Bel Canto Ref 1000 vs. Spectron Musician III Mk 2

07-20-10: Michael_moskowich
Hello Kiwi,
About an year and a half ago, I also posted the same question as you did (my speakers are WATT/Puppy 8 soon to be replaced by Sasha, most power hungry speakers in Wilson line).

The same Ajackson urged me not to buy Spectron, the same Radicalsteve complained on Spectron with his new speakers (Apogee Scintilla and not what he claims today - but who cares, importantly he complained and Plinius 250 he likes is good amp for these who don;t care about its weight and heat).

Thanks Michael. Forums are about opinions and i'm happy to read them all - which is after all the reason for asking. At the end of the day i will form my own opinion. Radicalsteve's Plinius is an excellent amplifier but i'm of the opinion that with recent advances in technology it should be possible to obtain good results without using a class A monster.

Need I say more, the head of the Spectron police has spoken. Which part of my response urged Kiwi not to buy Spectron? Is someone Spectron's payroll?

Just to be clear, my Spectrons were great amps and a major upgrade over my various tube amp iterations, but class A (for me) seems to have the upper hand if you are looking for that emotional connection - but as someone said in the thread it is system dependent and always synergy trumps individual components.

One thing though I want to emphasize; several folks came and listened to my system in its room, including an impartial experienced dealer, and for all the overriding agreement was not in favor of the Spectrons, so it is not personal, for the record, or inconsistent with anything I have said previously! As always life is a journey.

If you can listen to equipment at home, this is always the definitive evaluation; the only problem is that a a quick "weekend of home demo, does not do justice and extended listening is required. 30 day home demos are more effective in evaluation. In general I never compare and contrast between one piece and another. That is like trying to say cabernet is better than pinot - they are different and if you have to make a choice, make a personal connection for your own taste - audio or vinous!

I would be happy to have Spectron amps again, its just that I prefer the Plinius sound, nothing more complex than that. Oh, and by the way, before he became a Spectron consultant, Simon's preferred and owned amps were Plinius - go figure.

Steve

My Spectron experience: I currently use the latest Spectron monoblocks with all upgrades, driving Marten Coltranes. My preamp is from Joule Electra. The Coltrane is not particularly insensitive, but the impedance curve is somewhat demanding. The amps drive the Coltranes with ease. From top to bottom, they are neutral in the best sense of the word. Well-recorded acoustic jazz is rendered with sweetness and liquidity. Well-recorded rock and pop is delivered with speed and slam. One word of caution: careful impedance matching between Spectron and preamp is called for: I had the opportunity to demo an ARC preamp, and this was not a good match for the Spectrons.

Impedance matching to pre-amp especially if a tube pre-amp is always a consideration for any amp, not just SPectral or Class D.

Stock Icepower modules have 10K input impedance which is not optimal for use with most tube pre-amps.

BC ref1000 uses stock Icepower modules and has 10K input impedance.

BC ref1000m has a separate input stage with 100K input impedance which should match well to most any pre-amp. It seems to do well with my ARC sp16.

Spectron amps may vary regarding input impedance also from model to model I think I recall, so best to know exactly what model you are dealing with and its input impedance specs if to be used with most tube pre-amps.

I take any user accounts of SS amp performance with a grain of salt especially when used with a tube pre-amp because matching impedance and its effect on amp/pre-amp synergy is not something that many take into consideration up front before buying unfortunately.