Looking to hear from Thor owners

I will chime in on their customer service. My TPA 60 amps are currently being worked on at Thor in Texas. Owner Ted Lindblad is easy to contact and a pleasure to talk to. Along with Jordan who is the technician, they have been working on my amps and keeping me updated as to their progress. I couldn't be more satisfied with their customer service. I have no affiliation with Thor other than a satisfied customer.

McPherson,
The TPA 60s are wonderfully musical amps. I am anxious to get them back into the system. Ted just called and they are on their way home from Texas.

My particular pair are the only ones in existence to have Thor's new unplated copper circuit boards. Having purchased them with that upgrade already in place I can't comment on the differences, but Ted says the improvements are not subtle. He says there is "another layer of dimension to the music". I recently changed over to Genelex Gold Lion KT77 tubes which increased the attack and dynamics as well as the delicacy and detail. Small signal tubes are NOS Sylvania, RCA and Valvo.

As far as the sound of the amps, as with all things in this hobby it is all about synergy of components and what each of us is looking for in their particular musical tastes. All of the things I look for and enjoy seem to be there with these amps. They are open, detailed and dynamic while still sounding natural and lifelike. Soundstage is wide with layers of depth extending beyond the speakers at times. Instruments and musicians are well placed within the soundstage. Highs are extended with just a touch of sweetness. Brass is brassy and the leading edge of piano is crisp while the decay fades slowly. I am hearing the tightest most accurate bass I have heard from an all tube amplifier in my system but not the last word when compared to some SS and hybrid amps I have had. This could also be attrbuted to the preamp. Vocals and small jazz ensembles just float between the speakers. When Melody Gardot sings worrisome heart it sounds like she is right in the room, her breathy, sultry singing sounds live.

I am currently using and absolutely love my deHavilland mercury III preamp which Kara Chaffee says imparts "big tone" to the music. My thinking is the preamp compliments these amps well in their combined strengths. I should also mention that Kara Chaffee also answers the phone when you call deHavilland and she returns missed calls promptly.

Speakers are JM Reynaud Offrande Supreme, my third pair of Offrandes and while I have had numerous other speakers I keep coming back to these, they just make beautiful music. Source is either a Logitech transporter with Modwright absolute truth mods or an Oppo bdp 83SE with the Upgrade Company Signature mods.

Ted has offered to let me borrow his Thor preamp to hear the whole package, but I am waiting to get the amps back and let everything settle in before taking him up on that.
Well that got a little long didn’t it?
Best regards,
Russ

McPherson,

What components do you have in your system besides the Thor preamp?

Mcpherson,

I haven't heard the sony 5400 modded or otherwise. I have had several of Modwright's cdp's over the years and his products are always outstanding. I don't see how you could go wrong either way. I am using the logitec transport almost exclusively anymore playing flac files through my PC. The sound is so close to the cdp to not be a consideration to me anymore. With all of my music on a dedicated hard drive I am listening to a lot of older music I pretty much never got around to digging out and playing on the single player. I went for the Oppo so I can play blueray dvd and eleiminate one pc of gear in my system, while still having a high quality cdp.

It is all about matching components and set up. What are you using for cables? What kind of music do you listen to? A great system can sound less than ideal set up improperly in the room too.

Mcpherson,

I would like to talk to you privately.

My email is [email protected]

Russ