The Best Audio Audition Experience I Have Ever Had & The Best Preamp-Amp Combination

KeithR said:

I don't feel your own thread title portrays this view as much as you just love Spectral and its "the best" (once again).

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Keith, you are absolutely correct that my title was too strong. It would have been better for me to delete the part about the best preamp amp combo or at least say "in my opinion". What I was trying to convey, but failed, was that the nature of the sound was such a large increment over anything I have heard anywhere, that it might be in a class by itself.

With regard to my love of Spectral, historically I have not been a Spectral lover, at least on the preamp side. I have always loved the amps, but found when linked with their preamps of the time, that the sound was too analytic for my taste. I have liked the combination of tubes and SS to get the mix that works best for me.

However, the SV RS combo is totally different in sound, speed, decay and thus to my taste reality. It is my theory that this is why the S7's just did not exist- at all, even though I was looking right at them. While my G3's are excellent in this regard, they are no match for the SV-RS combo when used with my 260 and a DMA-30 combo, which actually sounds slow, if that makes sense. I am very curious to see what the SV 260 combo sounds like as I wait for my amp.

Once again, the last thing I wanted to do was create controversy.

Peter,

The best I can do to sort out the sound of the S7, since I have never heard it before is assume that the S7 was the weakest link in what I heard. Bottom line the overall sound was stunning, and as I have said repeatedly, unlike anything I have ever heard. If the S7 was the limiting factor, I could live with it for the rest of my listening time. The articulation was like being there, in an environment that was totally neutral and thus contributed nothing. The cohesiveness of sound, top to bottom, was flawless, with maybe the tiniest bit of midrange hump, although that could be the room or something else.

There was another quality that was simply uncanny, which I assumed, maybe incorrectly, was a function of the Spectral electronics, because I have never heard this quality in other Magico auditions, including the Q7 or any other speaker for that matter. This quality was the speed of the decay of every component of the sound. I do not know how to explain it better, which is why I have said you have to hear it for yourself. My system with Vivid G3's, but lesser Spectral gear, sounds like it has sludge throughout by comparison. In the days since, I have gotten use to my system again, but it is a far cry from what I heard with the SV and 300RS. I believe this sound quality is a function of the lack of thermal tails and the resultant speed of the decay which I suspect contributed to the sense of realism.

I have listened to the 400RS's extensively in my friend Marty's system and it does not have this quality, leading me to believe that SV is truly bringing something special that enables the RS amps and in this case the S7's to reach new levels.

Said simply, I had no sense that the S7 limited anything that I heard. As I transition the new Spectral gear into my system, I will gladly report the differences produced by each component.

Prior to this experience, I was not a huge Magico fan. I am now a huge fan of the S7. I can only hope that I get similar benefit with the G3's when I add the SV and 300RS. Sorry I cannot be more specific, because I have not figured out how to describe what I heard other than I was absolutely blown away. Maybe ACK can weigh in since he personally went through this change in his system.

I think it is kind of ironic that my entire system is currently upstairs in my bedroom to protect it against water damage from storm surges from Jonas since I live on a point out in Barnegat Bay in NJ. What I worked so hard to get set up perfectly and precisely is now in need of a restart because I have a broken arm and cannot life my speakers, woofs or amp and was able to get some help from others for a short period of time last night and did not have the time to mark locations.

Fortunately no water, a ton of wind and 4 foot drifts.

I totally agree. And once again, without you I wouldn't be getting my SV so soon. If you are ever in the area, come by and hear YOUR preamp.

Going today to pick up my Spectral DMC 30 SV Preamp. I will report in several days after it has had a chance to settle in. Unfortunately, my initial impressions will be based on the combination of the SV and my Spectral DMA 260, since my DMA 300 RS is still several months away.

Ron,

Thanks for the thoughts, but let's not be too exuberant, just yet, because this journey is not yet done. While I have the very rare Spectral DMC 30 SV preamp thanks to Terry Menacker and Scouter from the WBF, who was absolutely wonderful by letting me have his position in line at Overture for the SV, I do not yet have the DMA 300RS, so I am only part way there!. Everything I have read from the Spectral bulletins and learned from Terry and Allen Goodwin is that to get the best from this preamp, you need either the DMA 400 SR or the DMA 300 SR. So since I have it connected to my DMA 260, all I can say at this point is that the 260 has never sounded this good, and this is with only 12 hours on the SV and all of the connections still stabilizing after being removed and reconnected. Like any new product inserted into an established system, it is still changing with moments of wonder alternating with moments of merely better.

To complicate things, in the past two weeks, my system has undergone several changes so it is hardly stable and thus another variable in assessing the SV. Two weeks ago my new speaker, MIT HD 90 Rev 2 Biwired with bananas, arrived which allowed me to remove what I felt was truly one of the weakest links in my system, MIT Matrix SL 90 biwire speaker wire. This change alone, right out of the box was a major and fundamental improvement, since there is no doubt that to my taste and for my system, the SL Matrix line is truly a mismatch. While the imaging of the SL Matrix is incredible, if not erie, The overall balance reminds me of when years ago I switched from McIntosh MC-60's to a Crown DC 300-Maybe clearer, but definitely not real nor musical.

The next variable I introduced was I moved my speakers forward and wider to try to create an equilateral triangle with my listening position, a setup the Vivid Giya's like. This was a major instant improvement, despite the somewhat ongoing wild break-in ride of the MIT Oracle series speaker wires. A week later I had to break my system down again to reposition my rack when I had to lay some new carpet behind the speakers for both visual and sonic reasons. After reconnecting the system again, it was back to where it was after a day, but the MIT was still breaking in. On Wednesday, after two weeks and at least 75 hours, the MIT's found a new stride with amazing imaging that surpassed anything I have had previously. However, I am told by Scott Warren that it takes 300 hours for the 2C3D circuits to burn-in and stabilize, so allegedly more is to come.

Then last night I inserted the Spectral DMC 30SV after removing the loaner Spectral preamp from the system 24 hours earlier. Although the Spectral already had 800 hours of break-in at Spectral, it travelled cross country with no charge and thus needed to get its stride again after being inserted into my system. Within 10 minutes I started hearing some of the characteristics that led me to buy it and initiate this thread. There clearly was an instant increase in articulation top to bottom, but the balance of the various parts of the spectrum was still very much in flux. What was most notable was the depth, force and articulaton of the bass, which has changed many times since and has changed for the better just during the time it has taken me to write this post.

So the best I can say at this point is that I am thrilled by the MIT HD-90 Rev 2 speaker, despite being only part way to its best. I am also already were pleased with the Spectral DMC 30SV, although I am not yet to what I heard at Overture 5 weeks ago. So perhaps I will get most of the way there when the DMA 300RS arrives, although I will still not have the same wire, MIT consoles, Spectral Reference CD Player and Magico S7's and probably Overture's better room.

Fortunately, I hope, I will have to break my system down once again before the DMA 300RS arrives when my new Steve Blinn Designs custom racks arrive in 3-4 weeks. So if nothing else, this trip is teaching me patience.