Please help with Spectron Musician Issue.


I haven't been on Audiogon in a while, but I now find myself at wit's end. I'd like to know if anyone can guess the problem, and where I might get it fixed... other than Spectron! (Read on.) I'm not very technical w/stereo equipment.

System: Spectron Musician II Class D amplifier, upgraded to the "Hybrid" version. Audio Horizons tube pre-amp. Resolution Opus 21 CD source. PS500 power conditioner. Magnapan 2.2R speakers. Good quality cables all 'round.

The short story:

The Left channel on my Spectron Musician II Hybrid amplifier drops out frequently. When it does, volume through the speaker goes way down, with an astounding amount of distortion. Just low-volume crackles and a disgusting trickle of music coming through. Sounds like a kazoo. In this condition, it's not likely to 'fix' itself. Other times, from startup, things sound great, but lately, it's been all bad.

I can often 'fix' the problem by disconnecting the right speaker cable (amp off, of course) so that I can hear the Left channel, starting the amp back up, and pushing the volume up quite high... almost to dangerous levels for the speaker. Most times, the channel will suddenly and sharply clear up -- I have to be ready on that volume knob! It's almost like pushing a clog through a drain. From there, the system might play fine for hours... or not. The left channel can drop out at any time, and lately, we haven't been able to get through a session without a problem.

I have eliminated ALL possible other components. Swapped speaker cables; went direct source to amp bypassing the pre-amp; tried different sources; tried RCA instead of XLR inputs. When the problem happens, it happens in the left channel of the amp despite any changes outside the amp.

Any ideas what the cause might be?

Now, here's where it gets really rich:

This amp has a history, and I know that by posting this note, I'll never be able to resell it. It has been back and forth to Spectron several times, perhaps four. One time, when John from Spectron was trying to debug an issue over the phone, he had me plug it in and fire it up, fire being the operative term. Something shorted out, smoke came up, little bit of flame. Quite spectacular.

It went out to California, and they pushed me to get an upgrade to the Hybrid version, well over $1,000 layout. I was pretty happy with the upgrade until just a few days after the warranty ran out, when the left channel issue came up.

Out to California again.Spectron said they'd honor the warranty. Spectron kept it for several weeks, and said they couldn't find any problems. Sounded normal to them, and they said they burned it for quite a while. (As I said earlier, it might play well for a while, and the problem is unpredictable.) They claim to have diddled one small, insignificant thing and sent it back.

Now they want to see the amp again (another couple of hundred in shipping costs), and yet their engineer can't even speculate what the issue might be. Clearly, I have little confidence that they'll fix the problem, and if I know Spectron, they'll try to cheap me out of more dollars. And yet, if I don't lay out more money, I have a boat anchor. Replacing the amp is not an option, financially speaking. Heck, Spectron makes the things, they should be able to repair them!

My questions:

Would you send the amp back to Spectron, given the circumstances?

If you did, would you have them honor the warranty on the upgrade, even though it has expired. I let them know about the issue BEFORE warranty expiration, but it cleared and I couldn't test it completely until AFTER warranty.

Do you have any idea what the problem might be?

Do you know of any wiz-kid repair person who does Class D work who would be a good alternative to a Spectron repair?

I've loved my amp... when it works. But this... this... is intolerable.

Thank you for your time and advice.

Rob Hanson
rhanson739
I own a pair of Spectron III MK2 monoblocks. I have had them for I think over 4 years without problems. I am curious since you have had both the left and right channel go out what turned out to be the problem with the amp? I am curious since I am a Spectron owner.
Looks like it's time for me to update my own thread!

After receiving my amp back from Spectron, I continued to have some problems. Time to throw in the towel, I thought. The people at Spectron and I worked out an arrangement, and as a result, I'm now running a Spectron Musician III MK2 with all upgrades.

In a word, "happy." I haven't had a single issue with the new amp. Nada... Zilch... Perfect operation. It sounds fantastic.

My only "problem" is that getting the new amp caused a slew of upgrades, to the point that every component is new, from speakers to cables. Having just added some Vandersteen 2wq subs into the mix, I really couldn't be more delighted with how things turned out.

I'll probably never deal with this type of issue again. Just too much angst and expense in that.

Rob
Just a word of warning. Now that you have a Musician III Mk2, if you try a second one and run them in balanced monoblock mode, you would be amazed how much better they sound and won't be able to go back to one amp in Stereo mode.

When you run them as monoblocks, you just have to switch the output phase switch on one channel of each amp and connect the speaker cable to each channel's top binding post. This way each channel drives each phase of the output with common mode noise rejection.

You also get double the slew rate, much wider bandwidth, and more powerful, controlled bass. Also of course you get tremendous power with peaks to 2 kilowatts possible.

A final suggestion, the Spectrons benefit from being left on 24/7. They take days or weeks to reach their full potential. They also benefit from the best power cords to get the best slam, bass extension, and clarity.
Thanks, Kernelbob... I think... :)

Budgetary restrictions preclude the possibility of a second Musician III at this time, although I do appreciate your insights.

One thing that surprised me: The Vandersteen 2wq subwoofers were the best possible additions (given my budget, of course.) With the battery-biased crossovers between the pre- and amp, they take a lot of the load off the Spectron, leaving it more free to handle the power-hungry Magnepan 3.7s, as well as providing bass that the Maggies can't really reach anyway. The difference was anything but subtle... we haven't turned off the music since getting the subs in.
Kudos to Spectron for their help, but considering their reliability, I wouldn't own one for anything.