Thiel Owners

prof, re your reply to Dsper above: it's getting somewhat tedious to constantly read the same thing from you on cables. We all know how you feel, no need for constant reiteration. It's like saying over and over "I'm cognitively challenged and I expect everyone else to be too!"  My wife and I, both professional classical musicians, have done the A-B test with numerous cables, amps, cd players and etc. There has never been any problem whatsoever in identifying different cables selected randomly from a list of say, 6. My wife (or me) selects a cable, the other person closes their eyes, opens them when the system is turned back on, and, no problem identifying the exact cable. Just like there is no problem hearing the difference between the Steinway 12 feet away from our 3.7s and the Thiels themselves. I have to say, thankfully, that's a small difference...

tmsrdg,

I'm not turning the thread in to a cable debate.  I don't want to go in to any depth on cables 'n stuff in this thread.   That's why I made such a short comment.


But on the subject of merely talking about these things, I believe you have an imbalanced and biased sense of proportion:  I simply added my voice to anyone else's opinions on the subject.

Why is, for instance, your opinion to be the default -  automatically favored over mine?  Why is your experience to be seen as veridical, and a relevant data point, but mine and my experience counts for nothing?

Why is it any less "tedious" to hear a constant throng of "every material sounds different/all cables/tweaks change the sound?"    With no counterpoint to it?


This hobby comprises audiophiles who have a range of opinions and experience supporting those opinions.  Why should your own version be the default, which can be explicated over and over, yet someone more on the continuum of being skeptical (for good reasons) should just sit down and shuddup?

When someone asks about cables, or in this case particularly about spending money on transports and which server "sounds best," he is sure to get many opinions about how to spend that money.   I'm simply adding in one other perspective "you *might* want to consider that you are considering quite a lot of money for something that is controversial and for which the claims can be fairly dubious.*

It was people who added that voice to discussions like this who helped folks like me figure out where allocating my money made the most sense.  No one has to do as I do.   But it's good to hear other viewpoints, rather than live in an echo-chamber IMO.

BTW, you might consider dialing back the insults ("cognitively challenged" analogy).  Doesn't help anything.

Cheers.

Oh Boy!

I did not mean to create any controversy about speaker wire or transports! Let me try to explain my last couple of posts.

My Thiel CS5's fell into my lap as a good local deal and started an exploration of how good the CS5's could sound. First, there was a two year process to get to an amp that I felt could power the CS5's without breaking my bank/space. Then I worked on room acoustics but could not tame a shrillness in the treble.

At that point I received some good advice from another CS5 owner regarding ladder DACs. I found a Theta ProBasic III, which eliminated the shrillness and sounded more organic to me.

I was still aiming for that live, nuanced presence so I tried upgrading to a PS Audio PerfectWave transport and was amazed at how the increased detail improved the "aliveness" of the sound.

At the same time, another thread suggested I try higher gauge speaker wire that yielded more detail and an improvement as corroborated by recent postings on this thread. 

My transport post was simply trying to elicit advice on how to maximize the sound of the CS5's. I am thinking CS 6 and 7 owners might have cool stuff to share.

The suggestions from bray eagle about Belden Iconoclast cables and vair68robert about Cardas 9.5 stranded litz are both news to me and appreciated!

Thanks for listening,

Dsper