I'll throw some thoughts into the mix.
Critical listening in an unknown space with unfamiliar gear and recordings is a challenge. In this case, the room had been designed to be modifiable for feedback from FuzzMeasure analysis, with which I am quite familiar and fairly adept. The room features a structured masonry / brick front wall and solid, infill masonry side walls. Such a rigid room makes for exceptionally clean sound, but carries downsides of pesky modal behavior. We borrowed 2' behind the listener from an adjoining room for a tunable chamber. Room side, right behind the listeners, is a unique porous wood-sliver panel, floor to ceiling, wall to wall. The acoustical panel drop ceiling at 10' has a 2' x room-sized chamber above to generalize the floor-to-ceiling modes. That sealed chamber still needs two short dividing walls to isolate it from a very large attic space. Chasing slap echoes, tuning modes and identifying further work to be done on the 4 deep-set windows consumed much of our time. We used music along with test tones and sweeps for this work - any music with broad-range content would work - and did. By Sunday morning we could compare and contrast the playback system elements under consideration.
Reference cables included Morrow and Straightwire as well-known to me, and some serious foreign contenders that Max knew and loved. We settled on the Morrow as baseline to demonstrate my TRX interconnects and internal hookup wire. TRX is Thiel Renaissance X (24th iteration) - of major conparisons, not all TR. We benchmarked via Benchmark, Iconoclast, Cardas, Audience, Straightwire, Kimber, Morrow, and many home-brews to try out ideas as they surfaced. Suffice to say this wire dive was way deeper than the original late 70s exploration, the 1988 CS5 re-examination and the 2005 survey for the CS3.7. Incremental progress was made via input from the above-mentioned collaborators as well as advanced interaction with MIT operatives.
I am aware of wire skepticism. My approach is not fundamentally skeptical, but is strictly evidence-based as well as requiring theoretical foundations. This family of analog signal cables embodies those requirements. Most of all, it must perform demonstratively well on all fronts. I have employed a hefty handful of listeners along this trail. This trip expanded to include duramax747's assessment. Feedback/ input has been extremely consistent and positive. Disappointments and dead ends have mostly been attributable to available materials and compromised methods of the prototyper's constraints.
If I were to propose adjectives, they run toward clarity, detail, and depth of structure. All support Thiel's core performance attribute of 'vivid solidity'. The measurements support the subjective sonic experience. The outcome reflects the lessons learned along this deep-dive journey. We are especially encouraged because among prototyping limitations is working with available materials and methods. I use magnet wire with polyamidimide insulation - far from audiophile standards. My positioning filler is fibrated polypropylene, which is first-rate, but my hand twisting loom is far from the precision of real planetary machinery. A technical description of the cable will have to wait for decisions by the working group as to IP concerns.
Back to Max's room near Charlotte - we had various iterations of the SCS4 from stock Thiel to fairly hot-rodded - TRX internal wire to outboard XO with serpentine layout honoring waveguide principles with elements arranged for optimized field interaction, upgraded cabinet edge treatment, custom proprietary multi-segment caps from Reliable, and fluid dynamic wavelaunch technologies from Douglas Pauley. This wavelaunch tech is the most surprising and exciting aspect of this redevelopment work. I would have never thought that Thiel's already excellent anti diffraction wavelaunch could be qualitatively improved. The improvement allows the soundfield to hang in space. Max's first response after demonstration regarded 'projection'. Among the multiple causes of that 3-D spatial projection, Doug's wavelaunch tech leads the pack.
I believe that we have developed synergistic, meaningful, cost-effective methods to take my brother's designs to a higher performance plateau without modifying any of his work and achievements. I am encouraged.
Back to music. Max had a variety of big, bold, well-made recordings. I used two for orientation: Patty Larkin's 'A-Go-Go' which is a composite of live, on-stage recordings / one woman with her guitar with minimal artifacts. Straight-forward, well-done music making by a master whom I know, who's guitar and maker I know well, and that I have heard live in my small village venue. I believe I know her musical intentions. The other was Dana Cunningham's premiere 'Dancing at the Gate' which I produced from a simple music-school stereo recording to DAT and mastered with no compression, EQ or other artifacts. Contemplative piano on the half shell. My post-Thiel life includes lots of piano involvement including an innovative bridge and soundboard bracing system. These artists are interesting, involving and careful with their presentation. Subtle playback system mods track better when we care about the music. Last weekend was a wonderful musical experience for me.
