Transparent MM2

Soundisntmusic, I really look forward to your review. I am partly excited about the potential of MM2 technology and partly annoyed that my less than one year old Ref XL cables "need" a $10,000 update to stay current.

I am so far inclined to take Tmcginn's advice and invest in other equipment.
Unless your review convinces me to try and get my hands on some Ref XL/MM2 cables to audition which has been difficult as yet.

Thanks in advance for your effort.

I can't say how much I hate these cables, basically because they are quite expensive and I can't seem to live without them.

Articulate reviews like Marc's don't help.

However, $300 bucks from the Feds will get me back in this game, pronto.

Well I finally was able to compare my TA XLMM ICs and SC with the new updated MM2 versions and boy was it ever worth the wait:

-the new MM2 version is superior to the old MM version in every way:
-I cannot imagine anyone preferring the old MM sound to the new MM2.

The only problem is that while I was waiting for the MM2s to arrive, I heard some cables that sounded better that my original TA MMs. Way better.

And to add insult to injury, they sounded better than the new MM2s.
And they all only cost half the price of the MM-MM2 upgrade!

So instead of upgrading the TAs, I sold them and bought the new preferable cables and a lot of music.

I cannot thank Transparent Audio enough for sending me that fateful email informing me of how lucky I was that my $60,000 cables, barely 7 months old, "needed" only a $10,000 update to stay current.

Rarely, if ever, has the difference between largesse and greed been more apparent.
Or should I say, "Transparent".

The new cables are the Kimber Select hybrid silver/copper models: specifically KS 3035 SC, KS 1021, KS 1121 and KS 1030 (ok one all Ag) ICs in various configurations, all terminated with the latest WBT spades or XLR.

The all copper or all silver versions each have their allure but not the remarkable balance of detail and timbre afforded by the hybrids.

Don't get me wrong: TA XL MM2 cables are incomparable in every sense of the word.

Except "preferable"

Mikelavigne, I much admire your system and taste. But when was the last time you made a purchase at your level without comparing it with your current reference concomitantly in real time in your own system?

Will you be relying on auditory memory to assess your new TA MM2s vs your old MM1s? Seems like that's the only way TA will allow it for home trial.

And that's brilliant marketing. Especially since the schmo who buys the Opus MM2 at the same price you paid for your now obsolete Opus MM merely devalues the resale value of your cables to the point that you really have no choice but to "upgrade".

Unless you want off the bandwagon and actually want to start listening critically again rather than merely servicing your investment.

With all due respect "upgrading" seems like the anthiesis of what the high end is all about.

To wit: the MM2s are better that any MM1. But they are a preordained succession.

I'll take my chances with a coup d'etat here and there.

The sad truth is that I prefer the sound of the less than half-cost Kimbers.

And can only hope that enough keepers of the faith will be able to purchase my cast-offs so that they too can know the security of a "no-brainer" upgrade and scoff at my foolishness.

Mikelavigne, your well considered response makes TA's upgrade program seem more compelling, especially if I can actually sell my XLMM cables for anything approximating a profit and not the free-falling price bloodbath that usually accompanies a product once its pre-ordained superior replacement is released with no cost increase.

Knowing the timeline for MM3's release will surely help optimize the MM2's resale value. Too bad I bought at the end of MM1' s turnip-wrenching potential.

Not that I mean to rag on TA cables. They are the finest full range cables I have heard.

Except in speakers where multiple optimally ranged cables can be mated with the speaker's individually configurable crossovers to avoid the homogenization that potentially results from investment protection.

Biwiring may soon be Constitutionally prohibited in some states.
It's time to move on.

Mikelavigne, that your Opus and Valhalla cables have not suffered embarrassingly relevant depreciation at resale is certainly a testimony to their inherent value but gives me scant reassurance that I will be so lucky now that my XLMM1s are "obsolete".

My sour grape to crush is that I was unwittingly sold $60k of XLMM1 (and some RefMM1) without ever being informed of the imminent arrival of the same cost MM2 technology.

The breathlessly cheery email I got from TA a mere 7 months later "congratulating" me that for another $10k I could "upgrade" my newly rendered has-beens to the MM2 version did not have the effect on me I suppose they had hoped for:

The difficulty of concomitantly evaluating MM1 vs MM2 at the XL, MM and Opus levels in real time seems calculated.

Mostly what I am seeing is that people send in their old TA cables for "upgrading" and like the new version better. At these prices, what if you were wrong? Perfect aural memory doesn't come cheap.

WoW. Critical listening redefined.

And who are these 'Silent Source' spoil sports, anyway?

Mikelavigne,

I have not spoken directly with my Transparent dealer about giving me a large break on any price consideration because my reputation and obvious full price first buy purchase capability with a new vendor should have established me as a worthy client instead of a sucker.

I won't make that mistake again. Ever.

I've since re-cabled the entire system with something significantly more preferable but significantly less costly.

And it will be hard for me to sucker some impressionable 'goner into paying
more than 5-6 x the price "some damn wire" might otherwise command since it happened to me.