Amplification for Wilson Watt Puppy 7s or 8s

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

I could have been very happy with the McCormacks with their errors of omission, but the Spectrons provided more information, with possibly less distortion. Both amps exceed the older Spectron Premier 7 in all aspects of music.

Several days later-
After installing the Omicrons, immediately I noticed a tighter, deeper bass developing that natural organic extension I was looking for, the mids and highs are getting ”silkier” with more air around the instruments and the soundstage is improving in width and depth, with more air around the instruments, and better dynamics. I decided, after this, the Spectrons were the keepers. This was observed after only 4 hours of listening and maybe 60 hours on the amps, maybe 100 hours on the WP8s.

I checked out 1 Spectron amp in stereo mode, and thought the bass was solid, midrange smooth, and highs silky, but the overall impression was one of less impact and dynamics. The overall soundstage seemed smaller. It was missing something, almost like the speakers were out of phase, that I couldn’t necessarily put my finger on. Upon reinsertion of the 2nd Spectron as Mono-Blocks, all that was missing returned.

The Spectrons are a proprietary Class D amp (no ICE modules) without a switching power supply with high power (over 1000 watts into 8 ohms as Mono-Blocks) and high current.(can deliver 65 amp peaks) They use a fairly traditional power supply, as they weigh around 65 lbs. each. Like the comp. they are small and fit in my wife’s HT cabinet without generating any heat, and are very energy efficient only drawing 40 watts each at idle.

The WP8s now have close to 200 hours and are sounding fantastic. I have not had the dealer over yet to voice the system, as I wanted to settle on some amps and break in the WP8s first. Depending on the music, the WP8s disappear like no other speaker I’ve had in my system. They are much smoother and more dimensional, as well. They also excel at producing the bass punch and slam I sometimes crave. However, they don’t reproduce some of the lowest organ notes, like my PBNs did, but those frequencies are very rare. Overall, very happy with the WP8s.

Thanks again for all your advice.

Lubes3