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Review: Spectron Musician III Signature Edition Amplifier

Category: Amplifiers

This review is of the newly released Spectron Musician III "Signature Edition" MSRP $5995. The signature edition has improvements over the $4995 standard version (which is an exceptional amplifier as-is) that improve the specs and sound to the degree of making it a strong competitor to $20K-40K reference monoblocks. John Ulrick (former co-founder of Infinity and creator of the first digital amp in 1974) has really outdone himself with this new design. The Musician III Signature version is one of the most natural, detailed, robust and transparent amplifiers I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. The soundstage is so vast that when I closed my eyes, my once constricted sounding listening room sounded like someone snuck into my new home and added an extra room behind the speakers! Ok, I may be exaggerating about the stage a little bit but not about the clarity, detail and bass authority. This amp is POWERFUL and difficult loads do not even phase it. I have MBL 111E Omnidirectional speakers connected to it. I originally focused my attention on the ship anchor sized MBL 9011 monoblocks and fell in love with them at CES 2005. The Spectron was purchased to be a temporary place holder until I could afford the MBL giants. After purchasing this tiny, less than 60 lb. digital powerhouse, I have no desire to shell out for Monoblocks that cost as much as my new BMW 5. Everyone recognizes that the new digital designs are powerful and efficient but there exists an industry wide stigma about the musicality of most digital designs. Many inexpensively or poorly implemented digital chip based designs simply do not have the warmth and natural sound of the finest tube and class A solid state amps. The Spectron Musician III Signature is in a category all by itself. I enjoy listening to cello and piano. I ran through about 2 hours of "The Essential Yo Yo Ma" and was shocked. The Spectron revealed nuances and micro details that I never noticed previously on tracks that I listen to frequently. The bass is robust, strong and very controlled. The Spectron sounds nothing like many of the digital ice-power or tripath based designs. The Spectron is very transparent. What comes out of it is exactly what you put into it. Use a great power cord and exceptional source equipment and you cannot lose with this amp. Other Spectron owners tell me that tube preamps such as BAT are a perfect companion for the Spectron. If you are considering purchasing a new amplifier in the $10000+ category, you owe it to yourself, and your wallet, to give the Musician III Signature a listen. Be sure to have a pair of well respected tube or solid state amps that cost at least twice as much in the same room for A/B comparison. You will be amazed! The manufacturer burns in the amps for a week or so at the factory and informed me that I need to give it at least a week of burn-in at home to fully appreciate it. After a few hours of warm up, right out of the box, it sounded great. I am on day 4 of listening and it just keeps getting better.

Strengths: Powerful, Open Soundstage, Critical Midrange is natural and dynamic. Nice build quality. Pretty Face

Weakness: No rack mount option at this time.

Associated gear
Theta CBIII w/Extreme DACS running 2ch
Underwood Modded Denon 3910
MBL 111E Omnidirectional Speakers
PS Audio Duet
Mr.Cable Musician Power Cord

Similar products
Parasound JC-1
Theta Enterprise
Pass X-600
Mark Levinson 331 x2
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xsodapop

Showing 14 responses by guidocorona

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
There is some indication that the NuForce amps may be leaking RF, causing havoc with some FM radio tuners/receivers. Has anyone experienced any such issues with Spectron Musician 3 Sig?
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Sodapop, in your associated equipment, you list Theta Enterprise. Could you pls give us a brief comparison of Spectron vs Enterprise? Thanks, Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Thank you for the feedback Sodapop, much appreciated.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
I have read in a couple of places that the Spectron Sig is a 'true' balanced amp. Does this mean it is a differentially balanced design, or is a synthetic balanced signal achieved in some other way?
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Spoke today to Jeff at JRDG. Apparently the 312 amp is balanced both at the input and the output, while my old JRDG 7M has balanced input but a single ended output, with one of the two conductors in the speaker wire acting purely as ground. I am not sure if the Spectron Sig has balanced output. Admittedly, ultimately it may not matter. Our ears are the ultimate judges--hopefully independent from stated technology/looks/etc. . .--and I have not aA/Bd the two devices.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Thank you Simon. Yes Jeff Rowland Design uses the ICE chips. JRDG 312 has been designed as fully balanced because Mr. Rowland judged that an optimal and true fully balanced topology benefits the sonic properties of all his designs, including his newest class D implementations. If you call him, he can give you all the details.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Simon, You are clearly very proud of the Spectron amp, and I respect that. If Spectron engineering opted for a designed which is balanced in the input stage and single ended in the output stage, I am comfortable believing that they made the best decision for the device, based on sonic goals, underlying technology, constraining assumptions, design experience, etc. . .
Similarly, I am equally comfortable believing that a designer of the stature and profound experience of Jeff Rowland opted for a fully balanced design in the 312 through a similar rational process based on technology and engineering principles.
I know for a fact that Jeff shies from commenting on devices which are not of his own creation, preferring to discuss and highlight the engineering rationale behind his own products. I kind of like that. It is essentially the way I have been taught to operate by my employer for the last 25 years, and by my father for another 25 years before that. And that is why I appreciate very much the opportunity to learn about the Spectron Signature's design merits from someone clearly in the know who may even be an insider, but I find myself somewhat less favorably impressed whenever I read rash assumptions on the competition from the same party.
Yet, in spite of my slight but growing misgivings, I am still looking forward to auditioning the Spectron Sig.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Zaikesman, I agree with you, the description sounds very much  like that of a push/pull configuration. Yet, as I am not an EE, I can't be sure. I view the reason that few designers have chosen this Rowland/McCormac output path to be relatively simple and non contentious. . . there are so many ways to skin the proverbial cat and achieve the relatively wide variety of performance goals that designers set themselves to. Ultimately, the underlying technology is not terribly important to me, or at least it is not a factor which I consider a priori. . . . except that. . . I do live in Austin, my system is in a loft, and my builder had a fantastically liberal interpretation of the words 'well insulated'. As such, no tube amps in my future, and no class A SS either. I'll start a thread on the subject of my hunt for a cool amplifying nirvana in the Fall.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Thank you Simon, I won't even venture to guess which amp would be more of my liking--JRDG 312 or Spectron Musician Sig--as I have not even heard the latter at all, and I would need to a/b the two to form an even half educated opinion, regardless of underlying technology. On the other hand, as Jeff Rowland does not even bother to advertize his balanced design of the 312's output stage on his company's literature, I am comfortable suggesting that whatever his reasons were in selecting such a design, trite 'marketing gimmick' is unlikely to be one of them. Furthermore, as far as I know, the 312 employs only 1 ICE module rather than 2 as you instead venture to guess, or in other words, the power conversion section may be the only section of the amp which is not balanced.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Zaikesman, that is exactly what Rowland contends: If I remember correctly my conversation with him, Jeff suggests  that by driving actively the 2nd conductor on the speaker wire, he can control tightly the return excursion of the speaker drivers, rather than letting them rely on their elastic return. This according to him, is expected to yield better resolution and control at all frequencies, while reducing the need for extraordinarily high currents for driving difficult loads. Apparently he has started this type of design on the models 8 and 9 amps and maintained it on the new class D line. The 7M was the last JRDG design to be single ended in the output phase.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Thank you Simontju. like the Rowland 312, It now appears that the Spectron Musician 3 may sport a balanced output as well. I will post here as I find out more details.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Simon, it was indeed fab talking with you today. Per our discussion, the fully balanced design of such devices as Spectron Musician 3 Signature and JRDG may contribute significantly to their ability of controlling difficult loads by doubling the slue rate without resorting to extravagantly high output currents. Furthermore, you also suggested that the Spectron fully balanced output in the mono configuration of the amp may also yield twice the bandwidth. If I understood correctly, The dedicated speaker wires of the Spectron Musician take furter advantage of the balanced output design by containing three conductors: positive, negative, and ground yielding superior control of speakers with difficult loads.

On a more philosophical note, you probably belong to the more objectivist school, while as you know, I am part-time subjectivist. In the end, you you may likely say that something sounds correct and real but is also sounding beautiful. . . while I may vehemently argue that it fact it sounds beautiful but it is also sounding congruent with correctness and reality. In the end. . . we are clearly both after MUSIC! Saluti, Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Rafel, with the limited experience I have, if a device was truly designed to operate in balanced mode, it often sounds better and more fleshed out when connected that way. E.g., I have a system consisting of an Esoteric X-01 Limited, an ARC Ref 3 linestage, and a pair of 1988-vintage Rowland 7M monoblocks. X-01 has balanced output, Ref 3 is completely balanced in input and output, and JRDG 7 M have balanced inputs but SE output. ICS are both Audioquest Sky balanced XLRs. If I turn off the balanced signal on the Ref 3 through the remote, not only I lose sound volume, but the sound becomes significantly vapid and gutless. Admittedly, I have not tried to operate the system using single ended SKY RCA ICs. By the way, it looks like I was wrong about conductors in the Spectron speakerwire: there are 4 conductors, not three. Please let us know any experience with Spectron in balanced monoblock configuration if you have the opportunity.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Rafael, I am looking forward to hearing about how the Spectrons behave in fully balanced mono configuration. With the little experience I have gained, I find that in many cases if equipment has been designed to run balanced, it often sounds more fleshed out that way. E.g. I have a balanced system as followes: Esoteric X-01 Limited differentially balanced in the output, ARC Ref 3 differentially Balanced input and output, Rowland 7M with balanced input and single ended output. ICS are AudioQuest Sky XLRs. Normally the system runs in fully balanced mode. If I turn off the balanced signal on the Ref 3 through the rmote control, the sound not only loses volume, but also becomes comparatively vapid and uninvolved. By the way, I was wrong about number of conductors in the Spectron balanced speakerwires: the wires have 4, not 3 conductors.
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