TRL Marantz Sa-14

Ozzy,
Thanks for sympathsizing with me about the situation. A replacement from TRL would be nice, but since my player is specially ordered from HK for its color, it is very difficult to souce from Marantz USA. Paul did try, but yielded no avail. However, it did give me an opportunity to contemplate getting SA11 as replacement instead. Since SA11 is back ordered for awhile, it somehow coincides with FedEX delay to reimburse the amount for the new 9500 damaged. At work a new project comes and I am busy working 14+-hour days this week and possibly weeks to come. I guess I just don't have much time and energy to worry about this, but wish that TRL can bring a closure with FedEX very soon and the new relaced player will show up promptly after the claim being settled. While being frustrated in this whole process, I am also trying to be positive. Being screwed up before by other senders/buyers, I am glad to have a vendor that is willing to work with me to resolve the claim promptly. Rather than being pessimisitc for life is too short, I guess I am trying to be optimistically pessimistic. :) Thanks being to all who have offered encourgements. As always, let's be merry and enjoy listening to music!

Jsala,

I'd be interested in your opinion of the sound post burn-in. I've been holding off trying it.

Clio, the QuickSilver only has 24 hours on it but it is much smoother and less bright than it was last night. The music last night was not just bright, it was no longer coherent. This evening, much of the coherency is back. The midrange seems a little bit thin, though. I'll listen again after another 24 and 48 hours.

Howard, what color 9500 do you like? I bought mine in HK and got a black one.

Jsala and Clio09: Extreme AV's Quick Silver conductive paste doesn't sound very good initially. Initially, it will sound bright and edgy. The good news is, it does break in and settles down.

I'm a huge proponent of Quick Silver, which can be seen on their Quick Silver testimonials pages http://www.xtremeavllc.com/PDFs/QuickSilverTestimonials.pdf

After it was thoroughly broken in, I noticed a lower noise floor, improved dynamics (micro and macro), much tighter focus, and improved resolution (like being able to distinguish that there were 2 backing vocals instead of what sounded before like just one).

Huge improvements on video, too! I've had to lower my white level, brightness level and contrast 3 times while the Quick Silver broke in. Image resolution greatly improved. Quick silver alone gave me a larger improvement than my last line doubler up-grade. (And for a fraction of the price).

Best,

Jack Seaton

Jsala-

The Quicksilver really does seem to take most of the 72 hours to settle in. Apparently the break in is somewhat dependent upon the current through the specific contacts.
Yes, initially, it makes things much brighter and edgy in my experience. That does smooth out quickly and I like the overall impact of the product after it settles in.