and their recommended power is 500 watts/channel.

I had listened to the speakers when I bough them with the McIntosh 402 and Classe CAM 350 and 400 mono-blocks and thought they sounded best with the Classe mono-blocks and began saving for them. In the interim I had them running off a Rotel RB-1090 (380 watts/channel) and knew the speakers could sound their best with better amplication. I was set to buy the Classe mono-blocks when I read some reviews of the Spectron. They were so overwhemling here and on other audio forums that in a leap of faith, I bought the Spectron and went through the 400 hour burn in process. In a word, WOW! I never heard my speakers sound so good.

I wan't sure where to post this review but I am using a single amp, not mono-blocks and I can't imagine what two of them would sound like since just the one has ended my quest for the amplifier I have been searching for.

My speakers produced sound with amazing headroom extention but without any harshness at all. It was like the Classe without the 'veil'. The midrange is sweet, detailed and musical while the bass in all ranges in very tight, rich and powerful but in complete balance with the other hormonics. Soundstage and other audio characteristics were simply outstanding.

Had I bought the Classe I would have had to rearrange my entire audio sytem and bought new interconnects and speaker cable. The Spectron in this small 52 lb package does it all without having 300 lbs to arrange; it can fit anywhere. You leave it on 24/7, draws only 40 watts, and only gets slightly warm.

I don't know what else to say other than I wholeheatedly recommend this amp.

Strengths:
Mentioned above.

All the reviews I read here before purchasing the Musician III SE MK2 are absolutley correct. Spectron has made steady and evolutionary changes to their earlier products and each step forward to a new product made it what it is today.

I belive this will be their stable and futue production model for some time.

V-Cap Option for those who want the ultimate in finesse and liqudity in sound from the amp.

Weaknesses:
Just the run-in time but you can hear the improvements in sound quality every 100 hours until you reach 400 hours.

Of course, I would suggest a premium aftermarket power cord for this (or any) high quality amp.

Similar Products Used:
Rotel RB-1090
Classe CAM-350 and 400 mono-blocks auditioned.
MacIntosh 402 and 501 mono-blocks auditioned

Steinbergj

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $6495.00 from dealership

Summary:
I've listened to a lot of amps over the years, and built a few, too: mostly triode tube amps. As the years passed, my audio budget became more ample, and I have been able to try just about all the "killer" amps out there, tube and solid state. The good news is that the art form is actually improving. The bad news is that audio mags and their advertisers have done a great job pushing the price of amplification skyward. But I was prepared to suck that up, and just get the "killer amp" that would make it unnecessary to wring hands again about amplification. At least for several years.

Hearing the Spectron Musician III Signature has put an end to my amp questing. There just is no amp out there that combines the authority, tonal rightness and delicacy of this amp. It will drive anything, and laughs at tough loads that send a lot of amps into deep depression. {I've used it with the Shahinian Diapasons (19K), which are notoriously tough to drive, and also with the new Fried Reference (25K) which are not) But what really blew me away is how the M3 Sig does so with utter transparency and tonal accuracy. Its treble reproduces the almost-impossible-to-reproduce sound of massed violins with no haze, no glare and enough vividness that you feel you can hear the rosin on the bow. Voices have the kind of immediacy that many associate with single ended tube amps. And when it is time for the kettle drums in Malher, or the juicy bass of, say, Charlie Haden, the amp controls the speaker with complete authority. Not just firm bass; rock solid, clean, REAL bass. [NB I was a symphony musician for several years. Sitting in the middle of an orchestra really teaches what real instruments in real space sound like.]

All of this performance for so few dollars, comparatively, and with complete reliablility and no furnace effect. Yikes!

I was prepared to spend up to 30K for amplification, and end the quest. I was thrilled to spend less. But I am even more thrilled to be out of the amp-comparing business. Its just not as good as listening to the music

Strengths:
Immense musicality yet truthfull to real life music, combined with more then modest price

Weaknesses:
None worth mentioning

Similar Products Used:
Mostly tube triode amplifiers

david schectman

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $3800.00 from factory direct promo

Summary:
I have owned the Musician III Signature amp for 3 weeks and it has been breaking in continually for some 500 hours now. I recently purchased a pair of MBL 101 speakers and the review is of the Spectron driving the MBLs. The MBLs are blessed with some of the finest treble and bass performance that is possible. And their staging is extraordinary. Upfront, I can state with no reservations, that the Musician III Signature is fully up to the task! The strength's of the speaker are beautifully complimented by the Spectron. In addition to the above, dynamics, resolution, clarity and speed abound.

I guess the biggest surprise is how good it is. I am used to owning very expensive amps and used to the musicality of single ended triodes. How can an ultra-high-powered digital amp sound this good? The Spectron is truly an open window to the sound of what precedes it. It does not editorialize. The sound of my MBL-based system changed dramatically when I changed my line stage from the wonderful Connoisseur to the even-more-wonderful sounding BAT REX. It was literally as if I had changed amps
I have a high quality XRCA of female vocals. Until this latest change, I could not stand to play it. Voices were just plain wrong (12 different female vocals). Now they sound wonderful.
I have been listening to two of my all-time favorite jazz records; only two musicians on each, a saxophone and piano. One record is all blues, the other all gospel. Archie Shepp and Horace Parlan are the musicians. I have enjoyed these treasures since the early 90's. Never have they sounded so wonderful as they do now. The richness and fullness and absolute musicality is stunning. This stuff can bring one to tears, if you have any "soul," that is, and I do. I really do not know where to heap praise, since this level of excellence did not appear until the REX joined the parade, yet it is the Spectron that is passing it through. The Spectron adds no amusical coloration, which our ears percieve as "steely or piercing" sound nor any euphonic coloration - It's just a huge open window to "live" music.

Last night, my wife and I spent an evening with a friend of hers who also played piano for us for an hour. We sat 3-10' away (2 different positions) and I was reminded, once again, of the amazing power and dynamics of a live piano. What I would consider to be "bright, "hard," or "peaky" on my stereo system was in fact the sound of the live piano. Oh well, live and learn.
With the Spectron and MBLs, I can virtually replicate the sound we heard live last night
For the first time in my audio life I am hearing full orchestral music reproduced properly. The power, majesty and scale is beyond words. Organ shakes the walls. The 1812 overture with cannon shots are just unbelievable. Everything I thought I knew about what is possible has been trashed. I think that even John Ulrick do not know what his amp is capable of.
As a point of reference, I am using $50k speakers, $25k line stage, $25k phono stage, $30k phono, $30k digital AND an amp that cost me under $6500. It seems incongruous, but the amp is that good. My very high expectations have been exceeded!

Strengths:
Attractive, reasonably priced, unlimited power, world-class bass and treble reporduction and uncolored and spacious mid-range. Plus, customer service is the best! The really do bend over backward to please.

Weaknesses:
The only weakness is that we "perceive" moderately priced gear and digital amps to be less than serious high end products. That is a mistake, in this case, as it is a very high end product indeed.

Price Paid:  $6000.00 from Spectron

Summary:
I purchased my Musician III in December 2004, after six years of experience with the original Spectron Class D amplifier -- the Digital One. My original impressions can be found in a review I posted in this forum via the following link:

http:www.audioasylum.com/forums/amp/messages/69081.html

Compared to the earlier Digital One (and other similarly priced amps I auditioned at the time), the Musician III was incrementally better in mid-range tonality, bass extention and clarity, micro-dynamics and detail. Even more dramatic improvements were evident in presence of a wide, deep soundstage, a sense of deminsionality and imaging, and a high degree of transparency, space and "air". Most important, the MIII proved to be an excellent match for my rather inefficient B & W Nautilus 802 speakers.

After two years as a very satisified user, John Ulrick of Spectron convinced me that moving to his new Signature Edition was well worth the price of the upgrade ($1250.00). And although I have currently less than 200 hours burn-in, it's clear that John was not exaggerating. Specifically, tonal accuracy in the mid-range and treble is dramatically improved (natural and totally uncolored); the bass is even more extended and muscular; and the sound stage more spacious, especially in depth, with greater imaging and delineation. The Signature Edition is a result of major improvements made by John which take the Musician III well beyond its prior level of performance, which was reviewed so favorably in Absolute Sound last November.

Having said all this, let me offer two pieces of anecdotal evidence:

First of all, after somewhere between 100 and 200 hours of casual listening, I was playing a ten year old classical CD that I am very familiar with, and it suddenly occurred to me -- the music was far more alive with a liquid, silky sound that I had never heard before. It made me feel like I was actually in the presence of live music. Quite an amazing reaction!

Secondly, at a listening session involving a few others from the local audio society, one knowledgeable member observed that he had never heard my Nautilus 802's sound so good. Most of the participants had never been that impressed with B & W speakers (having other personal favorites), but the consensus of the group was that the 802s had obviously come into their own and really sounded good! Obviously, the muscle and speed of the Specton with the Signature Edition had finally gotten my hard-to-drive behemoths to really blossom.

Finally, let me say that their are two configuration changes that I have made to my system over the last year or so that I consider absolutely essential to getting the best performance out of a Spectron amp: 1) I added an Exact Power 1000 power regenerator to my system solely to support the amp. As John Ulrick says, the Spectron Class D architecture "loves constant, pure power with very low distortion". And 2) I have connected my universal player (a APL Denon 3910 with digital volume control) directly to the Spectron, dropping my pre-amp entirely. The synergy between the CDP, the Spectron and my speakers seems to really cook!

Pete

Strengths:
See Review

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Numerous

Price Paid:  $3795.00 from factory direct

Summary:
Throw out all of your pre-conceived notions about what a class-D digital amplifier sounds like. This amp breaks the mold. It does not sound like tubes. It does not sound like solid state. It sounds like music, without the usual electronic colorations that we have become so accustomed to in our electronics.

The Spectron Musician III Signature does many things well, but the first thing that you will notice is the upper mid-range and treble. I am driving a pair of MBL speakers with the Spectron and the upper frequencies are the strength of the speaker and the Spectron does not disappoint. No brightness, hardness, shrillness or amusicality of any kind. The amount of air and detail and the clarity and precision in the upper frequencies is simply the best I have eve experienced.

The bass is equally outstanding. Power, control, great projection of energy. I love it!

But it is in the mid-range where the real surprise lies. I am accustomed to the sound of single ended triode tube amps and favor the 300B presentation of voices. When the Spectron is fully broken-in (around 500 hours) and properly cabled, it presents a midrange that at first seems a bit "light" or less "warm" than the triode sound. But upon further listening, it is apparent that what I am hearing is a neutral sound, one without the "colorations" of the tubes - which I happen to like, coloration or not.

The amps are very transparent, very high resolution and very neutral. Surround them with high quality neutral gear and you will get a wonderfully natural presentation in return.

.

Strengths:
Treble is first on my list. The best I have heard. Bass is probably as good. Deep, controlled, powerful bass in abundance. This amp does not give you over-emphasized boom-box bass. Nor is it to dry. Just about right, for my taste.

The midrange is neutral. For many, it will be perfect. For those that love tube colorations, it may be a touch on the lean side. But actully, it is very faithful to the sound of the human voice and the guitar. My favorite reference LP is a male vocal by Little Hatch with harmonica and guitar and very, very beautifully recorded. It could bring tears to your eyes through the wonderful British amp, the Tron 300B, but I believe it is ever better with the Spectron. I was very surprised, indeed.

Go ahead and spend several times as much as this amp will cost you. It will be good for your ego, but bad for your check book. If you need hgih power and don't audition this amp before you make a purchase, it will be your loss.

The folks at Spectron (especially Simon) are extremely friendly and helpful. In high end audio, that is not always the case.

Weaknesses:
It takes a long, long time to break-in. It is so high in resolution that any change in power cords or speaker cables will noticably alter the presentation. These are really not weaknesses, but it does mean you will have to play around a bit with the amp to get its full merit.

The only other weakness is the price: They charge way to little for the gem. If they sold it for $15k no one would complain and more people would check it out because high price products automatically get credibility.

Similar Products Used:
None, really. Most of my listening over the years has been with the finest in tube amps (over 2 dozen) and I have recently owned an absolutely world-class solid state amp ($25k) that put out 130wpc, but that is not enough to drive the power hungry MBLs. That said, the Spectron does not disappoint.