Nice review Spectral SV setup

[Hiempie]

Nice review Spectral SV setup

The review is in Dutch so if you can't read is use translation option like google translate

Review: Spectral DMC-30 SV, DMA-300 SV, SDR-4000 SV en Gauder DARC 60

Het doel van Spectral was om het prestatieniveau en klankmatige eigenschappen dusdanig te schalen, dat alles in één behuizing zou passen.

fwd.nl

Kind regards,
Hiempie

 

[ChasFreeland]

Thanks for this. Have never heard the speakers. Rare to find Spectral reviews.
I am a Spectral system user.

 

[ChasFreeland]

Just noticed that you are using Spectral with Sonus Faber speakers. That interests me. How do you like it? Any comments or reviews?

 

[Hiempie]

Just noticed that you are using Spectral with Sonus Faber speakers. That interests me. How do you like it? Any comments or reviews?

Hi Chas,

I live in The Netherlands so English is not my native language , here in Holland we use a lot Sonus Faber speakers. I play about 15 years with a spectral system. In my opinion Mit cables don't work good. You can read it in my threads I made about Mit cables. I don't use them for about 6 years anymore. Bought cheaper speaker and interlink cables and that was a big upgrade so for me no Mit anymore. from 50k euro cables back to about 10k and much better sound . In my opinion Spectral is fast and SF has a warm sound and I like that. It is a wonderful combination. So I recomend SF in combination with Spectral. It gives very good bas and thight bas without resonation when you choose the right cabeling. Recently I changed from PTC copper cabeling to fine pure silver cabeling that I recomend now. No review SF and Spectral. In the past dealers always sold combination Spectral Avalon but I don't like the sound an my wife doesn't like the looks but she likes SF
BR Ismaël

 

[ChasFreeland]

Thanks for your response. I use MIT cables with an all-Spectral system. Seems to work but I've not compared them to any other cables. My audio dealer is a Spectral agent and he rather insisted on MIT. I was interested in Spectral 400 mono blocks with the Sonus Aidia II.

 

[Hiempie]

That is an interesting combination Chas. Next week my two audio friends and I have a appointment at https://audioexpertcastle.com/rooms/ this is a expierence center financed by SF group (must have a specific name) we are going to listen to the Aida II and Lilium maybee some more because one off them is also interested in buying SF Aida II. So next saturday I know more.

The bigest Spectral dealer here in Holland doesn't insist on combining MIT and Spectral, https://www.audioxperience.com/proj...ral-dma-300sv-dcs-rossini-en-vivid-giya-g4-s2 . I know the old story with several older Spectral amps was you need to use MIT but with the newer Spectral products it is not necessery anymore.

 

[ChasFreeland]

Those are beautiful rooms at Audio Expert Castle you are going to visit. Looks like they have the Aida II paired with ?? MacIntosh?? Have you heard whether or not Spectral will be releasing a new 400 monoblock? I have the SV preamp and the 400 monoblock reference amps. I'll be eager to read your report about the listening experience you had. Ever hear Pass Labs mono blocks, their 300 XS amps with Sonus? I ask because my Sonus dealer here in Bangkok has Pass Labs and MacIntosh. MacIntosh and Sonus are part of the same big company as I understand it.

 

[Gene 15352]

That is an interesting combination Chas. Next week my two audio friends and I have a appointment at https://audioexpertcastle.com/rooms/ this is a expierence center financed by SF group (must have a specific name) we are going to listen to the Aida II and Lilium maybee some more because one off them is also interested in buying SF Aida II. So next saturday I know more.

The bigest Spectral dealer here in Holland doesn't insist on combining MIT and Spectral, https://www.audioxperience.com/proj...ral-dma-300sv-dcs-rossini-en-vivid-giya-g4-s2 . I know the old story with several older Spectral amps was you need to use MIT but with the newer Spectral products it is not necessery anymore.

Glad you're enjoying your Spectral gear! I think your dealer in Holland is doing a great disservice in recommending cables other than MIT. I wish they're were other choices when it comes to cabling but this is what it is. Back in the 1990's I had a Spectral 150 amp in which I hooked it up to a non Spectral preamp and non MIT cables for a few sessions. A few days later the amp went into oscillation, and went back to Spectral for service. A Spectral dealer also told me that using a non Spectral preamp and non MIT cables may not oscillate the amp right away, but it will slowly start to do damage to the internal circuitry over time. The new Spectral speaker cable is worth trying as I couldn't believe the beautiful texture and correct tone it provided to the musical presentation.

 

[Hiempie]

Glad you're enjoying your Spectral gear! I think your dealer in Holland is doing a great disservice in recommending cables other than MIT. I wish they're were other choices when it comes to cabling but this is what it is. Back in the 1990's I had a Spectral 150 amp in which I hooked it up to a non Spectral preamp and non MIT cables for a few sessions. A few days later the amp went into oscillation, and went back to Spectral for service. A Spectral dealer also told me that using a non Spectral preamp and non MIT cables may not oscillate the amp right away, but it will slowly start to do damage to the internal circuitry over time. The new Spectral speaker cable is worth trying as I couldn't believe the beautiful texture and correct tone it provided to the musical presentation.

Hello Gene,
Thank you for your message and your warning about not using MIT cables. To be honest, I no longer believe those stories from dealers, I have not used MIT cables for 6 years and I am very happy about that because there are much better cables for sale for a fraction of the MIT prices. In the past I owned for a fortune MIT Oracle cables, just read my message:

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/conversations/using-spectral-rs-without-mit-cables.46023/

I have now switched from PTC copper cables to pure silver and this makes everything sound much nicer in my system and no occilation or the like. my set sounds so nice, a huge improvement. Fortunately, I don't notice any damage to amplifiers.

Kind regards, Ismaël

 

[kennyb123]

I have now switched from PTC copper cables to pure silver and this makes everything sound much nicer in my system and no occilation or the like.

Your amp would run hotter if oscillations were occurring. This would shorten the life of the amp. But I am not sure if this is still a risk with newer models.

Spectral does a disservice to their customers with the MIT requirement. I wish they'd partner with a company that cared more about value for the dollar. It has seemed to me that MIT is now primarily interested in catering to the ultra-wealthy. Tough to blame given the prices they've been able to fetch. Why care about the hassle of delighting the little people when there are some willing to shell out as much as $125,000 for a pair of speaker cables.

 

[Gene 15352]

Your amp would run hotter if oscillations were occurring. This would shorten the life of the amp. But I am not sure if this is still a risk with newer models.

Spectral does a disservice to their customers with the MIT requirement. I wish they'd partner with a company that cared more about value for the dollar. It has seemed to me that MIT is now primarily interested in catering to the ultra-wealthy. Tough to blame given the prices they've been able to fetch. Why care about the hassle of delighting the little people when there are some willing to shell out as much as $125,000 for a pair of speaker cables.

I agree with you Kenny. I too wished Spectral would partner with companies that cared about value for the dollar. I think they're other companies like FM Acoustics that design their amps with extreme bandwidth and use their own designed cables to handle their amps.

 

[dan31]

I find it hard to believe a spectral amp would oscillate if using a spectral preamp and competent cables. Their preamps monitor this and would shut down if it was upstream or in the preamp. A well shielded cable, especially balanced xlr should be totally safe to connect the preamp and amp.

 

[kennyb123]

I find it hard to believe a spectral amp would oscillate if using a spectral preamp and competent cables. Their preamps monitor this and would shut down if it was upstream or in the preamp

It happens downstream of the preamp.

The following comes from a scan of my amp’s manual. As such, I’ve only used MIT cables on the list approved by Spectral.

 

[Hiempie]

Your amp would run hotter if oscillations were occurring. This would shorten the life of the amp. But I am not sure if this is still a risk with newer models.

Spectral does a disservice to their customers with the MIT requirement. I wish they'd partner with a company that cared more about value for the dollar. It has seemed to me that MIT is now primarily interested in catering to the ultra-wealthy. Tough to blame given the prices they've been able to fetch. Why care about the hassle of delighting the little people when there are some willing to shell out as much as $125,000 for a pair of speaker cables.

Hi Kenny,

My first Spectral amp was a DMA150s2 about 15 years ago. At that time I used a Krell preamp and even didn't heard about Mit so I used my Siltech LS cable but lucky me nothing happend. about a year later I bought my first Spectral preamp DMC 30 SL then I heard about Mit and stories about ossilating amps. So I bought newer Spectral Amps and Mit cabling the oracle line MA-X and MA-X2 interlinks Oracle Matrix 120 SHD LS you could buy a brand new Mercedes for the mony. But later I did blind tests with very cheap cables and we did'nt hear difference. Long story short I sold all MIT and don't want them again. In my opinion MIT has good marketing but there are cheaper and better cables for sale. The dealers in Holland say you don't need MIT anymore.

Here in Europe prices are over the top sky high you need to be a milionaire for buying new audio stuff.
A new DMA 300 SV costs 42.900 euro a new DMC 30 SV2 36.900 Mit oracle line SHD120 v2 starting at 42.500 euro. It is for the happy few.

Your amp would run hotter if oscillations were occurring. This would shorten the life of the amp. But I am not sure if this is still a risk with newer models.

Spectral does a disservice to their customers with the MIT requirement. I wish they'd partner with a company that cared more about value for the dollar. It has seemed to me that MIT is now primarily interested in catering to the ultra-wealthy. Tough to blame given the prices they've been able to fetch. Why care about the hassle of delighting the little people when there are some willing to shell out as much as $125,000 for a pair of speaker cables.

 

[kennyb123]

My first Spectral amp was a DMA150s2 about 15 years ago. At that time I used a Krell preamp and even didn't heard about Mit so I used my Siltech LS cable but lucky me nothing happend

That’s good to hear. I purchased my DMA150s2 over 20 years ago and it has continued to serve me well.