@sdl4 "You asked about the basic system components..."Thanks for the details. Helps me to think through your experience and how it could relate to what I hear with my gear.
Showing 50 responses by dsper
Hi All, I have been reading this thread and just have to tell you where I am at with my CS5's and amp search. My system used to be Maggie 3.6's but I obtained an inexpensive pair of CS3.6's which I liked a lot and then saw an ad for some CS5's so I said why not. l ran an Oppo 105 modified by Ric Schultz, Prima Luna Dialogue Premium preamp, Cullen Cables, and W4S ST1000 with the Maggies and was quite happy. With the CS5's, I needed a new amp. So...I was able to in home audition various amps. In my system, my thoughts: Proceed HPA2 - harsh treble Hegel H20 - delicate but got congested with complicated music Mark Levinson 535H - sterile Krell 302 evolution - the bass was okay but the treble was a bit shrill - 140 pounds - ugh Pass X350 - great definition and bass but a bit polite - 130 pounds - ugh So I took a chance and talked with Doug Dale at Coda. He had a new old stock CS with their Thermal Trac mod. 300 watts into 4 ohms and doubles down. 75 amps of current with peaks to 125 amps. Sounds very good to my ear in my system. Very musical with lots of detail. The bass is as good, if not better than anything I have tried. Class A to 5 or 10 watts so it weighs in at 50 pounds and I can play it all day and it is only warm to the touch. |
Hi, I am listening to "Gerry Mulligan meets Ben Webster" on Verve right now. Hegel HD 25 DAC, AudioSpace CD8 as transport, Prima Luna Dialogue Premium, Coda CS, and Thiel CS5's. It sounds very good to me but I am wondering about the age of the Thiels. How does one tell when it is time for new E Caps? Dsper |
Hi, I am looking for some advice about the weak link in my system... My room is 18 by 34 with room treatments on the front wall. Due to room logistics, my Thiel CS5's sit out from the front wall about 4 feet with 3 feet on one sidewall and 7 feet on the other side wall. I sit about 9 feet from the speakers, which are about 9 feet apart. Thus roughly half the room length is behind me. My preamp is a Prima Luna Dialogue Premium and I listen to redbook CD's with a Hegel HD25 DAC using an AudioSpace CD8 with Phillips transport. I have auditioned in home Krell, Parasound, Hegel, Levinson, and Pass amps among others. I liked a Pass x350.0 the best but it was huge and was a space problem. My current amp is a Coda CS that sounds remarkably similar to the Pass to my ears. I have been told that Pass dealers do not like Coda because of the close similarity of sound and much tighter profit margins on the Codas..FWIW. The Thiels dip down to under two ohms and are inefficient but the Coda has no trouble with the bass. The Coda stays in Class A for the first ten watts. It seems to me that the sound becomes too bright in the treble at high volumes. Maybe because the Coda leaves class A or perhaps it is the metal tweeters in the Thiels? Anyway, I like a smooth, nuanced sound with detail and a deep sound stage. My head banging days are over as I seem to have gravitated to acoustic music, jazz, and female vocals. So...assuming that I keep the Thiels, what is the weakest link in my system and what would be a good improvement and why? I appreciate any feedback. Thank you! Dsper |
tomthiel, I appreciate the advice, well not all of it.....the ceiling mirror thing.......:-)! If I really think about it, it may be that the recordings are the problem. I am listening to some Chet Baker right now and I can play it as loud as I want with no problem. More to think about. I am wondering if a different pair of interconnects between the source and preamp would help? Of course, I would have no idea on where to start. Thanks, Dsper |
Thanks for the good ideas. I do not think the length of my hookups is an issue. My speaker cables (thicker than lamp cord) are only about seven feet on a side. All of my interconnects are three or four feet long. Tomtheil and Brayeagle's interconnect advice is worth exploring as I have not paid attention to interconnects at all. My component upgrades have been large positives so I have not gotten into the nuances of interconnects. Maybe I am getting to that point. I guess I will have to dig into the Cable Company website after all!? Pwhinson, I am pretty happy with the Coda CS amp because it has the current to supply the CS5's; although, my local stereo store has a Hegel H30 that can be run in stereo mode! Also, I am itching to try a McCormack DNA 500. Can anyone comment on McCormack with Thiels? I had been thinking about checking out different preamps, as my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium is in for repair for the second time. The first time was when it was new and had a bad capacitor. Upscale Audio took care of it and says they will cover any required repair and shipping back to me for this second time, so they are standing behind the unit. The problems are starting to kinda bug though. Anyway, back to the treble concern. I pulled the trigger on a Conrad-Johnson Premier 17LS-2 preamp. My thinking is that CJ is supposed to be on the bit darker and warmer side of things, and I am hallucinating this might help. There are good reviews on the unit and the 17LS was the only CJ or ARC preamp to receive all five star reviews on "Audioreview", FWIW. I have not tried that many preamps so I may have made a mistake here; I should know the answer to that question by the end of next week. I appreciate the advice. keep it coming! Dsper |
Hi All, This may be a dumb question based on earlier responses to my post about treble glare at high volumes. Is it possible to improve the treble sound by using an amplifier that stays in Class A longer? My Coda CS stays in Class A for the first ten watts. If another amp stayed in class A, say, for 20 watts, could it sound better in the treble at high volumes? Does anyone possible know the bias for a McCormack DNA-500 amp? Thanks for the help! Dsper |
jafant ...How far are your Thiel speakers from back wall? Side walls? Apart from chair position?... The fronts of the speakers are 3.5 feet from the front wall. One is 2 feet from the right sidewall. The other one is 7 feet from the left sidewall. The speakers are ten feet apart and ten feet from the listening position. Due to a supporting column in the middle of the room, it is not possible to move the speakers further from the front wall. Dsper |
Thieliste, Try to audition a Coda CS. Biased to class A for the first 8 watts and peak current of 100 amperes per channel. 300 WPC into 8 ohms and doubles down. It has no trouble driving my Thiel CS 5's that go below 2 ohms. I am listening to "Joe Pass: Virtuoso" right now and the bass is vibrating in my body. Ooh la la! Dsper |
Hi All, I posted earlier about a treble harshness with my Thiel CS5's. I redid the mirror along the wall test and installed a DIY sound absorber which seems to to have done the trick. The harshness is pretty much gone except for the most badly recorded albums. Since the sound absorber journey, I acquired a Conrad Johnson Premier 17LS-2 preamp. The CJ replaces a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium and I have been switching between the two preamps. In my system, both are good. I think if one wants to concentrate on the main vocal in a mix, the PL is probably a bit better, because it allows you to hear deep into the vocal. Overall, the PL provides a bit more organic bass. The CJ is more nuanced with a better sound stage and, perhaps most importantly, is more musical to my ear than the PL. This may be because of how the leading edges of notes are produced with the CJ. Also, the CJ has a better presence than the PL at lower volume levels. Another change I have just made is to replace the Coda CS with a McCormack DNA-500. The DNA-50 sounds warmer, which is a matter of personal preference, and provides more textural detail to the music. At higher volumes the Coda could begin to sound a bit metallic and, I guess, compressed. The DNA-500 on the other hand, stays well composed regardless of the volume and never gets "edgy". I know the DNA-500 is the better amp for my Thiels in my system. I keep changing out the two preamps and keep coming back to the CJ. The Coda CS and PL were good, but the CJ and DNA-500 are better because that combo is warmer and more nuanced with no solid state glare. So I am a happy camper for now. My future plans are going to be around more experimentation with preamps and or replacing my Hegel HD20 DAC. Any suggestions? Thanks for listening! Dsper |
Hi jafant, I have not spent a lot of time with cabling as my moves with amps, preamps, and DACS tend to be going up the food chain and I see big improvements as I audition this type of gear. Having said that, I use less expensive Cullen Cable interconnects on single-ended short runs. These replaced the discount store garden variety and I could tell that the sound became cleaner and more detailed. Interconnects scare me as I have no idea where to start and the prices seem to go absurdly high quickly. My speaker cables are 14 gauge multi strand copper about ten feet long, which I think is short enough to not worry about cables too much. I have read too many articles about blind testing that indicate that listeners cannot tell a difference.I was also influenced by by Roger Russell who was the Director of Acoustic Research at McIntosh http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#differences. Thanks for listening Dsper |
Hi Rob, Tube rolling can be a money pit if we are not careful! The most expensive tubes I have purchased were $120 a pair so I can't comment on the "top end" stuff. I do notice that Brent Jesse often has high quality tubes that he calls "butt ugly" that are less expensive but the same tube as the more exotic stuff. I have tried several kinds of 12AU7 tubes in my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium. My general observation is that old European tubes sound better to me than old US tubes. I have not tried any new production tubes other than the stock tubes that came with the PL. Mullard, Brimar,and Amperex sound better to me than Seiman and Telefunken. I find the German tubes are a bit too analytical for me although they sound clean and have great bass. The English and Dutch tubes are warmer sounding and just more comfortable. I have one pair of Mazdas I really like because they have that warmness and rich mid range along with the solid bass of the German varieties. The Mazda is about the only one I have contemplated laying out a couple hundred bucks per tube. Having said that, it is fun to change them out as I get bored and try another one. This helps me avoid spending big money on new components! My Conrad Johnson 17LS-2 is a new toy for me so I have just started tube rolling with it. I replaced the stock Electro Harmonix 6922's with some Phillips PCC88's from the 70's. A stunning improvement to my ear because they sound sweeter with better highs, clarity, sparkle, and bass. Rob, can you share how the Goldpoint passive sounds to you and how it compares to other preamps you have heard? As much as I am enjoying my newly acquired CJ, I an wondering what the next step might be as changing the preamp can really adjust your whole listening experience. Thanks for listening, Dsper |
Hi, I follow this thread now and again and have a question that is a reality check. Bear with me. There is another current thread about the differences that can be heard between a $1,500 and $10,000 DAC. Of course, the conversation got around to needing to have the equipment to hear the difference; the consensus seemed to be the difference would be primarily in the high frequencies. I have Thiel CS5's and think they are good enough to hear these types of differences; as any time I change out gear I can tell a difference. My question to other thread followers here would be: Would you agree with me? I am asking because I have not heard that many different speakers in my home and was fortunate early on to acquire the CS5's at a good price so sometimes I wonder if that is all clouding my judgement. Thanks for listening, Dsper |
"Looking for CS5 suggestions." I have CS5's and live in the greater Indianapolis area. Audio Solutions would lend me used gear home for in home auditions, which were on a 15 amp circuit. I tried Krell, Pass, and Mark Levinson, among others, all of which were rated at 300 WPC plus into 8 ohms and doubled down. They all could power the CS5's and all sounded a bit different to me in my listening room. Also, they all were huge boat anchors, like 150 pounds. It was really a lot of fun maneuvering those behemoths from car trunk, down the stairs, and back out again. Fun - truly and sarcastically. I thought that the Pass 350.0 was the best, because it sounded very solid and had a presence to the sound. But it was just too big. I lived with a Coda at 300 WPC for a while and it did a pretty good job but seemed to me to get a bit constricted at the highest volumes. My current amp is a McCormack DNA-500 and It is effortless in powering the Thiel CS5's as anything I have heard in my listening room. It may miss that last bit of rock solid presence I thought I heard with the Pass. I always am looking at potential amp changes but the DNA-500 makes me very happy and weighs in at less than 100 pounds; so it will probably take me winning a lottery to change it out. FWIW Thanks for listening, Dsper |
dspr - Rob at Coherent Source Service could check your serial numbers for whether yours were upgraded to the "i" status. The difference was upgraded woofers and possibly an XO tweak to compensate. I communicated with Rob and shared pics. He confirmed that my Thiel's are CS5i's. Makes them that much harder to give them up. Guess I will try moving them around again and start by placing them a bit closer together although I recall I tried that and did not like it. Thanks for listening, Dsper |
Hi, I am interested in other Thiel owner opinions regarding transports and DACs and at what point a listener needs to start playing with interconnects. My recent journey included using an AudioSpace CD8A as transport and a Ric Schultz modified Oppo 105 in my system (Prima Luna Dialogue Premium preamp, McCormack DNA-500 amp, Thiel CS5 speakers, and Synergistic Research and Cullen interconnects). Anyway, things were not sounding right to me. I have two great dealers in my area who let me try various components at home. Over several weeks I auditioned a Naim CD5si, Levinson 390S, Rega DAC R, Bryston BDA1, and a fairly recent PS Audio DAC, do not recall which one. I also listened in the showroom to an Esoteric streamer that lists for like $7,500. Just too clinical for my taste - all detail but no music - no PRAT. I ended up with a Hegel HD25 that I also had auditioned; and paired that with the AudioSpace as the transport. This sounded passable for a while until I decided the treble was just too sharp. It had been suggested to me from a fellow Audiogoner to try a R2R ladder DAC so I acquired a vintage Theta ProBasic III. This was a wow moment for me because it provided a more detailed and nuanced sound with much less treble sharpness. Then I acquired a PS Audio Perfectwave Transport, which was another wow moment. Combined with the Theta DAC, the detail and presence went up another whole level. And I do mean wow. So my question is how do I get closer to a "live" sound? Is it a different transport or DAC? Or is it time to adjust what I have through different interconnects? Most of my equipment upgrade experience has resulted in wow moments so I have not paid much attention to interconnects.... Your advice and comments, please. Thanks for listening, Dsper |
Hi brayeagle, I found your post about speaker wiring: "... I began to use DYI speaker and interconnects - - top Belden wire with the best connectors I could get...Belden AWG 10 for speaker wiring..."I just replaced 16 gauge lamp cord on my Thiel CS5's with 10 gauge multi-strand copper wire and I can hear an improvement! Better detail that provides more decay and presence. It got me to thinking about why I believed lamp cord was good enough and recalled that I had looked at Roger Russell's "Speaker Wire" discussions http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm. This was back when I was listening to easier to drive speakers like Advents, Paradigms, and Magnepans. If I had thought to refer to Roger's " Maximum Wire Lengths For TWO CONDUCTOR Copper Wire" chart when I purchased the CS5's, I would have been hearing better music for the last couple of years! Thanks for listening, Dsper |
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 |
Hi prof, Are you sure you have done all you can with speaker position/listening position/acoustics to dial in your speakers before chasing other solutions?You are asking a fair question. I have added bass traps across the front wall ceiling and down the front wall corners; and have added absorption panels on one side wall where one speaker has to be set within three feet of that side wall. At that time, I also tried to dial in speaker placement. However, I have not revisited speaker placement and room acoustics since I acquired my latest transport and DAC. My problem is that my equipment upgrades since I acquired the CS5's have all been noticeable improvements so I keep wondering what I am "obviously" missing in that regard. Or put another way, perhaps I have lost sight of the room/placement variables. And I have not yet set up my turntable since acquiring the Thiels... Thanks for the advice! Dsper |
thosb, Finally, and there are many on this thread who have better more experienced ears than me, but from what I have heard in my journey so far, "live" comes from tube based amplification.I always wonder about tube amps myself. The Carver tubed 350 monos keep catching my eye.......But can they handle the 2 ohm impedance? Thanks for listening, Dsper |
Hi All, I have a couple of CS5 questions for the Thiel experts. 1. how does one determine if they have CS5's or CS5i's? I read somewhere, I think on this thread, that there is no marking on the outside of the speakers to tell? My serial numbers are 1225 and 1226. 2. When I turn my system on with the preamp allowing no volume, I can hear different sounding "hisses" from each of the three small speakers on the top. This is audible only with my ear within six inches of each speaker. Is this normal? Or is it a sign that something is wearing in the crossover, etc. Or could it be coming from another piece of equipment like a tube preamp? Thanks for listening, Dsper, |
tomthiel, "...hiss is coming from the amp chain, not the speaker.The CS5 has rubber pads on the upper and floor woofer and the 5i has center weights..."Tom, please bear with a couple of basic questions: 1. Reducing hiss then, is around acquiring quieter components in the chain. This would then also reduce the noise floor and allow more detail to be heard? 2. If I want to check if I have CS5's or CS5i's, I simply unscrew one of the woofers and look at it? Thanks for your advice! Dsper |
Hi All, Well the last few comments have gotten me to thinking... Is my PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium inherently noisier than my CJ LS2? Or is it the difference in tubes types (6922's versus 12AU7's)? Or is it tubes that are wearing out versus new tubes? I have some thread reading homework and tube swapping to complete to start answering these questions. And my wife wonders what I do when she is out of town... Thanks for listening, Dsper |
Happy New Year to you as well! My life with my CS5i's continues. I made a major improvement in my sound with a new EVO B4B DAC. Added detail and musicality. I just added a Don Sachs DS2 preamp that is not yet fully broken in. It makes the treble more clear and increases my width/depth of soundstage. It also has improved the live like quality - presence and sparkle. My experience is the CS5i tweeters have been more work to make sound good than the bass. The more high quality detail I feed them, the better they like it. That said, I am still itching to try a pair of more efficient speakers so I can run a tube amp. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any such speaker that is similar in sound to the Thiels. Any suggestions? What is wrong with me! Thanks for listening, Dsper
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Hi All, I have a couple of questions. 1. regarding Thiel CS 5 versus CS 5i speakers. My pair of Thiels say CS5 on the bottom of the cabinet and I've posted pictures to sell them. One of the responses to my ad was to tell me that the speakers look like CS 5is because the middle woofer looks different (it has a smaller dust cap) compared to the upper and lower woofers. Does anyone know if this difference in woofers indicates that they are CS 5is? 2. I am also looking for advice on what else to try with my Thiels to make them disappear in the room. I was active on this forum about a year of two ago as I fought my way through amplifiers and DACs to make the Thiels sound good. My McCormack DNA-500 drives them effortless and my Theta ProBasic III DAC got the treble to my liking. I also used room treatments to improve the bass response and absorption to further manage the treble. However, I could never make them disappear in my room. Logistics force them to be about three feet from the front walls, ten feet from the listening position, ten feet between the speakers, one speaker is within three feet of one sidewall, and there is 15 feet of open space behind me. By contrast I recently placed a pair of Tyler Acoustics MM5X's, a much smaller speaker, with a 60 WPC CJ tube amp in the same space and they disappeared in the room and have better dynamics. Its like magic compared to the Thiels. I know the Thiels are a great speaker but want to know if there are any other ideas to try before I complete a sale of them.... Thanks, for listening, Dsper |
I suspect that may be right but I can't help wondering. Maybe I need to try a seond setup with a good pair of standmounts and tube amp just to try it. |
I suspect that may be right but I can't help wondering. Maybe I need to try a seond setup with a good pair of standmounts and tube amp just to try it. |
Yes, it is. My wife inherited a property from her uncle so I need to stay within the boundaries of her decorating preferences. The room is 15 X 20 that WILL NOT have room treatments other than an area rug, drapes, and furniture over laminate floors. I have a Conrad Johnson LP66S that puts out 50 WPC and am searching for appropriate speakers that will not overpower the room visually or sonically. You make a good point about floor standers; and my wife seems to dislike the look of the stands more than the speakers that I have suggested. I am open to any and all suggestions! HELP! Thanks for listening, Dsper
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The speakers could be a maximum of 30 inches into the room measured from the front of the speaker. They would be positioned on the short wall anywhere from five to eight feet apart. The listening position is about nine to ten feet from the speakers, leaving about seven feet behind the listening position.
Good idea to explore - I had never even thought about the .5's! And thanks for the link. Thanks for listening, Dsper
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@unsound ...if you would consider other amplification... You make a very valid point. The other part of this for me is the desire to try a tube amp setup. For example the CS.5 is a 4 ohm speaker that is supposed to be able to run on 30 wpc per the Stereophile review link that Tom Thiel shared. The CJ LP66S is rated at 60 wpc at a 4 ohms. Along with jazzman7's postive comment, maybe I should try a pair. Not a real expensive experiment at current used prices for the .5's. I appreciate the advice. Thanks!
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I was think thinking the same thing as this is not intended to be a full range, serious listening system.
Your experience would indicate that 60 wpc of my CJ amp might be enough. Thanks for the discussion!
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jon_5912 Plus1! I hear high end B&W's regularly and agree about the peaky tweeters. I would characterize them as too bright a treble for my taste. B&W sounds impressive in the showroom but would get on my nerves for longer periods of time. I have a desire to try a tube amp and tube friendly speakers to see if I can capture the "tube magic" in a speaker that sounds like a Thiel. Listening sessions with what I have listened to so far (Sonus Faber and Klipsch) end with me comparing to my CS5i's and the contenders come up short. Maybe it is time to try some big tube amps? Any thoughts on that? Thanks for listening, Dsper |
#jafant Good to see you here again. If you are the kind of Audiophile whom enjoys rich texture within musical passages, the competition, will always result short. What gear is in your current system?Hi jafant, You may be sorry you asked! I am still sorting things out as I feel feel my Theil setup lacks that "live presence". Got a pair of Tyler Acoustics speakers along with CJ LP66S tube amp. Pretty musical with the CJ 17LS2 preamp. Definitely different for me and a work in progress. Current main system: PS Audio PWT, Soekris DAC1421, CJ17LS2, DNA-500, Synergistic Research Alpha inconnects, and Thiel CS5i's with thicker than lamp cord for speaker wire. Analog is on hold until cabinet/space logistics are worked out. The Soekris DAC has about 100 hours on it and may replace my Theta ProBasic III DAC. I believe (I think) the Soekris is providing more detail that helps with overall sound quality including more bite on the front end of bass notes, better ambience, better liquidity, and deeper soundstage. I am in the $3000 to $5000 budget range for a used DAC and the Soekris is meant to educate me about current discrete Ladder DACs. Sounds pretty good for 900 dollars and about 3 pounds. Will spending the extra thousands result in better sound or just in owning another thirty pound DAC? I have a Don Sachs preamp on order with different output capacitors to manage the 10K ohm input impendance of the DNA-500. The experimentation with the tube amp convinced me to sell my Prima Luna Dialogue preamp and I wanted to try another preamp. The PL just came across as too analytical for my taste/setup. I have been told that the Don Sachs will be like lifting a veil from my speakers. We shall see. Might give me the liveliness for which I am searching. I am toying with making the plunge to try tube monos with the Thiels. Will not be a cheap endeavor and flies in the face of a lot of advice on this and other threads. I am thinking about Carver 350 monos as place to start as they are supposed to be stable into a one ohm load. Otherwise, things become much more expensive. Feedback about any of this is desired and appreciated!. Thanks for listening! Dsper |
Tom, Thanks for the detailed response. Despite my "live presence" complaint, to my ears the CS5i's are wonderful speakers and I would hate to mess with them too much. Having said that the bi-wiring idea seems like something that could work without too much triage. Is this the type of thing that can be done by a relative novice (I have replaced woofer surrounds and installed new capacitors in old Large Advents)? I suspect that it is more complicated than simply cutting a wire in each speaker and then rerouting through another set of speaker cable connectors. When I first got the Thiels, the big concern was finding an amp that could manage them. That took a couple of years to figure out and included lugging around 150 pound amps on loan from my area dealer. The first problem was finding enough current to satisfy the bass drivers. I thought I had it solved with a Coda amp (300 wpc) but I discovered that it lost steam and sounded harsh and constrained at high volumes. The DNA-500 solved that and powers the CS5i's effortlessly at any volume. And it weighs only about 75 pounds. The next issue was finding a DAC that did not sound bright or harsh with the tweeters. After a lot of in house auditions I found a Hegel HD25 that seemed to do the trick. However, I still was not completely happy. I had been reading good things about the old Theta DACs. I found a ProBasic III for five or six hundred dollars that was definitely superior to the Hegel in my system because it was much smoother and organic. The aha moment came next when I replaced an AudioSpace CD player with the PS Audio PWT. The added resolution was an ear opener. The additional detail helped the music sound more alive but not more analytical. I think this taught me that the tweeters were only as a good as the signal they received. Fast forward to the new Soekris DAC and the same thing happened. I am hearing more detail and the CS5i's are inching closer to sounding like a "live presence" without being analytical. I want to stick with R2R ladder DACs as both the Theta and Soekris are R2R and have been positive moves for me. To my ears, the tweeters do not mate well with Delta Sigma chips. I think finding a front end with the most amount of detail would be a good thing for the tweeters, hence my continuing DAC quest. I am also wondering if updating the transport would help. Figuring out which one will be another whole story. So lots more work to do before tackling the analog side of things! In the meantime, the classic vinyl rock collection will have to be happy with a Technics 1200SL table with KAB mods. Thank for listening, Dsper |
@jafant Good to read that your employing Synergistic Research (SR) cabling. Are you using a full loom?You will have to educate me about full loom. I know hardly anything about interconnects! The Alphas are probably about twenty years old and I tried them based on a suggestion made by a C6 owner. I purchased one pair for the DAC/preamp and felt they made a slight improvement. I added a second pair between the preamp/amp and that definitely made an improvement. I think going all Alpha was the key versus different brands. My old interconnects were Cullen Cable. As of three weeks ago, Don was in still in business because I have an email from him confirming my order. Great guy! He is knowledgeable, straight forward, and passionate. He patiently answered all of my questions and was willing to tell me what I might not want to hear. Our email string has covered a number of weeks and Don shared his take on speakers, solid state versus tubes, and DACs. I am looking forward to the arrival of the preamp because if it lifts a veil, I expect that will move me closer to a live presence. I am retired and listening to a remastered Fleetwod Mac cd "Tusk" while I write this. Can't do this all day though as I have dead shrub to remove from the garden. Anyway, sounds pretty darn good! Very resolving cd that clearly sorts the vocals in the soundstage, which is extending outside the speakers. Wow! Good ambience. The solidness of the CS5i's comes though in spades! Thanks for listening! Dsper |
@tomthiel ...Bi-wiring is not only feasible, but easily reversible if desired...Hi Tom, Now you really have me thinking. I set one of the CS5i's on its side (laying it on a throw pillow so I had purchase to stand it back up again. Heavy buggers!) It looks like I can access the existing speaker terminals by removing the plate that is held in place by the eight screws. Assuming that is correct, I should be able to see the wires coming to the existing terminal. If I can sort the wires out, I should be able to separate the woofers from the rest of the drivers. Without actually looking at it (not exactly ready for that yet), then there must be some way to repace the existing terminal with a "two way" terminal so that the woofers go to one terminal and the rest of the drivers to the second terminal. Am I on the right track with all of this? At that point, I could keep the DNA-500 for the bass drivers and utilize, say, a tube amp for the mids and highs, correct? Just changed out Fleetwood Mac for Heart. Hearing vocal nuances I have never heard before. Sounds like the Sorekris DAC is an improvement! Thanks for listening! Dsper |
@jafant I am not familiar with AudioSpace CD player? Tell me more.AudioSpace is a Hong Kong company owned by Peter Lau. I purchased his CD8 cd player in 2010 from Underwood Hifi. It had a Phillips drawer and Burr-Brown PCM 1732 chip. There were two output stages so you could listen via transistors or three 12AX7 tubes. I used it as I moved through the Magnepan line to their 3.6's. I could never particularly tell a big difference between the transistor or tube output stages. After I moved to Theil CS3.6's, and then to the CS5i's, I started to play with DACs and used the CD8 as a transport only. I tried the PS Audio PWT as a dedicated transport and it brought much more detail and resolution to the sound. I listed the CD8 on Audiomart and was surprised when I had three different offers and sold it within a week. Probably let it go with too good a deal! The new owner said he loved it and was rolling tubes. Different strokes I guess. Thanks for listening, Scott |