Sophia 3 With Spectral DMA-260 Stereo Reference Amplifier

[Steve Williams]

I had a wonderful past weekend with my buddy Marty listening to some fabulous music. We had wanted to hear the Q5 and/or M5 here in the SF Bay Area but we couldn't find someone who had them well set up in their room

As a result we headed up to Music Lovers in Berkeley and Jay, the owner gave us a private demo of the Sophia 3/Spectral DMA-250 Stereo reference amp and I must admit we were astonished as to how well these little speakers imaged as well as a very impressive soundstage. The room was Jay's largest and these little speakers filled the room without giving up the ghost. The Spectral amp with these speakers was truly remarkable. It was lightening fast and demonstrated huge bandwidth.

This is one amp that Gregadd should audition.

The system is highly recommended with speakers at $16,000 and the amp at $10K..

One would be hard pressed to find a better combo at this price point.

Truly a great SS amp and once again another brain child of Keith Johnson

 

[FrantzM]

Steve

You know how much I admire the Spectral.. I haven't heard the Sophia but I cringe whenever anyone mention ... "Price Point" .. By the way Spectral is the real deal once one put the prejudices aside...

 

[Steve Williams]

It is the real deal. We were also hoping to hear the Spectral DMA-360 mono amp which Jay also had but ended up listening to the stereo amp

Frantz even you would like the Sophia with the Spectral played through it

 

[Ron Party]

Steve, now you know why both Frantz and I are so enamored with Spectral.

Did you also get a chance to go into the HT room to see the Runco LED projector?

 

[Steve Williams]

I hadn't been in Jays new store yet and it was well laid out and yes we saw it all

BTW have you seen the inventory he keeps in the store and in the back of the store. No wonder the high end is dying. I am amazed that Jay could keep such a huge inventory

As for Spectral, Ron, I have heard it many times but usually the DMA-100. In fact the first time I heard it was at T.H.E. show in San Francisco at the Westin St Francis approximately 7-8 years ago. It was in the Music Lovers room with Jays partner Hugh spinning some disks and playing through the Sophia l. IMO this was the best room at the show that year and I came back 3-4 times over the weekend to hear it

 

[Ron Party]

Yes, I have been in the back room countless times.

It is interesting to read/hear how the hi end is dying, hi end stores are closing, yet Jay and Hugh expanded only a couple of years ago to open their second store in S.F. They must be doing something right.

 

[Steve Williams]

Jay told me the SF store is doing well

I also like this newer store over his past one on Eldorado

 

[Ron Party]

Absolutely no contest. Did you ever see what they used for storage on El Dorado? Whoa!

What did they use for the pre and source?

 

[Steve Williams]

He used a Spectral preamp but I am not sure which model as we were so fascinated by what we heard.. I think he used a MidFi player.

 

[Ron Party]

Is Marty going to do a write up here?

 

[Steve Williams]

Not sure however he brought two CDs to my house which were perhaps the 2 best I have heard in months, one being World Music and the other New Orleans Blues. If he doesn't comment in them , I will later. They are highly recommended

 

[Ron Party]

Here's a short video of Dave Wilson at the Music Lovers event in August at their S.F. store:

Notice the source/amp used.

 

[Steve Williams]

Dave uses Spectral now in his personal system.

 

[Ron Party]

Audio Research, VTL, Lamm, Spectral ... ah, it must be nice to just pick whatever you want. But when you do what he has done, well, it's well-deserved.

 

[ack]

Steve, are you sue you did not audition the DMA-260 instead of the 250?

 

[Steve Williams]

Not sure but he told us it was the very newest of Spectral stereo amps..perhaps you are correct. It was fabulous whichever one it was

 

[ack]

OK latest means the 260. I went to audition it this past weekend and the demo piece was sold. I suspect Spectral is re-releasing the product - something they appear to do here and there - but this is just a guess on my part.

 

[dan31]

I spent some time with the set up from the Wilson Sophia 3 demo at Music Lover's SF two days after the demo. It was that last session that swayed me to purchase the DMA-260. Excellent amp.

 

[Steve Williams]

Dan are you in the SF Bay Area??

If so you might want to join our Audio Club

 

[dan31]

Hi Steve,

I'm in the Bay Area. Are you talking about the BAS?

Dan