Okay, I will post this now knowing full well that I have only about 100 hours on the upgrade. Also, that my amp spent years as a regular Musician III. I can't give you a comparison of the SE to SE Mk2. Skipped that stage, sorry.
However, I thought, as did Simon when I talked with him today, that my initial out of the box till now, 10 day, impression would be useful. Evidently I have the first SE Mk2 upgrade delivered.
I have two amps, a PS Audio HCA-2 with heavy upgrades from RAM and the Musician III. There was never any doubt as to which amp sounded better. The Spectron had the power, the headroom, and the control to make any comparison useless. the HCA-2 is a great amp--for the price. Really, it has a fine sound, is very sensitive to input power, and IC's, PC's and the like. At its best, it is clear and a trend setter towards Class D hitting the big leagues.
The Spectron, the second it plugged into my system, was an eye opener. It had power in spades, and made bass control and tonality an instant difference. I listened to it for a while as a III, before the upgrades. It was obviously a great amp as is. It had more of everything. I won't get into the differences between the PS Audio and Spectron. They are amps playing in different leagues.
My speaker system is on the sensitive side. I use JBL L-200t3's supplemented with LCY super tweeters and ACI Force Subs. 93db sensitivity is the usually quoted spec for these rare speakers. They are consumer versions of the 4425 studio monitor. I have owned them since new and loved them the whole time. Everytime I try new speakers, on a trail basis, I just like the JBL's better.
The reason I bring the speakers up is twofold. One, obviously I don't need 600 watts of power to get these things moving. Two, they have always shown me differences in the equipment I have been moving in and out of my system for years.
I have one word to describe the difference between the Spectron Musician II and the SE Mk2 upgrade--Finesse. Not subtle, not just on certain sources and software. Finesse across the broad spectrum of what one might hear in any decent recording, any source. The upgraded amp makes music sound more resonant, more real, more clear, more more.
Spectron has had the power issue down for years now. They have always made hard to drive speakers, like B&W 800 series, or Gallo Reference 3's, Von Schweikert's. Hard to drive speakers need the iron fist of power to sound their best. Finesse on the other hand has been the provence of flea powered amps, 300 B's come to mind, SETS of all kinds, and the like with sensitive speakers.
Well, the Spectron Musician III SE Mk2 is both iron fisted and tuned for finesse. It is, frankly, a unique combination of control and ease. You might consider this the advantage of headroom. One might see the difference between the M III and the SE Mk2 as hockey's Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretsky. Both great players, one just has more finesse. The hockey reference is a bit obscure, I know. Let me try again.
Charles Barkley/Michael Jordon. Roger Maris/Willie Mays. John Adams/Thomas Jefferson. I hope you get the idea here. The Mk2 is just more balanced in a magic way, not just a better performer but a stellar talent.
We can get into the nitty gritty of using JPS wire for output, of better power supply and storage, of binding post changes, and I still don't have a really clear idea of what all IS a Mk2, but I know it already sounds better than the regular M III. Voices are clearer, cellos more resonant, massed strings more defined by type and placement. And the darn thing isn't even close to breaking in enough to get to the more subtle stuff.
Anyway, being first in line makes things not as polished as being twentieth. The unit was delivered without an upgrade to the rail fuses--they will be replaced, but with a HiFi tuning power in fuse. The confusion over the content of what a Mk2 really is. I started a real dust up over asking a simple question about what a Mk 2 is in another thread, but I didn't intend to. I was just anticipating my new unit coming in.
Now that it is here, I am happy I spent the money, entirely satisfied with the unit, and I will report again when the M III SE Mk2 gets settled into its own pace, at about 1000 hours. I'll write a review.
