tomlinmgt
Lunatic Member
I've been kind of struggling with my Acoustat Spectra 22's since I picked them up back around Thanksgiving. They never sounded bad, per se, but my gut kept telling me they had more to offer than I was hearing. Thinking my pre was to blame I decided to up the ante in that department. I came to this conclusion after I tried using my GF tube DAC-09 as a pre and found it to produce better SQ from the Spectras than any pre I had in the collection. I decided on a Dared SL2000a (now using Brimar AT7's and rectifier) and have found it a remarkable little unit....a far cry better than any other pre I've owned. And though it did help the Spectras I still felt there was more juice to squeeze from the fruit. Amplification during all this was coming from an Aragon 8008 but last week I picked up a Threshold S-300 II and after being marveled by what that amp has done for my Infinity QLS-1's I decided to give the Spectras another go. Finally the Acoustats are starting to sing. They have a sublime and capable character to them I didn't hear before (I'm smiling and chuckling an awful lot when I listen to them now) and the thinness I was disappointed to once hear from them has been replaced with a rich balance of content. I still can't get them beyond mid to high 80 db listening levels without panel distortion but up to moderately loud levels they are really standing out from the crowd. LF response is much improved as well and with all but the most bottom heavy material they do absolutely fine without subs. Better than fine, actually as I get a physicality and heavier tone from their LF dynamic that is quite satisfying. Orientation of sound stage content is properly scaled in all dimensions and no single instruments seem to blare at me any more...something they were struggling with a bit prior to the Threshold. Distorted guitar finally sounds meaty and strong and certain male vocals now have added heft. Basically they've become more competent with a greater variety of genres than before which, obviously, opens doors to a heck of a lot more material (which is a very good thing now that MOG is in the house). I should mention that the GF-09 has been replaced with a -11, but make no mistake it's that ol' Pass magic workin it's spell here.
- Michael
- Michael