Why do you never near anything about Spectral

My Spectral experience was not a good one. I bought the system that Harley reviewed, they marketed it as the "2C3D System": DMA180 amp, DMC20 mkII preamp, MIT/Spectral cables, Avalon Radian HC speakers. It was all purchased from one of the top Spectal/Avalon dealers in the US. They set it up in my home, and chose the placement of speakers, etc. Long story short, the sound was uninvolving, and couldn't hold anyone's attention for more than a few minutes. Long listening sessions became a thing of the past. I was mezmerized by 3D soundstaging during the in-store demo, but after more listening I realized that images had no body. Detail was etched. I heard gobs of everything; everything but music.
While I'm sure Shubertmaniac is happy with what he's hearing, I must respectfully disagree w/the statement that "Once you experience its pleasures all tubes seem euphonic and all other solid state seem sterile. Spectral is neither euphonic nor sterile." My experience was that Spectral was a huge disappointment; boring & lifeless.
After living w/this system for a few months, I was thrilled to unload it and move back to tubes. Even though I took a huge financial loss when I sold it, it was a great relief. It took me a while to find components that give me the things that that system did well, but it was worth it. My only regret is that I didn't get to try the Radians with some good high-powered OTLs such as Atma-Sphere MA1s. Since then, I've heard tremendous sound coming from Avalon Eidolons driven by Atma-Sphere MA2s.
It just goes to show "Be careful what you wish for".
One last point is that most of the time I've seen favorable comments on Spectral, it's from those using digital front ends. As we all have different sonic priorities, let me say, vinyl lovers tread lightly. The things that good vinyl playback does for me is exactly what my Spectral experience didn't do for me. Cheers,
Spencer

Sbank, I agree. I heard Spectral with WP7 at a dealer. The salesman couldn't hold his enthusiasm but for me, after oh 15 sec, had to tell him that the emperor was nude. The sound, although transparent, was etched and hard "...no body..." as you say. I asked him why they didn't carry tube systems in the store and he told me frankly that it was too much trouble to maintain. I was comparing that system to my ARC tubed system. Have since upgraded to NAGRA which has taken my system to a new level

Only experience with Spectral was a brief audition of Wilson speakers (the ones below Watt/Puppy, whatever they are called) at a dealer. The gentlemen there played some blues (SACD) and I had to ask who was that guy singing. Answer: Muddy Waters. One of my favourites and I couldn't even recognize his baritone because it sounded so thin! I always believed it was the speakers. The system gave that high-end unearthly presentation where stuff hangs in the air in front of, to the left, to the right of and behind the speakers, but totally disembodied and really unlike what music sounds like in a hall. Now I don't know, maybe those speakers are not to blame.

Hmmm..........tubes and turntables are like coming from a cold wintry day into a warm home with the smell of hot cinnamon rolls coming out of the oven! Warm and fuzzy and oozing with icing. Euphonic warmth, if that is what you want great, but not me. Sure the Spectral can be edgy and maybe a little "white", nothing is perfect. But in my system, what you all have is said does not happen, it surely is not thin and the sound images do not float. The images are rock steady. The resolution from bass to high treble is just incredible. And as I said before: the string quartet is in my listening room, right there in a semicircle. And as I said before I have yet to hear a cello as clean and strong as with my current system. Hey it could be the dedicated room with the current tube/bass traps and diffusors, it could be that the room does not have a flat roof but is canted. Listen I am not against tubes, I have had them (or my father who swore by tube amps) longer than before many of you were born, over 50 years, but tubes are not my cup of tea, though I will have the cinnamon rolls!

I spent a lot of time with Spectral's amps driving the Avalons at Overture, complete with MIT cable system etc. The sound was fantastic. I've also had experience with Spectral systems that were less than optimal. My opinion is that because of their high bandwidth and noise senstivity, extreme care must be taken with ancillaries.

There are a great many tube amps on the market that are the antithesis of slow "warm" and euphonic. The Lamm ML2.1's, Joule Electra amps(Grand Marquis), Tenor and my own Atmasphere MA2 Mk2.3's are prime examples that are extremely resolved, detailed and dynamic. You are painting with _way_ too broad a brush when referring to "Tube Amps" as "warm and fuzzy and oozing with icing". Sure, I could name some that are, just as I could classify some solid state amps as hard, brittle and dry, but I would never generalize in that way about an entire class of products.

What's great is that you found the perfect amps-- for you-- and are thrilled with your choice, but that doesn't mean that tube amps are just something 'Grandma' used to like.

I've owned some fantastic SS amps in my day, Edge, Symphonic Line, Essence etc and all were great in their own way. I've simply found the virtues of HC OTL to be be my cup-a the last few years, and never looked back.

My only caveat with Spectral is that once you step outside the Avalon/MIT realm for ancillaries (and careful AC management) it can get complicated to system match them.

Only my experience, mind you.

Grant