Bear and Sean: Any warmth or body that you perceive is in fact a euphonic distortion. Once you listen to Spectral day in and day out you will not go back to any other electronics. But you need a revealing source to get their best performance, a Rotel or Arcam will not cut it. The Thiels although a great value, will not benefit enough the outlay for any Spectral product. Spectral might not be a good choice for you. I personally like the NAD Silver series, it would make an excellent alternative, and far cheaper!!!
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.
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.