Spectral 30SS preamp

I auditioned the Spectral DMC15 SS and heard the same "choked" presentation. Does this improve with time? If so how much time? I had the unit powered on for 4 days and could not get the "choked" presentation to change.

Thanks

Agree with Psacanli: total waste of hardware if you do not upgrade power cord! I even tend to think power cords are more important than interlinks or speaker cables. Enjoy, Wim

Lawrence, for heavens sake get rid of the Z cord lls and put on at least the Oracle AC3. It will "blow your mind"; the 2's are choking your beautiful gear to death. Happy listening.

Roypan,

did you not evaluate the 30SS before purchasing? What exactly is it that you don't like? There are a few people on various forums who don't like the 30SS over the 30SL Gen 2. My brief exposure to an early model wasn't enthusiastic either - certainly NOT the 'miracle' it was branded, though they share the same SHHA 2 active circuits, but have different power supplies and obviously fader. The 30SS has different gradient of volume with the new pot and needs to be played at higher levels. Maybe this is what 'getting used to' is referring to?

Personally, I check the system board of every Spectral equipment I have ever owned, looking for a revision number. That's because I noticed back in the mid '90s I had a "Rev A" SDR-2000 and the Spectral website was hosting pictures from a "Rev C". Then I make inquiries if I see something "newer".

Finally, have you compared this preamp with the Soulution or other similar?

I upgraded from a 30SL GEN ONE to the 30SS. After 300 plus hours or two weeks, the unit starts to open up. I ran the audio out of my Plasma set box through the 30SS 24/7 and the CD player in another input. After 1500 plus hours I feel the 30SS is fully broken in. The 30SS has a lower noise floor, with greater resolution, less colored, etc, then the 30SL. I use one MIT ISO-HC with Z-Cord 2 pc's for the 30SS and one HC for the CD player on separate 20 amp circuits and a 4 circuit sub panel. With this isolation you can here the improvement of the 30SS. I can still here a noise floor issue of dimming or setting the display at the normal setting. At the normal setting the 30SS has a slightly fuller mid range presentation. With the display dimmed the presentation has greater resolution but with less body,( slightly leaner mid presentation,( speaking, vocals, etc). I think the 30SS was voiced with the display set in the normal position. I prefer the normal display setting and don't feel the slight improvement in resolution warrants the trade offs. My previous 30 series preamps had similar display change effects. because the 30SS has a lower noise floor, you can here the effect more clearly.

I do not think it is a matter of you getting used to the new pre at all. . . but of the pre breaking in. Give it 800 hours of steady music making (or white noise making through an FM tuner), then decide if it is of your liking or not. New gear sounds uniformly poor most of the time. Instant gratification and obsessive audiophrenia do not mesh. G.