Spectron Musician III - Can anyone comment on it?

Spectrons being somewhat "rolled off"

I do agree with you on it, there was some truth in it a few years ago - I heard it on standard Musician III. When they made Signature, I was told, the special attention was given to treble and indeed after I upgraded my M3 to Signature I could hear immense improvement and I thought its one of the best highs I ever heard. May be the best. About the same as Plinius Reference -M - similar signature.

From my conversation with Simon, I understood that in Mk2 they concentrated on the top-to bottom approach and during the process, he said, he noted some schematics which he felt was not needed. John agreed and after they removed it , already fantastic highs became much more open, they bloom, etc

I am cello player and with Mk2 and GOOD (!!!) recordings I close my eyes and I have uncanny feeling that the player(s) is in the room.

As much as I love stereo Mk2, the monoblocks remove additional layers of veil or whatever between me and soundstage. Again Simon explained it by totally removing distortions (don't confuse with random noise) in mono mode and letting music out undistorted.

I know BAT stuff. I agree with you that REX may be the best preamp in the world. I love it! I also know well BAT600SE-M as truly excellent amplifier - however, Spectron is much better. BAT have even order distortions present and you can hear them, particularly during crescendo where no amplifier in the world come even close to Spectron.

I owned or auditioned extensively MBL 90011, Gamut 200 MkIII-M, BAT VK600SE-M, Plinius SA-Reference-M, VTL Siegfrieds and CAT JL1. Sonically, Spectron Mk2 monoblock is simply in another league.

"the name on the faceplate ain't Krell or Mark Levinson!"

If you want noble pedigree then Spectron chief designer John Ulrick is the designer of famous Infinity speakers in the 70's and inventor of the first digital amp. Simply,from 80's he went into pro audio and thus his name has gone from short-term audiophiles memories. However, he has HUGE name among professional designers. He loves music and Simon is (was) professional classical pianist and Yada, Yada, Yada Musician III Mk2 was born

Finally, my friend owned M-L Summits and power requirements were not in the bass region but strangely enough at the top, can't remember why - check your M-L speakers as well.

Whatever you decide - be happy.
All The Best in Your Search
Rafael

I've not heard the Spectrons (mono or stereo) with any of my equipment but at a customer's with Maggie 20.1, the Musician III was incredibly good.

If you need a lot of horsepower, Spectron is worth a listen IMO.

Thanks so much to each and every one of you for helping me to make this tough decision. Rafael, you have really used some top shelf amps! If you feel that The Spectrons can run with that pack then I feel I should give them the green light and order them.

Terry, the Exos crossover does accept the REX's true balanced outs and will mate perfectly.

So, let's get down to configuration....

Ideally, money not being the primary deciding factor, what is the best choice using Spectrons?

I have two towers (two sets of terminals), stat and midrange, which are currently jumpered. Simon had recommended bi-wiring them with a pair of SM3 MK2's. Is this the best choice? Should I go for one upgrade...both? What about that Neutrik Cable they offer....is it a better choice than sticking with standard high end speaker cable?

I will be running the separate bass stacks with a pair of SM3 MK2 monos. Are the mods at all necessary when running just the bass? I will spend money where it makes a difference but not where the gains are very minimal for the $$ spent.

You have all been SO great in helping me to this point. I'd appreciate finishing up the conversation with these last bits of practical advice so I have a clear picture of what to order when I'm ready to do so in a couple weeks.

Thanks all,
Russ

Hello Russ,

1 Their Remote Sense cable is better then all inexpensive -to medium price cables but is inferior (in some respects) to true high end cables like Valhalla and similar so I do not recommend them.

2 Set up at the top: If Simon suggest you to bi-wire then he must mean to use two amps in monoblocks configuration. You can use the same amps both in mono and in stereo mode so you can do and compare yourself what is the best for you
a) monoblocks with bi-wire or
b) stereo in bi-amp
Same two amps, same two sets of speaker cables

With BAT, however, you would need to send them to factory to reconfigure every time you want to go from stereo to mono

Upgrades - I don't know if anyone can tell you where they will be better : at the top or bottom. I have them. I love them - its question of the budget, on my opinion

All The Best
Rafael

I believe you can order the Spectron built for mono only so that you do not need to do anything outside the amp like y-cables or anything like that. talk to Simon for more info. As far as upgrades I see Rafael has weighed in but also check with Terryakhan. He has 3 of these amps all with the upgrades and looking to go with a 4th.

Going with upgrades on an amp that is just going to drive the bass doesn't make much sense imho.