Spectral owner new to the forum
- Thread starter Hourwerk
- Start date
Thanks for the correction Dan. I've edited the post and made the correction. The VTL preamps such as the 7.5 III have an nominal output impedance of 25 ohms (150 ohms at 10K) and a typical BAT preamp has an output impedance of 200 ohms. The ARC Ref 5 SE has an output of 600ohm (balanced). However, Dave Gordon told me years ago that their preamps could drive an amp with a 10K ohm input impedance if the interconnect distance was not very long. But as I've said before, be careful using a Spectral amp with a non-Spectral preamp as you never know where the Spectral police might be located!
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anyone have any experience with dealers in usa? looking for the 15/260 combo (maybe 30)! thanks in advance for input on best dealer to work with.
'More-Music' near Utrecht are extremely helpful and have their own service department - otherwise they will send specific parts back to Spectral if necessary. The latest DMA-400s are specified 240v on the Spectral website. I run a 30SV from my Accuphase PS-1200 so it sees 230v regardless of what the local mains is.
Contact Terry @ Overture in Wilmington DE! I have been working with Terry for 10+ years and he has proven to be a trusted advisor. He knows Spectral and related components as well as anyone and always seeks to find the best solution for me and my stereo system.
I have visited Terry many years ago, when he was still a Wilson dealer, he has been a dealer for Spectral for many years.
He had such an incredible sound, that pushed me to Spectral land. Never looked back...
okie dokie. im 75% positive ill be replacing my trusty ol' arc integrated with spectral stuff. should be a nice little step up. moving from tubes to ss is a concern, especially with my current speakers but i am thinking about replacing them as well. i still don't like this whole concept of switching cables from what i have used for a while to mit but i guess it is what it is. i will do an a/b with spectral mits' to my kimber 6063's to make sure i like the results. ill report on that whole thing when the time comes.
spoke with Terry today and he is a superstar, for real. super helpful and we began the process. he did mention a replacement of the 15 pre later this month or next that i am going to wait for. thanks for the recommendation people.
Since you are a considering Spectral and you are YG owner. I'd recommend taking a look at Audionet electronics. They are very similar in sound character at least to me. High bandwidth faster slew rate etc...But, unlike the Spectral you don't have to use MIT cables. Which in turn is a huge cost savings.
YouTube has plenty of videos of YG/Audionet pairing.
I am curious about your statement on "faster slew rate", and can't find any real slew rate specs on these amps, nor settling times; do you have any concrete info? I saw bandwidth out to 300kHz on their website, which is not uncommon for good designs, but at the same time, not unique either (e.g. Pass, d'Agostino et al claim the same), nor even close to Spectrals' bandwidth; and since bandwidth and peak voltage output relate to slew rate, I am curious about that "faster slew rate" statement (and with 1/4 the Spectral bandwidth, peak voltage would have to be 4x and with no distortions, which would be out of this world and too good to be true) and what settling times are. BTW, for a fairly down to earth explanation of slew rate and the equal importance of fast settling times see https://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/amplifier-slew-rate
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Thanks for your response. I stand corrected. I did not mean to imply that Audionet is faster than Spectral. From my own experiences I found the sound characters of each amp to be very similar.
I just simply wanted to make a suggestion to the OP on another possible amp choice. I would be very curious to hear his feedback on what he ends up going with to replace his tube integrated.
OK you probably meant faster slew rate than his tube amp, which is true for such wide bandwidth designs. It's really the settling times that are of more interest to me, and a good indicator of ringing behavior.
Yes, that's correct. I just meant that I found both brands to be similar in sound character. Both are high bandwidth designs.
Both designs are intriguing to me as a Pass Labs user. I love the sound of Pass but, I'll say that when I heard Spectral and Audionet these designs sound more like Live music than other amps I've heard. Although I don't really understand the MIT requirement for Spectral but, I like the fact that they are made in the United States.
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