I've listened to a lot of amps over the years, and built a few, too: mostly triode tube amps. As the years passed, my audio budget became more ample, and I have been able to try
just about all the "killer" amps out there, tube and solid state. The good news is that the art form is actually improving. The bad news is that audio mags and their advertisers have done a great job pushing the price of amplification skyward. But I was prepared to suck that up, and just get the "killer amp" that would make it unnecessary to wring hands again about amplification. At least for several years.
Hearing the Spectron Musician III Signature has put an end to my amp questing. There just is no amp out there that combines the authority, tonal rightness and delicacy of this amp. It will drive anything, and laughs at tough loads that send a lot of amps into deep depression. {I've used it with the Shahinian Diapasons (19K), which are notoriously tough to drive, and also with the new Fried Reference (25K) which are not) But what really blew me away is how the M3 Sig does so with utter transparency and tonal accuracy. Its treble reproduces the almost-impossible-to-reproduce sound of massed violins with no haze, no glare and enough vividness that you feel you can hear the rosin on the bow. Voices have the kind of immediacy that many associate with single ended tube amps. And when it is time for the kettle drums in Malher, or the juicy bass of, say, Charlie Haden, the amp controls the speaker with complete authority. Not just firm bass; rock solid, clean, REAL bass. [NB I was a symphony musician for several years. Sitting in the middle of an orchestra really teaches what real instruments in real space sound like.]
All of this performance for so few dollars, comparatively, and with complete reliablility and no furnace effect. Yikes!
I was prepared to spend up to 30K for amplification, and end the quest. I was thrilled to spend less. But I am even more thrilled to be out of the amp-comparing business. Its just not as good as listening to the music.
just about all the "killer" amps out there, tube and solid state. The good news is that the art form is actually improving. The bad news is that audio mags and their advertisers have done a great job pushing the price of amplification skyward. But I was prepared to suck that up, and just get the "killer amp" that would make it unnecessary to wring hands again about amplification. At least for several years.
Hearing the Spectron Musician III Signature has put an end to my amp questing. There just is no amp out there that combines the authority, tonal rightness and delicacy of this amp. It will drive anything, and laughs at tough loads that send a lot of amps into deep depression. {I've used it with the Shahinian Diapasons (19K), which are notoriously tough to drive, and also with the new Fried Reference (25K) which are not) But what really blew me away is how the M3 Sig does so with utter transparency and tonal accuracy. Its treble reproduces the almost-impossible-to-reproduce sound of massed violins with no haze, no glare and enough vividness that you feel you can hear the rosin on the bow. Voices have the kind of immediacy that many associate with single ended tube amps. And when it is time for the kettle drums in Malher, or the juicy bass of, say, Charlie Haden, the amp controls the speaker with complete authority. Not just firm bass; rock solid, clean, REAL bass. [NB I was a symphony musician for several years. Sitting in the middle of an orchestra really teaches what real instruments in real space sound like.]
All of this performance for so few dollars, comparatively, and with complete reliablility and no furnace effect. Yikes!
I was prepared to spend up to 30K for amplification, and end the quest. I was thrilled to spend less. But I am even more thrilled to be out of the amp-comparing business. Its just not as good as listening to the music.