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Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's

69.88.44.105
Posted on March 22, 2016 at 09:12:12
blgtrio
Audiophile

Posts: 115
Location: Maryland
Joined: May 17, 2007












I have been a long time owner of Acoustats since 1986. Over the years I have owned 2+2's, 1+1's, model 3's and Spectra 33's. I have enjoyed every pair I have listened to. I often read about and envisioned owning a pair of Spectra 66's but was doubtful a pair would ever become available for sale. My wish has come true. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful mint pair of Spectra 66's. They do everything better than any of the previous models I owned. The imaging is uncanny. Sound stage is both wide and deep. The layering and texture of the sound is sublime. I drive RV's, Vans and smaller trucks for a living. I was fortunate to have a run take me from Maryland to Soquel California. The gentleman who sold me the speakers met me where I delivered the truck, then took me to the San Jose airport to get the rental Van. Then I drove and followed him to his home to have a short listen then loaded up the speakers and my brother and I drove non stop from Soquel Ca. to Hagerstown Md. in less than 48 hours. After a good night sleep woke up and assembled the interfaces and bases to the panels and have been in Heaven ever since. Some upgrades were done to the interfaces and you can see the over sized cap that had to be mounted to the outside of the interface.

 

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RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on March 22, 2016 at 09:37:56
Satie
Audiophile

Posts: 5426
Joined: July 6, 2002
 Congrats!!!
Terrific speakers. Can't believe they went out of business.

 

Sweet! Really sweet., posted on March 22, 2016 at 09:44:32
Sondek
Audiophile

Posts: 9632
Location: Fort Worth
Joined: May 17, 2000
Contributor
  Since: April 5, 2002
 Those puppies are fairly rare. No idea how many pair Acoustat made, but based on how often they come up for sale I'd wager they made damned few. I'll bet they sound awesome. I very recently had Mike Savuto at Analogue Associates rebuild the servos for my Monitor 4's, and the improvements are nothing short of jaw dropping. Bunch of new caps and other changes including magnetic/hydraulic circuit breakers rather than the old toggle power switches and fuses. Mike tells me that better than 50% of the improvement in sound comes from the m/h breakers. I wonder if that mod would have similar effect with the xformer interfaces? It's the same kind of setup Audience uses on their PLC's. Anyway, enjoy them as they are and worry about tweaks down the line. Wish I could hear them. You are a lucky man.

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on March 22, 2016 at 15:04:29
Utley1
Audiophile

Posts: 1609
Location: NYC
Joined: July 30, 2010
 cONGRATUALTIONS. A knightly quest. Only know the 2 plus 2's nd they were remarkable.

 

Great speaker score and story, posted on March 22, 2016 at 18:55:10
G Squared
Audiophile

Posts: 8491
Location: Washington, DC Metro Area
Joined: November 16, 2004
Contributor
  Since: May 23, 2023
 Congrats to a fellow Marylander.
Gsquared

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on March 22, 2016 at 20:06:07
paul3
Audiophile

Posts: 253
Location: Pacific NW
Joined: January 2, 2015
 Adrenalin to the enth power! What a great story and acquisition. Enjoy!!!

 

Associated equipment?, posted on March 23, 2016 at 09:50:29
3Fates
Audiophile

Posts: 940
Joined: December 8, 2000
 Please list your system. What amps are you using? Why are you using a sub? Those speakers probably have the best bass of any planar speaker produced.

 

Cool beans!, posted on March 23, 2016 at 13:31:53
E-Stat
Audiophile

Posts: 37666
Joined: May 12, 2000
Contributor
  Since: April 5, 2002
 Those look to be in great condition. I purchased my first Acoustats in '77 after meeting Rob Rieman and Jim Strickland in Atlanta.

Is that a sub off to the right? Why?

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on March 24, 2016 at 08:18:01
Mendel
Audiophile

Posts: 1207
Location: GTA
Joined: January 17, 2009
 WOW!!!!!
You are a very lucky man!
Can only imagine how good those big boys sound.
Also interested in what you are using to drive them. The more panels the greater the efficiency and easier the load. Have you tried tubes?
Enjoy!!

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on March 24, 2016 at 11:37:58
E-Stat
Audiophile

Posts: 37666
Joined: May 12, 2000
Contributor
  Since: April 5, 2002
 The more panels the greater the efficiency and easier the load.

While that's true, I think you must run two MK-2123s for six panels or a single MK-2146.

Andy Szabo on interfaces

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on March 27, 2016 at 07:00:25
blgtrio
Audiophile

Posts: 115
Location: Maryland
Joined: May 17, 2007



Hello and thanks to everyone who responded to this thread. I have been on the road for over a week so nice to see the replies. The interfaces read as MK2123 but they were updated and reconfigured to work as a MK2146. The previous owner had these upgrades and modifications done to improve their performance. I have used both tube and solid state amps. I currently use Jeff Rowland model 6 monoblocks also a Threshold S/300 stereo amp. Both are rated at 300 wpc into 4 ohms. I find both sound quite good but I prefer the Rowlands. Very liquid sounding with great bass and extended highs. The midrange is as pure as I have heard in my system. The subwoofer is only used for home theater when watching a video. For 2 channel listening there is no need for it. I use a Cary SLP98P preamp. I prefer having tubes in the chain at some point but prefer the SS amps with the better control they have on the panels. I have both a Wadia 27ix DAC and 270SE transport. Great sounding combo and even more resolving on the 66's. With the narrow sector of both panels being used full range these image so much better than the 1+1's and 2+2's. The picture included shows the spectra sector frequency assignments and color codes. No more "head in a vice" listening. I just sold the 1+1's this past weekend. I also have a pair of Spectra 33's for sale if anyone is interested. I would like to find a good home for the 33's since I now have the 66's. Thanks again to all of you who responded. It's great to know that thru this forum Acoustat fans continue to share and enjoy this great speaker and the legacy that it carries with it. Someone was asking about how many of these were made. The previous owner told me less than a 60 pair were made.

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on April 8, 2016 at 08:33:10
morricab
Distributor or Rep

Posts: 9181
Location: switzerland
Joined: April 1, 2005
 Very Nice!! I was using Spectra 2200s and Spectra 4400s...together! I had the 2200s for 100Hz and up and the 4400s for 100Hz and down. The reason was that I found the 2200s more open and transparent for some reason but the bass from the 4400s was simply awe-inspiring.

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on April 8, 2016 at 11:15:25
Satie
Audiophile

Posts: 5426
Joined: July 6, 2002
 Actually what you ran was not that different from a 6600 just with an outrigger bass section. Probably worked out better than a 6600.

 

RE: Sweet !!!! nt, posted on April 22, 2016 at 23:19:31
benie
Audiophile

Posts: 1851
Location: Alberta, Canada
Joined: October 24, 2004
 nt

 

RE: Proud owner of Acoustat Spectra 66's, posted on April 25, 2016 at 08:14:57
morricab
Distributor or Rep

Posts: 9181
Location: switzerland
Joined: April 1, 2005
 Yeah, I know, it had the same number of panels but quite different interfacing and then also different impedance/capacitance and FR than a 6600 I would imagine. I could also independently dial in the bass to be as fat or thin as I needed.

 

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