Spectron Musician III SE Mk.2? What Changed?

Business must be great at Spectron. I guess their long waiting list of orders can afford them the luxury of being flippant with potential buyers.

"Simon is both an engineer and audiophile, so that makes his position a bit unique among the regular Audiogon forum participators :)"

Really? Don't you think it's likely that other designers of high-end electronics are cut from the same "engineer and audiophile" cloth? I'm sure he is a very talented engineer and from all accounts the current Spectron amps are truly excellent. I'm interested in one myself.

Indulging the pedestrian questions of "tire kickers" is probably not the favorite activity of many engineers. Maybe that's part of the reason relatively few of them participate in online forums. For those designers/engineers who do choose to participate in online discussions of their products I have usually found it to be interesting and informative. A review of Spectron participation history in this forum has show them to be likewise interesting and informative. In this context, perhaps their dismissive response to a perfectly reasonable question was an aberration.

What was interesting to me (or amazing as Audphile 1 stated) was that each poster speaking for on in defense of Spectron seemed to take a more condescending tone than the one before. Rather than answer the original question they dismissed its relevance and echoed the Spectron mantra. Even the original poster of this perfectly reasonable question resorted to an unnecessary apology.

That Spectron mojo must be some strong stuff. :-)

As I stated in an earlier post, this one time flippant response appears to have been an aberration. We all occasionally respond to online questions or issues somewhat impulsively. Upon reflection we wish we had said things a little differently. Fairly or unfairly, I think the impact of these mini errors in judgment are magnified when they are made by persons representing a manufacturer.

It's clear from Spectron's most recent post that THEY want to control when and how this information is released. That's fine, nothing wrong with that except if your company has an online presence you have to expect the inevitable questions and respond to these questions in a manner that makes people MORE interested in your product rather than alienating them. Absent that, a briefly worded mea culpa goes a long way to make things right. However, to the bitter end Spectron has been intransigent in their seeming need to control the information and equally in denial that their original response was in any way off base. They stubbornly remain aloof and above the fray. As helpful and communicative as they are in one to one contacts, they seem somewhat staid and uncomfortable in this sometimes wild, unstructured and less controllable, off the cuff Internet environment.

A simple "I'm sorry" statement would have eliminated about 75% of this thread.

I am chilled. I think you are addressing your "chill out" comments to the wrong audience. I really don't think anyone who has commented in this thread is upset, losing any sleep, or least of all not enjoying music because of anything that was said. A few of us are maybe a little puzzled...that's all. If anyone should chill IMO it would first be Spectron who started this by dropping an awkward little bomb and then in a subsequent post offered an unsolicited lecture on what questions we should be asking and what topics we should be discussing. The second group who seem to be acting a little uptight are the posters who hold Spectron in such reverence and act as though we are in church being rude to the preacher rather than just a bunch of guys sitting around the room talking about amplifiers.

"I have no question that Spectron can handle the technical issues involved."

I agree completely. Virtually all comments from individuals who have dealt directly with Spectron are very positive. Quirky and puzzling forum posts do not equate to poor support and should not reflect on anything about the company other than perhaps their possible uncomfortable online personna. Did I raise my eyebrows and scratch my head a bit? Yeah, but I would not hesitate to purchase their product based upon any information contained in this thread.