Thiel Owners

tomthiel et al,

What are your thoughts on this paper from Townshend Audio about cable technology. Would seem to fly in the face of everything we - or at least I - know or believe about speaker level cable:

http://www.townshendaudio.com/PDF/The%20Sound%20of%20Music%20and%20Error%20in%20Your%20Speaker%20Cab...

Then, on a separate topic... going back a few pages (I don’t get here as often as I’d like), you were commenting on the development of “coherent source” in various Thiel models over the years. During your discussion, you referred to second order crossovers being used in the SCS series. Would that include our beloved Powerpoints? I’m crushed! Although I can’t argue with the results. 

snbeall

Thank You for the link and post regarding Townsend Audio. Impressive abstract and article. I found the information highly interesting. Pretty cool to fathom that cabling was researched and tested way back in the 1970's.
No matter how you guys feel about this White Paper, always, trust your ears.

Happy Listening!

As a cable skeptic, I'm wondering how the length of speaker cables plays into this.  If we assume that the perfect cable is transparent, shouldn't the ideal situation involve extremely short runs?  Since I run mono amps I have a very short run of Audioquest type 4 cables, 3 feet I think.  I could pretty easily shorten this to less than a foot if I believed it mattered.  Is 1 foot of moderately priced cable better than 10 feet of expensive cable?  This length vs price relationship has to be relevant.  And if this sort of thing is so important shouldn't we see a lot more mono dacs and preamps so you can send your digital signal from your digital source to the mono dacs right next to your speakers that are hooked directly to the preamp that is hooked directly to the amp that is hooked directly to the speaker?  Why not just eliminate significant analog cable runs altogether?  I could buy a second identical dac, use only one channel on each one but make the dac/preamp/amp connections essentially plug to plug.  If cables have the potential to do such harm why not just get rid of them?  It's terribly difficult for me to believe any of the cable talk.  I feel a little bit bad about it.

jon_5912

interesting points-of-view. Certainly many factors to consider regarding cables/cords. Shorter runs of SP are preferred. A flat SP like Nordost can benefit from a longer run, as it is a very fast cable design. 
Otherwise, I enjoy a more robust design with a smaller gauge in diameter.

The possibilities are endless. Thank Goodness.

Happy Listening!

I ran my CS3 with Mac, Quicksiver tubes. And Threshold, Levinson. They all sounded good. The ML 2s smoked everything when they didnt overheat