Musicality, dynamics and imaging. Also, this is a cool operating amp for operation in Florida. There seems to be little warm up time required as well.

Now my original 5 star opinion took a nose dive. Spectron is out of business and the intermittent loss of signal in one or both channels repeats with painful regularity. This amp was returned for upgrade with first intermittent issues described above. When returned, it was upgraded to a Musician II - Hybrid with Bybee purifiers installed on power transformer output. The sound was absolutely magical. The problem is that the both channel cards connect to the backplane motherboard with small multiple pin connectors. The contact with these pins are a problem that can only be addressed by dissassembly and cleaning of the pins on each card. In the time I've owned this amp the sound has degraded slightly but remained a powerhouse. Knowing Spectron is deceased, I must now try to resurrect it again and the only salvagable component may be the Bybee Gold purifiers installed during the upgrade. There is one fortunate part with my investment with Spectron - I also own a Spectron 1KW whose performance exceeds that of my ailing Musician Hybrid. So, as you can see, this is a continuing Spectron saga. The 1KW still plays magically as well. It betters my Krell KSA 250 and Crown Reference (by far). Both of these generate too much heat for Florida weather and require warm up time. The 1KW also betters my tube amp, a McAllister MA-44, a single ended 22 watts/channel amp. I must be a hoarder with so many power amps! Good luck if you own a Spectron. My last word is that Bybee Purifiers work in spades, they are just incredible.

I Too Had A Spectron
like John Ulrich. I liked what he was and still is trying to do. I bought one of the original Spectron 1 amplifiers when John was literally broke and tried very hard to make it work but a plethora of electronic troubles infected the amp from poorly made boards inwards from the very get go. John was honest and worked with me to get them fixed relatively inexpensively but shipping from northern Canada to southern California and back was wallet-breaking; as well as the time spent away from the music slowly wore me down. I sold it and have never looked back.
Venkmann's Rule 1: If it cannot be repaired in your region of the country or even your country, consider passing on it until its reliability is well-established in the marketplace

When It Worked It Was Exciting...
Spectron detail was exciting. It was a different sound to be sure but I am not altogether convinced it was a better sound - perhaps just a different sound? When I got accustomed to Spectron sound, the amount of detail was addictive but, alas, the Spectron 1 I had slowly lost that quality over time. When I later did the A/B with other amps at volumes matched to within 1-2 db using a passive volume ALPS volume controller, meters, RTA etc to get the room right, any difference between it and several other high-end amps I used at the time was fleeting at best. When doing A/B comparisons of any single component, match volume levels to 1 or 2 db WITH AN INSTRUMENT (not your ears) and you may find no difference at all. That was embarrassing to me after spending many thousands on a single component only to find when it was tested this way you could not honestly tell the difference. No one wants to stand out and say they've been silly with money -- or been 'had' by illusions they themselves created -- with the help of a few sellers or promoters. I did. I will stand and admit it now. I hope that some others will profit from this. Buy wisely and step-off the endless treadmill of expensive upgrades to nowhere.
Venkmann's Rule 2: Different sound abounds and different is not the same as better. Measure volumes first.

Spectron Has Improved...
I am sure John has gone to great lengths to improve the quality of his amps in virtually every respect and that is good as he is dedicated. I however, have had my fun funding what was essentially a 'bleeding edge' product at the time. I now realize in retirement, that I funded too may of these products over the last 40+ years of audiophilia to no avail. Companies went under and theories were felled by better ones and much of that money could have been better spent helping those in life without food - let alone stereos. I now listen to music with components that may not rate the front-page of audio magazines anymore, or excite the relative newcomers to audio-land with somewhat giddy but assuredly golden-ears. That is alright however and should be for anyone. Do not give into herd-instinct to rush from one new 'king' component to another -- all based on what someone says in print who has no authority whatever except that which they endow on themselves and each other. Most just have the gift of printed 'gab' and would sell cars or anything else with cache' very well indeed.
Venkmann's Rule 3: Do not buy based on either a) herd-movement or b) the need to be a 'pioneer' (pionear?) first. Personal ego is difficult to submerge but if you don't it is a most dangerous and uncritical master of your ears and wallet.

Have YOU improved?
This may sound silly or obvious. As a doctor I feel the first and best step towards spending money on audio equipment is to spend it on your ears. Most audiophiles have never undergone extensive hearing tests or they would turn beet red in shame at the claims they make to hearing certain frequencies and spatialities. Many have damaged their ears so badly during their teens with thousands of hours of exposure to ultra-loud earphones/buds and full-volume concerts where permanent distortion and destruction of sensitive ear mechanisms is a givent. I have had 15 year old's who could no longer hear 12khz in my office.
Venkmann's Rule 4: Get your ears tested. Spend some money on them. They are an irreplaceable component you cannot buy! Find out your ear's directional, spatial and frequency limitations so as to protect your ears and wallet from further excess. You may find that you no longer need to buy components with stratospheric price tags as you can no longer hear what you thought you could!

In closing, I think there are more than a few people out there with similar experiences to mine - perhaps not with Spectron but with other products that were or still are essentially R & D projects sold as reliable products. Sooner or later you will tire of the reasons and upgrades that continually keep you on the financial hook like a junkie. My advice is to assess each piece of equipment in terms of hours spent listening per dollar spent. That includes downtime, repair and shipping costs. That is the ultimate way to figure the cost effectiveness of a audiophile product. If it passes this test, good. I f not, cut it loose and take your losses early.
Best regards,
Dr. P. Venkmann
Canada

I have the Musician III for 5 months now, long enough to break in and evaluate the amp. I was hoping someone else would comment first so I can compare notes, but no luck. Nevertheless, I still like to share my two cents with those who might interest in this amp. I’d owned the Musician I, II, and now III. After the Musician II was sold, the buyer asked me why I sell the amp and what do I think of its sound. I told him that I sell so I can upgrade; because the sound of Class D amp is like CD sound in that it takes time to improve and mature. As to its sound, I said: “you get good sound at a reasonable price. If you want the best, go for Lamm, Tenor, or Hacro”. Sometime ago, a person with some authority in the audio industry told me that the Musician is the best. Of course, I believed him only half heart, until one day I saw him using the Musician II to drive his $60,000 speakers to spectacular sound. The fact that he could have any expensive amp but used the Musician says a lot about the amp. After I got the Musician III, I upgraded in steps the digital cable, interconnect, speaker cable, and the DAC. Each time, the sound of the system improved and that keeps me upgrading because I could hear the subtle differences. This indicates that the amp is not the bottle-neck in my system and I am sure that the sound can still improve further with better components or clearer AC power that some have suggested; even though the sound is very life-like already. I don’t have the Musician II any more so I can not compare the II and III directly; especially it is not fair with the upgrades. My sense is that the Musician III has better bass extension and definition; the overall sound is smoother and more natural. I do have the VTL Compact-100 and Joule VZN-100 for comparison. The Musician III sounds better than the VTL and as good as the VZN. As compared to VZN, the Musician has better bass, faster, more dynamic, and slightly wider soundstage; the VZN is slightly sweeter and three times more expensive. The sonic differences, however, are very small. I know people with different taste and budget have different requirements; so they have to decide what is best for them. For me, however, the Musician III has come a long way from Digital I and is getting close to the best amps out there.

A rare amp that has genuinely adequate power. You need all of that energy to create believable music. At its best, a pristine truth telling instrument.

Exquisitely sensitive to the quality of power it receives. You may have to work double hard to supply the amplifier with the power it needs to work right. Some users have reported that they get this by adding the Exactpower waveform corrector. I had significant differences with good quality parallel AC line filters. Changing the AC receptacle to an audiophile grade version made an unexpected difference. Mating with the right AC cord will be an important decision too. Spectron has had reliability issues with the Musician 2 model. They are now issuing the Musican 3. Some potential customers, myself included, are waiting to see if the Musician 3 has solved these.

Spectron has announced the Musician 3 that should be shipping or will be shortly. There should be certain meaningful design changes that go well beyond the cosmetics, although the core analog > digital > analog gain circuits may be the same. That could potentially make the past reviews, this one included, obsolete. A long coexistence with the Spectron line has taught me that digital amplification is in its early adolescence, somewhere on the learning curve where analog solid state was in the 1980s, in a manner of speaking. The Spectron requires a different approach to putting a system together. Power cords and other choices will not have the same effects that they do with traditioanl solid state. The Spectron relates to sonic information differently. You will have a far more intimate connection with the recording engineer's choices. Consequently, any comforting euphony or tonal padding you have been accustomed to won't be there. Previously disregarded frequency humps or RF contaminations, poorly cleaned contacts or questionable AC from an old receptacle will appear in the sound. After years of trying to figure out the Spectron, I still cannot believe how different recordings sound from one another. I never noticed this with other amplifiers.

Similar Products Used:

Krells, Counterpoint, VAC, Yamaha VFETs, Crown, Quicksilver, Cello, others

Mostly clear reproduction, ability to resolve lots of detail.

Not the last word in low-end "slam", sure doesn't sound like 1000 watts, see body of review.

Well, I hate to be one of the few to rain on the Spectron "love fest" here, but while the Musician II is certainly a very good amp - especially at this price point, it IS NOT the "giant killer" that many claim (including pro reviewers). One can immediately see (or rather hear) how this amp quickly captivates a listener. It does indeed have speed, low noise floor, neutrality, etc. That said, after becoming "adjusted" to the character of this amp, (something that I couldn't put my finger on, for a long time)it became obvious that the reproduction lacks the 3-dimensional roundness, and that elusive sense of "realness" that a choice few other high-end amps serve up. No, I'm not talking euphonic colorations either (regarding *other* amps) again, I'm simpy referring to a sterile, at times "dead" character to the Musician II, that once recognized, becomes hard to ignore. Also, I had (2) other amps on hand at the time I also owned the Musician II, one a mono-block tube set, the other a hybrid SS stereo amp, rated at 200 watts per ch. and 400 watts per channel, respectively, BOTH of these other amps sounded much "stronger" and more at ease than the Spectron. The Musician II always sounded strained at higher volumes, and seemed ready to split apart at the seams, when called on to deliver complex passages at high volume. I really wanted to fall in love with this amp, as it would have spared my funds for other areas of my system (or for more software!) but in the end, it just didn't pull together the complete musical package for me. The other amps I also had on hand for during the 4 months I owned the Spectron, the ASL "Hurricanes" and Parasound JC-1's, simply sounded more "real", "organic", more effortless, and more like the real musical event than the Spectron. The Spectron WAS able to keep pace in the detail dept., allowing you to hear EVERYTHING on the recording, but again, at the expense of ultimately not sounding completely "musical". Having said all that, I CAN say that if you have only around $2k to shell out for an amp (used), and can only own solid state, the Musician II IS one of the best I've heard, again, IN THIS PRICE RANGE. System; Martin Logan Prodigy (current) (Also had on hand for Musician II - VMPS RM40, Martin Logan ReQuest) Audio Aero "Capitole 24/192 cd PS Audio P300 "Power Plant" Acoustic Zen "Tsunami" ac cords Analysis Plus Oval 9/Silver Oval spk cable Analysis Plus "Oval Crystal" intrc. Shakti "Stones", "On Lines" Quantum Power "Symphony" (2) & "Symphony Pro" conditioners B.A.T. P5 tube phono stage Well Tempered Labs "Classic V" t.t. Dedicated listening room with dedicated AC lines, various room treatments

Similar Products Used:

Antique Sound Labs "Hurricane", Llano Design "Trinity" R400, Parasound Halo JC-1, Innersound "ESL", Classe "CA301", AMC CVT mono blocks, Conrad Johnson "Evolution 2000", McCormack "DNA-1", OCM 500, B&K Sonata mono-blocks, Perreaux PMF3150, Carver M1.5t (going WAY back)

once warmed up, draws no attention to itself, uses moderate amounts of electricity. I guess that's the best thing you can say about an amp in the final analysis... there's nothing to say, you can focus on the quality of your source material without the grating thoughts about the amp sounding euphonic or acerbic or whatever

this isn't a sonic weakness but it is a design issue that should be remedied. The Musician2 has a very large transformer, very good for its sound, but has huge current inrush when the amp is switched on. I have knocked out the surge protector MOVs on two surge strips that shared a circuit with the Spectron. My 15 amp breaker often trips when switched on and the wiring gives an audible clatter in the EMT tubing the circuit feeds through. This amp is crying out for a SOFT START feature. Please, Please, Please ! Do something about this...

have lived with both the Digital 1 and the Musician 2 for years now. It is hard to understand why the Musician 2 hasn't been used as a performance benchmark when "breakthrough" designs like the Halcro receive widespread coverage. The Musician should be a standard reference point when other amplifiers are reviewed. As listeners, we have longstanding biases about which character makes for a better amplifier, then when we hear an amp with no identifiable character to speak of, we mistakenly believe that something is missing. By contrast, many other designs make a system sound like the speakers are wrapped in a blanket. The best single ended designs will get the microdynamics right, at long last, but have no authority in the macro. Other ones, such as the solid state monstrosities, can be either dull or shrill in the micros while they hurl boulders of sound into the listening area. The best quality of the Musician 2 is that so far I have not been able to make any distinction when it is doing microdynamics and when it is doing macrodynamics, so you get near perfect dynamic uniformity.

Similar Products Used:

I've lost count by now.

This is a follow-up review to my original comments on the Sectron Digital One from 1999. I've noticed some concerns about reliability, but my unit is now in its 6th year of service without any problems whatever, and incredible as it may seem, it is only getting with age! I would definately repeat my 5/5 rating without a shadow of doubt.

Read the other positive reviews. Everything is taken to the next level with the remote cables.

Haven't found any, although I think the addition of an Exact SP15 & EP15 have also notched things up a bit. John tells me that the amps have regulated power supplies, but I like the addition of the Exact products.

Well, I think I've reached the end of my journey. I have been a fan of the Spectron since my first Digital One. I now have three Musician II's driving Waveform Mach 17's. I have always been very pleased with the sound, but recently replaced my lower end Wireworld speaker cables with Spectron's Remote Sense cables. I was not expecting the vast improvement. I am still scratching my head. These cables took a great amp over the top. Anyone who doesn't use these cables is missing the point! I have never heard another system that got as much right, and I have listened to a lot of systems in my 40+ years of buying and selling equiptment. I currently use a passive pre-amp I made,which only has a DACT input selector switch, and all WBT connectors. This goes to a Cello Audio Pallette that controls volume. VERY PLEASED.

Similar Products Used:

Innersound ESP, NYAL OTL1's, Berning EA2100M, Kenwood, Dynaco, Scott Lab Type 250's, Audio Research D110, McIntosh, etc.

Image God. Images almost as well as an OTL tube amp properly matched to the speakers, but has a lot more dynamic range. Absolutely clear. Incredible musicality especially when coupled to the Newform Research ribbons. Tons of power and great integration. Unbelievable micro-details. Great and totally open bass. Makes a good box speaker seem like a 'stat or panel in transient response. Low power consumption and runs cool. Doesn't really need mega-buck power cords, but go ahead anyway if ya'all want to.

Hard to get. May be the best amp you will never hear. But talk to John anyway, he is awesome. Not a good choice for speakers with tweeter problems. A softer, rolled off, amp might be better there.

I found this amp (unfortunately) just a month after buying the Bryston 4BSST. Don't get me wrong,the Bryston is truly worth the hype; it now sounds truly as good as most of the $16,000 amps out there. The problem is that the Spectron sounds much, much better than most of the $16,000 amps out there! In comparison with the Bryston (which has the sonic signature of the Mark Levinsons except *maybe* not quite as detailed on the very top)sounds slightly dark and the inner dynamics seem to be stuck in a fore-shortened sound field. The sound was very good but somehow the dynamic presentation was not quite emotional enough. The Spectron, on the other hand, sparkled and gleamed with inner dynamics that made it sound like the live mic feed in the recording studio. (Notice I did not say live. That is still not quite possible.) I should mention the comparison is into Newform Ribbon speakers. The input is the Mark Levinson 390s CD processor (ok, it's a cd player!). I am going balanced direct into the amp though everything said here is the same when going through the Bryston BP25 Pre-amp. (Which is high praise indeed for the Bryston Pre, it has no sound of its own! If you want warm get a tone control.) A HSU 12" powered sub helps the Newforms below 40HZ. The timbre on a good recording is also correct. The penny-wistle on the Cheiftan's albums normally sounds strident, even on many tube amps. But the Spectron reproduces it with the shape and body of the instrument. And in the correct spacial location. The decay of voices is darn near perfect to the limit of the speakers, into a perfect blackness. To be fair the Bryston got all the timbres right also, it just could not capture all the dynamic shadings of the instruments and voices(IMHO that is where much of the emotion lies). People have spent $20,000 on tube gear to get *some* of the dynamic capabilities of the Spectron. With Celine Dion belting out, the Bryston gave a very credible performance but still sounded like it was holding back slightly, as if it were compressing (it was not), on the Spectron she sounded like she was reaching into your very soul. The amp just has a wonderful sense of musical "flow" like some of the best tube amps (without the tube amps colorations). Both amps are grain free and sweet but the Spectron just reproduces everything on the recording, including things that I never even heard on my headphones! The bass lines on Peter Gabriels "Up" CD sound great on the Bryston, but on the Spectron you can actually separate all the instruments and synthesizers by both harmonic structure and location. And if anything it reaches deeper into the bottom than the Bryston! (A pretty amizing feat since that was always Bryston's forte.) This is the system that I have been searching for all the years of my hobby/obsession. I am still going through all my music collection to the detriment of getting any real work done!

Similar Products Used:

Bryston 4BSST,Pass Labs, Levinson, Krell, Ayre, Sonographe, Van Alstine, Audible Illusions, CJ, Rolands,and a host of others.

Accurate reproduction of every instrumental and vocal sound - the ability to separate voices in a complex orchestral work so that the listener can hear each layer of sound independently and together.

I do not want to listen to anything that is not recorded digitally (DDD) which removes the majority of recorded music from my listening repertoire.

This review will be short because I am a musician, not a technician. I was one of the first owners of the Musician II. Its partners in my system are a Morrison pre amp, Martin Logan CLS II speakers and Meitner's Melior CD Deck and Museatex Bidat. I primarily listen to symphonic music and jazz. The amp disects the music so the each voice can be heard clearly and independently. Each instrument's tone is reproduced without deviation from its actual sound. There is no overempahsis in any range: highs are clear and crisp without being shrill, mid range sounds are full and precise with no feathering of the edges, and the lows are as clean as you would hear them at a live performance. There is no strain or muddling of voices at high volume levels and, with no distortion or hum whatsoever, the sound holds true even at the most extreme pianissimos. Whatever I've said about instrumental performances thus far is equally true with vocals. Every nuance and breath comes through just as if were being sung live in your listening environment. The name given to this amp is apropos because musicians more than anyone else will appreciate its qualities. I am not one who goes around trying comprable products to discern subtle differences so I can't offer comparisons, but with this amp and my other components, I feel no need to do so. There are other excellent products on the market but I can't imagine any producing more desirable results.