Spectral owner new to the forum

I don’t think that is true. All I know is that Spectral non Universal power amps must be used with Spectral / MIT cables.
So models like DMA 160S Universal can be used with any cable but DMA 250 must use Spectral / MIT cables to keep your warrantee intact.

I too am in the UK yes it’s a shame Spectral are no longer in the UK, we just have to look to Europe I guess.

Hourwerk said:

That's interesting. Which Spectral dealers in Europe can you recommend? Problem is UK voltage is 240v & Europe mainly 220v. Spectral kit is very sensitive to mains fluctuations. I had to return my preamp to the factory after a mains spike fried it! I now use a surge protector, which is not great for sound quality, but its better than wrecking ones equipment.

Happy New Year

Click to expand...

Welcome to WBF , isn't gear generally set to handle the 220v - 240 v range , rather than strictly confirm to 220 or 240v . That's my understanding .

For pre-amps, the power requirement is very low so a step down transformer from 240 to 120 should be fine. If anything, it will provide some level of filtering. So I would not rule out importing of DMC-15SS and such.

Hi not sure who to recommend, I did use a dealer from Holland when I was looking for cable upgrade but can’t remember which one.

Try the Dutch distributor: http://www.moremusic.nl/

I believe they have helped UK customers before.

Contact telephone number: +31 346 211919

Unrelated, but I must ask: what's up with the forum consolidations? Spectral, Cables and CD Transports? Pass and Speakers forum???

ack said:

Unrelated, but I must ask: what's up with the forum consolidations? Spectral, Cables and CD Transports? Pass and Speakers forum???

Click to expand...

There shouldn't be any consolidation. I simply made the titles of all the forums more descriptive and included the gear the company makes. Let me know if I got any of them wrong .

Apologies are in order! No one talks about Pass speakers, people don't think about cables when talking about Spectral, etc... so, I guess I was utterly confused. Sorry. But at the same time, Spectral is also more about "digital" products rather than just transports (though I grant you, the replacement DAC to the 2000 - dubbed the 5000 - is a little overdue, by 15 years, or just a tiny miniscule fraction given the age of the universe)

I have a pair of DMA 360 series 2 which I have paired with an Audio Research SP3 and also paired with the Klyne SK7. In both cases, everything went on smoothly. I have a hunch that the Spectral team want their clients to experience their gear as they intended and the warnings on only using approved associated equipment and cables are to scare their clients from wandering away from the experience that they intended.

mullard88 said:

I have a pair of DMA 360 series 2 which I have paired with an Audio Research SP3 and also paired with the Klyne SK7. In both cases, everything went on smoothly. I have a hunch that the Spectral team want their clients to experience their gear as they intended and the warnings on only using approved associated equipment and cables are to scare their clients from wandering away from the experience that they intended.

Click to expand...

Marty uses Spectral 400 with VTL 7.5. His is probably the best room I have been in. The speed and thump of the Spectrals and the soundstaging of the system with the Pipedreams and JL audio 212 is brilliant. He uses MIT ICs.

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...-400s-arrive-in-New-Jersey&highlight=spectral

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...-in-New-Jersey&p=227662&viewfull=1#post227662

ack said:

Apologies are in order! No one talks about Pass speakers, people don't think about cables when talking about Spectral, etc... so, I guess I was utterly confused. Sorry. But at the same time, Spectral is also more about "digital" products rather than just transports (though I grant you, the replacement DAC to the 2000 - dubbed the 5000 - is a little overdue, by 15 years, or just a tiny miniscule fraction given the age of the universe)

Click to expand...

Sorry I missed following up on this (and for the side conversation to the thread ). What should the forum title be so that it is short but all inclusive of what they build?

bonzo75 said:

Marty uses Spectral 400 with VTL 7.5. His is probably the best room I have been in. The speed and thump of the Spectrals and the soundstaging of the system with the Pipedreams and JL audio 212 is brilliant. He uses MIT ICs.

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...-400s-arrive-in-New-Jersey&highlight=spectral

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...-in-New-Jersey&p=227662&viewfull=1#post227662

Click to expand...

Marty actually has JL Audio Gotham G213

I think somebody needs to do a shootout between spectral and lamm hybrid 220w M2.2 on a lower sensitivity speaker like a panel

mullard88 said:

I have a pair of DMA 360 series 2 which I have paired with an Audio Research SP3 and also paired with the Klyne SK7. In both cases, everything went on smoothly. I have a hunch that the Spectral team want their clients to experience their gear as they intended and the warnings on only using approved associated equipment and cables are to scare their clients from wandering away from the experience that they intended.

Click to expand...

This is very interesting. Some years ago, the great HP reported he used a Spectral amp with (I believe) an ARC SP-3 pre-amp. To the dismay of the Spectral folks, nothing blew up as he was told it might. As far as I know, Spectral has flip-flopped on this issue more than once. Many years ago, they did in fact insist that their amps had to be used with their pre-amps. Then at some point, which is unclear, they appeared to allow for some greater flexibility. In fact, my RS400 owner's manual does not specifically state that the amps must be used with a Spectral pre-amp. Rather, the manual clearly states it must be used with a pre-amp of suitably low impedance in order to properly drive the amps. (The request for insisting that a low-impedance pre-amp be used appears to be a reasonable one since the output impedance of all Spectral pre-amp is 100 ohms. Two other tube preamps that I know are being used successfully with Spectral amps that have a low output impedance are VTL and BAT.) Thus I am pleased to learn that you have had good success with the SP-3, since it clearly does not have a very low output impedance! (Although perhaps I shouldn't be surprised as HP didn't have any apparent problems either). However, the plot thickens. I recently learned from Goodwin's, that Spectral is once again insisting that only Spectral pre-amps can be used with Spectral amps. They, and other Spectral dealers are therefore prohibited from selling Spectral amps to owners who do not have a Spectral pre-amp. I'm not sure where this saga will end, but two things are clear. First, if you are concerned about being scared shitless by Spectral's draconian approach, I guess you could always say that you have a Spectral preamp if you really want to buy a Spectral amp. I mean really, I presume Rick Fryer has better things to do with his time then check you out with a personal visit to make sure you aren't violating their policy. Then again, the old adage comes to mind: let the buyer beware. Second, to be clear, this discussion is independent of Spectral's mandate for the use of MIT signal and speaker cables with their amplifiers. Under no circumstances do I, or anyone who is sane, think it is reasonable to use any other cables but MIT on a Spectral amp. Unlike the pre-amp pairing situation, the MIT cable mandate is there for a very good reason. You have to consider the band-width limiting approach of the MIT/Spectral pairing as essential to Keith Johnson's amplifier design. As far as I can see, there is no reason to try and disprove it. It is a pairing that works extremely well as attested and confirmed by the experience of many happy Spectral users.

Just a correction. The output impedance of spectral pre amps would be 100 ohms. The input impedance of the amplifiers is 10k ohms. I think Spectral is looking for a robust signal for their amps. The 100 ohm output impedance of the preamp is just one piece of the puzzle.

dan31 said:

Just a correction. The output impedance of spectral pre amps would be 100 ohms. The input impedance of the amplifiers is 10k ohms. I think Spectral is looking for a robust signal for their amps. The 100 ohm output impedance of the preamp is just one piece of the puzzle.

Click to expand...

The best pre I know is a valve pre named NAT Audio from Serbia, problem for you being that if you wanted it at a lower cost it will be from Serbia, while in the US Triangle Art guy distributes it but that will be a higher cost. Their bottom end entry level was rated above AR Ref 5SE in Germany, and their top end pre has been preferred to Kondo top end by someone I know who has owned both. Also, a guy in Netherlands who owned both high end VTL and Lamm replaced his stuff with NAT.

The output impedance is less than 300 ohms. http://www.nataudio.com/products/al...e-hybrid-line-stages/item/23-magnetostat.html

It is more transparent but less airy than AR or Jadis, with far lower distortion, and much more dynamic, real, and great bass and separation.