Amplification for Wilson Watt Puppy 7s or 8s

"Dob, you might want to try it before you write off tubes with the WPs "

Hello AthmaShere: Both amplifiers I mentioned in regard to the sound of W/P were tube amplifiers: AEC Classic 60 (60 wpcs) and Equilibre (225 wpc)

I did so call "soprano experiments" to test amplifiers when I decided to change my old ARC 60: In other words when soprano coming to crescendo then all but Equilibre amplifiers (and I tested almost every tube amp under the sun) recreated her gorgeous voice as police siren - so many distortions was there at 2 kHz. Only Equilibre could show this voice(s) equally gorgeous at low and high levels and I grabbed it!!!!

" ....you could play it to a very nice volume and yet the VU meters on the amps hardly move "

As I am sure you are well aware, NAD experiments showed that human ear/brain is sensitive to musical peaks of even 3 msec duration and unless its heavy metal it will rarely be longer then 500 msec (may be less then 0.1% of recorded music). That means that while your ear/brain will register the peak (distorted or not)- your VU meter will barely move and I doubt if you could see its movement over just a few hundred milliseconds duration.

When I read your post I checked McCormack and Spectron specs - since the author of this thread is interested in these two amplifiers.

Most interesting is that at full output McCormack distortion level is 1% and Spectrons is 0.3% or 30 time better.

So, if he - in his testing - will stress his system with Mahler symphonies then.... I am waiting for his report !!!!

All The Best
Rafael

Hey guys. Just hooked the Spectron Musician III Mk2 Mono-blocks up for about 4 hours, so only initial observations. Contrary to what I thought I would hear, I prefered the highs on the Spectrons, cymbals/brushes sounded much more real. The McCormacks almost seemed rolled off but not as natural. Now the bass was just the opposite. They both played deep and powerful, but the bass of the McCormack had a more natural, woody, organic sound. Overall the Spectros seem to have higher resolution and the McCormacks seem more forgiving, maybe due to lower resolution.

Dob, I really don't look too much at specs to judge a piece of gear's sonics, but your quoted distortion figures could account for some of what I heard.

At this point I need to buy or return the McCormacks (they have about 75 hours now), but I'm not ready to make a decision yet, so I will return the McCormacks. I'm not counting them out, as I found them very musically engaging.

I have the Spectrons for 2 weeks, so I need to put some hours on them to form a better opinion of their sonics.

Till then--
Lubes3

Dob, thanks for your input. As far as the musical peaks thing goes, FWIW I am used to seeing those meters move a little- the fact that they don't on the Sashas in the system I heard says to me they are easy to drive.

Given the amps you mentioned, I would go with your choice too, I think. Not all tube amps are equal!!

Reboot....I suspect there is no worse combination than Wilsons and Valhalla

2/16/10-Initial comparison:
I can only compare the new Musicians to the McCormack DNA-750 mono-blocks at this point. The highs are much better and more “real”, to me, on the Spectrons. The bass is very strong and powerful, maybe more so, on the Spectrons, but the McCormacks may have a more natural, organic bass. The midrange is, at this point, very similar, though I remember the Premiere, when bi-amped being smoother than both.

With that said, the Spectron Musicians are brand new, and may benefit from some burn-in time, as well as some isolation platforms.

2/20/10- Impressions-A few days later with Omicron Magic Dream Isolation on Spectrons (as I returned the McCormacks and could not compare Omicrons, but would assume both would benefit somewhat equally)
Yes, the Spectrons are sounding better everyday. The mids and highs are getting ”silkier” with more air around the instruments and the bass is developing that natural organic extension I was looking for. I brought the McCormacks back to Katli Audio in Chino Hills. I was then heading to another dealer to pick up 2 Composite Products platforms for the Mono-Blocks. They retail for $550 ea, but I was getting a decent discount. I asked Fred, of Katli, what he uses. He showed me some Omicron Magic Dream-$130 for a set of 3. They create a floating “platform” (with no platform, just 3 "sticks", like Stillpoints, that I put under each amp and immediately I noticed a tighter deeper bass, better dynamics and better soundstage with more air around the instruments. I only listened for a half an hour, as my family wanted to see the movie Avatar. I will have to do more evaluations by switching my CP platforms with the Omicrons. Anyway, very impressive and much less than the Composite Products platform.

I probably keep at least 1 Spectron, depending on sound when I disconnect 1 and convert the other to a stereo amp. Great option.

Lubes3