System edited: Upgraded the preamplifier and added a cuple of addtional pieces. Am considering a phono stage change current thinking Nagra or Temp Electric... Any other suggestions?
I actually upgraded to the newer 30 SS several months ago, just haven't gotten around to updating the system. I found Spectral almost 10 yrs ago. I started with a 30, then upgraded to the 30SL Anniversary and had that updated to the Gen 2 SHHA card. From an amp perspective when I had originally gotten the preamp, I used it with an Aragon 2 channel amp and the acquired the DMA180, followed by the 360s I have now. The 360s have been in my system for almost 5 yrs now and have no desire to upgrade. I like the Spectral sound, or lack there of. Very detailed and fast, if anything it lacks a little on the bottom end, but that is also a factor of my speakers not necessarily the Spectral gear. Also at one point in the past I had the SDR 2k/3k combo which was great.
I would highy recommend Spectral, I worked with Goodwins High End in Waltham MA and have been very happyy with it/them. Price to performance ratio is great if you consider what some high end companies charge for their gear.
Very nice system and you are one of the few that has Spectral gear. I am thinking of making same changes to my system and the first would be to get a new preamp. The Spectral DMC-30SL has come very highly recommended by my Audio retailer who does not carry Spectral (no dealer within 1500 miles). Any thoughts on the preamp or their amps. Everything that I have been able to read has been positive. Thanks for you time.
Samjr, I enjoy the DV-50 very much. It is not quite as resolving as the Spectral combo and the overall picture is a little bit darker with more powerful bass, but it also does every other format out. In reality though I sold the Spectral gear in order to upgrade my analog front end and rotated the Esoteric up from my theater and returned the PMDT to the theater. I am intending to acquire a CD only player when the new Spectral's come out. I would say with the GNSC upgrades I had made to the DV-50 it is about 85% of the Spectral on redbook.
Rhodyavphile: Nice system. I see that you exchanged your Spectral SDR2000/3000 combo for the Esoteric DV50. How would you compare their redbook performance? How would you rate the DV50 overall?
Beautiful setup! I just love the looks of those Silent Running Audio racks and amp stands. What are your impressions of the Ohio Class stands for the amps? I think a pair may be in my future...
Pantherdude, The rack was not intended to match the end table. The granite doesn't match the granite on the hutcth to the right(not shown) either. The amp stands are from Silent Running Audio as well as the rack, they are the Ohio Class XL+ in gloss terracota....
Timothy, I have not given much thought to selling the PPA20, so I don't know how much to even ask for it, nor what I would replace it with. But given enough time to look and listen and the right price I could be convinced.... As to the performance of the unit, I have very much enjoyed it. I have used a Graham 2.2 on a Clearadio Solution with a Clearaudio Virtuso Wood(MM), and an Ortofon Jubilee(MC) and a Vector arm on a Basis Debut with the Jubilee and recently put a Koetsu Jade Platinum into my system. It seems as though the PPA20 is fairly transparent, I have heard the strengths from each change in player/arm/cartridge, and unfortunately it lets the weakness' through as well. The only thing I have noticed is the more polite nature of the low frequencies. The midrange and highs come off clean and crisp with a fairly wide presentation and good depth. Overall I have been very happy with the unit.
Try a wooden shelf, a fairly soft one, in place of the granite shelves. But only with the newer feet, or with cones or pucks replacing the soft rubber feet. Sorry if that was unclear. I think you'll like the result, I know Rick Fryer (the president of Spectral) did, that's why the new feet were made. We tried granite shelving, but the sound lacked ease, and naturalness, so whenever I see hard metal or stone shelves, I cringe. Give it a try, it's easily reversed. I think you'll like it.
Kevinzoe, The short answers are it is for just headphones... I have had no issues with the unit so have had no real need for post sales support. It sounded great out of the box but has been continually improving and have about 100ish hours on it. The recent changes haven't been as significant as the first 20-30 hrs... I can't say I auditioned any other headamps. Mikhail, founder of SinglePower, was nice enough to let me use a PPX3 while my Maestro was being built. The Maestro is hands down far and away better, but at 3 times the price. I use the Sony MDR-R10 as a headphone and the combo definitely gives my amp/speaker setup a run for the money... You might peruse Head-Fi.org, that is where I did most of my research before going with the SinglePower unit...
Rhodyavphile -- Do you use your Singlepower amp only for headphone listening or is it used as a replacement to your Spectral preamp? Could you comment on the Singlepower as a headphone amp (e.g. dependability, break-in time needed, what other competiting brands did it best) and as a company (e.g. post-sales support) please as I am thinking of adding one of their products for my headphone listening with Sennheiser HD-600 cans.
Not sure I know what you are telling me to try... Is it to place a wooden shelf under the newer equipment(metal feet), or something else? Currently, all of my equipment is on granite shelves excluding the amps which are on SRA Ohio Class XL+ isolation devices on granite shelves. What are you suggesting?
JF, I wish I could help you out with a good before and after comparison unfortunately it has been over a year since I first shipped the product off and cannot remember to well what it sounded like. I can tell you that compared to my Spectral CD/DAC combo the Esoteric now comes significantly closer in overall sound quality but varies in that the presentation is a little darker with a more pronounced bass. When I first received the DV-50 I thought it represented about 60% of the performance quality on CD than the Spectral and felt post upgrade it gained another 20%. Add the SACD and DVD-A and DVD-V features and it is a winner. As to the price of the upgrade, I was the guinea pig for the upgrade and so received a pretty good discount on it. I cannot remember all of the things they told me they did to it, but I know they significantly improved the internal damping and touched just about everything else that wasn't surface mounted. As an aside, I primarily use it as an awesome DVD-V player and have reverted more towards analog playback recently. It is connected to my main 2 channel and have found that I prefer the SACD/DVD-A sound from it on proper source material(unfortunately limited) to CDs on the Spectral gear. My old vinyl rig, comparably priced to the DV-50, still topped it.
I used to work at a dealership that sold Spectral, Avalon and Wilson, and if you don't mind, I'll share something we learned setting up Spectral/Avalon systems. You may notice the latest Spectral gear does away with the soft rubber feet, in favor of one that doesn't decouple the chassis from the shelf. These feet, or cones, as we used before the change, coupled with (no pun intended) a flexible wooden shelf, allow vibration to flow from the component, to the support. A rigid shelf, made of metal or stone, with a decoupled component, actually traps that energy in the component. The sound may seem to lack definition at first, but you will come to realize what's gone is is artificial hardness and edge. Try it. You're in for a suprise. Cheers.
