2. amps-preamps
  3. 1026480619

Spectral DMC 12, 20 or 30 preamp?

My next upgrade is a spectral preamp. The DMC - 12 sounds very nice in my system (Thiel 1.6, Mcormack dna 0.5 or Golden tube se 40 (I swap these alot), arcam alpha 7 cd (will be upgrading soon, maybe to a rotel), MIT cable).

The DMC 20 used is more money, as is the 30. I'm wondering if anyone can expand on the sonic differences are between these? One of my priorities is bass - midbass, thiels have nothing in the low end, but the midbass is very nice on them. The less money I spend on this, the more is available to a power amp. Flip side is I'll be living with this for awhile, so the better I have, the happier I'll be.
robertd

Showing 1 response by kennyb

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kennyb
117 posts
 
A Spectral DMC-30S just replaced a Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamp in my system. I would *not* at all characterize the sound of the DMC-30S as "thin" or "lacking body". In fact, I find that it does a great job of giving a sense of weight to the music. Bass performance is also quite a bit better than it was with the Line 3. I'd say that all aspects of bass performance have improved.

The most striking difference though between the two preamps was that the Spectral seemed to remove layers of noise. I hadn't realized how much noise had been present with the Line 3 until it was gone.

IMHO, the DMC-30S is an amazing product.
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