I could have been very happy with the McCormacks with their errors of omission, but the Spectrons provided more information, with possibly less distortion. Both amps exceed the older Spectron Premier 7 in all aspects of music.
Several days later-
After installing the Omicrons, immediately I noticed a tighter, deeper bass developing that natural organic extension I was looking for, the mids and highs are getting silkier with more air around the instruments and the soundstage is improving in width and depth, with more air around the instruments, and better dynamics. I decided, after this, the Spectrons were the keepers. This was observed after only 4 hours of listening and maybe 60 hours on the amps, maybe 100 hours on the WP8s.
I checked out 1 Spectron amp in stereo mode, and thought the bass was solid, midrange smooth, and highs silky, but the overall impression was one of less impact and dynamics. The overall soundstage seemed smaller. It was missing something, almost like the speakers were out of phase, that I couldnt necessarily put my finger on. Upon reinsertion of the 2nd Spectron as Mono-Blocks, all that was missing returned.
The Spectrons are a proprietary Class D amp (no ICE modules) without a switching power supply with high power (over 1000 watts into 8 ohms as Mono-Blocks) and high current.(can deliver 65 amp peaks) They use a fairly traditional power supply, as they weigh around 65 lbs. each. Like the comp. they are small and fit in my wifes HT cabinet without generating any heat, and are very energy efficient only drawing 40 watts each at idle.
The WP8s now have close to 200 hours and are sounding fantastic. I have not had the dealer over yet to voice the system, as I wanted to settle on some amps and break in the WP8s first. Depending on the music, the WP8s disappear like no other speaker Ive had in my system. They are much smoother and more dimensional, as well. They also excel at producing the bass punch and slam I sometimes crave. However, they dont reproduce some of the lowest organ notes, like my PBNs did, but those frequencies are very rare. Overall, very happy with the WP8s.
Thanks again for all your advice.
Lubes3
Several days later-
After installing the Omicrons, immediately I noticed a tighter, deeper bass developing that natural organic extension I was looking for, the mids and highs are getting silkier with more air around the instruments and the soundstage is improving in width and depth, with more air around the instruments, and better dynamics. I decided, after this, the Spectrons were the keepers. This was observed after only 4 hours of listening and maybe 60 hours on the amps, maybe 100 hours on the WP8s.
I checked out 1 Spectron amp in stereo mode, and thought the bass was solid, midrange smooth, and highs silky, but the overall impression was one of less impact and dynamics. The overall soundstage seemed smaller. It was missing something, almost like the speakers were out of phase, that I couldnt necessarily put my finger on. Upon reinsertion of the 2nd Spectron as Mono-Blocks, all that was missing returned.
The Spectrons are a proprietary Class D amp (no ICE modules) without a switching power supply with high power (over 1000 watts into 8 ohms as Mono-Blocks) and high current.(can deliver 65 amp peaks) They use a fairly traditional power supply, as they weigh around 65 lbs. each. Like the comp. they are small and fit in my wifes HT cabinet without generating any heat, and are very energy efficient only drawing 40 watts each at idle.
The WP8s now have close to 200 hours and are sounding fantastic. I have not had the dealer over yet to voice the system, as I wanted to settle on some amps and break in the WP8s first. Depending on the music, the WP8s disappear like no other speaker Ive had in my system. They are much smoother and more dimensional, as well. They also excel at producing the bass punch and slam I sometimes crave. However, they dont reproduce some of the lowest organ notes, like my PBNs did, but those frequencies are very rare. Overall, very happy with the WP8s.
Thanks again for all your advice.
Lubes3