Thiel Owners

tomthiel

I read an article talking about a modded Oppo 105 player by Bill Thalmann.

I would be interested in learning about the specifics. Perhaps Bill offers "mods" to other Oppo players?

Happy Listening!

jafant - I'll check that out. I'll be visiting him early October.

Update, tried another pre amp from a friend and it makes a huge difference 

tomthiel

Excellent. Is Bill working on any of your Gear?

Happy Listening!

jafant - Yes. Remember the Classé DR6 and pair of DR9s? They've been incubating at Music Technology for a couple of years. He finished the preamp, including the phono stage in pretty high fashion. We used a lot of ClarityCaps including some CMR series-wound potted caps in critical applications. He has kept the DR6 to use with the DR9 and CS3.5 equalizer upgrade projects. So, I haven't heard it yet.

The DR9s are presently being worked on with a goal of pickup on my visit in October. But, the long roll-out of ClarityCap's Purity line might keep that from happening. We're doing something fairly radical with the DR9s, by committing to bridged-only to allow one channel as plus and the other as minus for fully balanced operation - which allows other optimizations and removal of front-end signal path circuitry. Serious hot-rodding. 

The 3.5 EQ is coming to life. Jim Williams' Audio Upgrades optimized and upgraded considerably for a tight, clean, quiet result. Bill is going farther with his own magic. In October I'll get to compare cost/performance of various elements. Bill's backlog / critical need customers, etc. have stretched out these projects unimaginably. But, we're getting close to actual results. I wish/hope Bill takes on one of my Adcom GFA555 power amps. I'm enamored with them from JW's upgrade and wonder what Bill might bring to the table. He 'does' that amp, but his calendar is presently closed for new work - we'll see.