So, I listened to the magico Q5's and fell in love. I bought a pair. They never sounded as good as the first time I heard them. I had McIntosh gear ( no laughing please) then moved to Pass Labs which was a bit better, but they were never as dynamic as the first time I heard them. I bought MIT/Oracle 90 rev 1 speaker cables. That was a bit better. I finally sold my Pass Labs gear and bought a very clean pair of DMA 360 2's. I have purchased MIT HD 50 IC's. I now need a preamp. Of course, I want the 30 ss series 2. I stopped in to a Spectral dealer and the guy gave me a lecture about how important the set up is. It was seemingly borderline ridiculous. If I bought it from him at full list of course, his tech would set it up. Making sure that the "looming" of the cables was proper. How I needed "star grounding" of my wall outlets. Is this really true? I'm finding it hard to believe. It seems like he was giving me a lot of sales talk as to why he has to charge me full list price for the gear.I've been setting systems up for 30 years. Have I been missing something? How about just reading the owners manual? HELP!!!!!
My Spectral journey
- Thread starter Penthouse-D
- Start date
Congratulations! Wow! But you didn't elaborate on the Q5s' sound with the Spectral amps. As you may read around here, we all believe in the beneficial effects of properly engineered power cords that drop the noise floor (and me personally, those that also don't radiate line noise, i.e. are shielded), like the better Shunyata and non-networked MIT, and of course star-grounding, which you can easily achieve with a properly constructed power distribution center like the MIT Z-Strip (which also features parallel line filtering, similar but better to what you will find in the MIT power outlets). I don't think you will be able to get a discount on new gear.
Thanks ack, I have a Shunyata Triton. Should I run everything through that? I also have Shunyata Cobra Zitron power cords. I think they will be fine. I have not bought the preamp yet, I'm hoping to find a clean used one. I don't know how long I can wait it out. I'll keep you posted.
Some of us don't like any in-series conditioners with Spectral as they seem to chop off the leading edge, so you will have to judge for yourself. I noticed the Triton features that ZrCa-2000 compound again around the wires, which I think had been proven to be a major choke for Spectral and other fast amplifiers in the past; curiously, I thought Shunyata had abandoned that compound years ago - first used in the Hydra-8 and V-Ray - because of a number of fairly negative comments by users. There is also a thread here (from last year I think) talking about a Shunyata video which demonstrates significant noise reduction by their conditioners but also affecting the leading edge - a counter-productive effect to what the ?Tron power cords attempt to achieve (improve the leading-edge transients). The MIT is still a filter, despite the fact it is in parallel, but to me it actually lowered the noise floor so dramatically with no obvious leading-edge impact, that it was simply beneficial - given that I, like you, have two amps, I simply plugged one of them into the MIT Z Strip and the other to the wall: easily discernible results. I intend to use the same approach (one amp at a time) with the fuses I am expecting this week.
Congrats on the new gear! You are headed for one heck of a system. To answer your question, in my experience (I've had lot's of Spectral stuff over the last several years) the details really do matter, more so than other high end gear I have owned. Not sure why this is. Things like proper power attention is critical to getting the most out of your amps as is cabling. I do not typically like filters, even the MIT stuff, on my Spectral amps. I do like them on frontend/digital gear in some cases. My amps, same as yours, are plugged into an Acoustic Revive RTP-2 Ultimate which is plugged into an Oyaide R1 outlet. Cables are MIT Oracle Z3 which I use throughout my system. The AC line is dedicated although I tied the ground into the fontend ground. An issue often ignored when guys talk about dedicated lines is how to integrate grounding.
As for the new/used gear thing, I totally relate. Without getting into a bunch of details let's just say times have changed for some of us...but we still need gear!
As for the new/used gear thing, I totally relate. Without getting into a bunch of details let's just say times have changed for some of us...but we still need gear!
Do you need a experienced dealer to make a decent Spectral setup!?
In my opinion yes.
My setup is tuned by the dealer this week.
Unbelieveble how he improve the sound in my room!!
Every item in the chain makes audible difference but which combi is the best?
In my opinion yes.
My setup is tuned by the dealer this week.
Unbelieveble how he improve the sound in my room!!
Every item in the chain makes audible difference but which combi is the best?
I have Q5's that have replaced Avalon Eidolons. They are incredibly hungry for power. When I heard the Q5's initially, they were paired with the D'Agostino mono amplifiers, and they seemed to run out of dynamic headroom when played at high volumes with orchestral music. I wonder if the Spectral mono's, even the new '400s, will have enough horsepower for the job in a good sized room with the Q5's.
I used Spectral electronics for many years. All the details mentioned above do matter.
I used Spectral electronics for many years. All the details mentioned above do matter.
I think we will see a "new" Q5 soon that will be as easy to drive as a Q7. The Q5 was the first in the Q-line. Having it heard it three times (once with Soulution) I was very impressed. Only the low frequencies disappointed. They sounded "closed in". Didn't breathe, if you know what I mean. Perhaps this is the reason why you had the impression they ran out of dynamic headroom.
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |