The official "Theta" thread - Page 36

I shot them out against Mcintosh MC501s. Clasee CA-M400 sounds a bit roller off on the top end. The new ones the CA-M600s have extended highs. Fine amps both. I shot the new Classe out against the new Mcintosh MC452 stereo amps . Classe CA-M600 was better but not by much. The MC452 is a bargain at 7500.00 I heard the CA-M600 at 5 different locations each time with the B&W N802 Diamond and additionally Sonus Faber's 45k speakers at one location.

Thanks. That is helpful. I might try to negotiate a deal between the three pairs of M300's currently listed on audiogon and try them at home. McIntosh would be on my shortlist if it were not for retro styling. I suspect I will end up sacrificing some SQ for reliability and loose a bundle of cash in the process, but so be it.

I already got all of them for a low ball offer. But I'll sell them to you for a grand more a pair! See what happens when you talk too much?

KIDDING?

Did you also scoop up the Citadels that were listed for $7,000 and just sold on audiogon. I have been cautiously sipping some kool-aid on this forum so I was considering those as well....

They were Citadel 1.5s, black, listed for $7,750. I was watching daily for a pair to come up and I scooped them faster than the Flash!

Pictures!

You want pictures of what they look like? Google "Theta Citadel 1.5 photo" and I'm sure DougWinsor will likely have them all opened up on his website!"

For pics of the outside of the amps, just check-out the Theta Digital Website.

http://www.thetadigital.com/citadel_...ier_info.shtml

Also, check out their hi-rez images

http://www.thetadigital.com/press_re...z_images.shtml

Too bad because the MC2301 are balanced tube amps extremely well reviewed. I saw reports of Mcintosh even fixing amps that were in mud after hurricane Katrina. I bought MC501s in 2008 new, then in 2010, sold them for at 2 years old for more than I paid for them. Those China-blocks looked better than these? http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Produ...oductId=MC2301. But back to Theta. I like the look of the Theta amps. Time to do a 2.0 Citadel with Thermal Track transistorsl and put the chief engineer on that. Theta makes great amps. One thing about Steve, he's extremely through in his auditions.

I like the look of the Mac amps - but for price and performance I am keepin' what I got. But I don't now how anyone can knock the looks of the Mac????

http://www.lyricusa.com/index.php?op...cles&Itemid=70

No doubt they are good amps, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I just don't like the McIntosh look (the one you showed looks slightly cooler I admit). I like minimalistic industrial look styling or space age futuristic (loved my old revels). In any case, I decided to wait for a diagnosis of my blown amp before making a rush decision on something new. May want to sell the remaining single mono or the fixed pair first to add to the budget for replacement - or keep the fixed pair after all.

Reading very good things about the currently our of production hybrid Lamm's any experience with these? A good used pair would be in my budget range.

Diagnosis from my repair guy is in. He believes the fuse holder cracked/melted and made contact with the chassis, shorting the amp. I had left them on 24 hours to burn in the P5s so they got really hot. Good thing I was at home when it happened. Could have set the amp on fire and burned down the house. Also good news is it repairable. He also confirmed that to get anything comparable sonically I need spend a multiple of what I would get for my amps (something like getting Pass XA 160.5), so I'll probably keep them after all. Can't believe how crap my music sounds on my system using the Bel Canto 300S for mains. Guess I should we watching movies while I am waiting to get my amp back.

O know what the amps look like. I just thought you might show us what they look like in your room.

My CB3HD arrived Friday afternoon and I must say, Theta really nailed it on this upgrade. As I have mentioned before, this was a significant upgrade for me going from a CB2 with one Superior DAC and one 6 channel Basic DAC; the new CB3HD has two Extreme DACS. My measuring stick for music was the PSA Perfect Wave DAC with Bridge that I used running into a Parasound P7 analogue MCH preamp. Although I already sold everything else, I remember the sound well and the Mac Mini music server connected to the CB3HD via HDMI sounds better than streaming the music over the PWD/Bridge to P7. Same amps and speakers but lots of other variables. I am also using the Pure Music wrapper for iTunes and up-sampling the files to 96/24. The soundstage is incredible and the best yet for this room.

I was out of town this past weekend so I'm just now starting to get the MCH setup done. However, first impressions are excellent! No drops, clicks, pops etc..

More to follow...

Sam

I've got two Enterprise amps sitting in empty space behind the Citadels, and some other no longer being used gear there, too. Gotta move and sell some stuff one of these days. then I'll do a photo shoot!!!@@@

Meanwhile, look at Theta and even try DougWinsor's website (yea, he gets ahold of some good stuff - so we must have a "traitor" in our midst)!

Took the Six Shooter out of my system today. Simply don't need it!!!@@@ At least I tried it. I've commented above in this thread how blu ray music and SACD sound better using HDMI in my system now.

Yup...so have I. Some spiked Theta Punch is being served in this forum for sure. Seven Enterprises have come into this house over the past month and a half - I'm drunk for sure!

Apparently you have been very "Enterprising"!!@@@

Did you guys know that the dude who plays Thor in the new Thor movie is the same dude who played Capt Kirk's father at the beginning of the latest Star Trek movie!!

After all, we are talkin' Enterprise, Citadel, and all things Theta and many Theta products are named after ships, etc from Star Trek!

My wife is a Star Trek nut - I never paid attention to the series/films with any seriousness. I believe the Star Trek references are the only reason why she tolerates me doing this!! Plus she thinks the amps are pretty damn good lookin' as well - she hasn't told me specifically, but given three of them take up more space than the Dreadnaught I was using, she hasn't told me to get them off the floor either!!

For a relatively modest investement (few hundred $$$) in a USB to S/PDIF converter you should be able to dramatically improve SQ from your Mac mini into the CBIII HD. There are quite a few options - if you go down this path make sure to get an asynchronous one. HiFace EVO would be a good option.

Not sure about that. I bought the HiFace EVO with an enhanced power supply and it didn't provide any improvement when compared to Toshlink from the Mini going into the CB2. I was using the balanced out with a very nice cable. I was so non-impressed, I sent it back rather than making it another collector's item in my closet. Why would USB going through another box and another cable be better than HDMI straight out of the Mini to the CB3?

So is anyone keeping a Six Shooter or two with their CB3 HD!

After some demoing, I took it out the other day. And yea I am hearing I think better sonics with it out, particular my front left and right speakers since they are connected to the Gen VIII Series 2 DAC and they have the Citadel 1.5s.

I don't quite see what experiment you are running. What is being compared to what? What is being held constant? Is there some interaction effect, that is, can the difference only be heard when you use the Citadels? Or have you only run the experiment through the Citadels?

And what do you mean by ""I think"? Is the difference too subtle to articulate?

Inquiring minds want to know.

"I think" because my change is too uncontrolled and I haven't had the CB3 HD in my system enough whether with or without the Six Shooter to know more than "I think"!!!@@

I took out the Six Shooter, as I've explained in this thread previously, because I find that given my current system configuration, SACD including multi-channel sounds better out of the Oppo 93 at PCM 88 kHz than
out of Marantz UD9004 analog into Six Shooter; and same for blu rays which sound better out of either Marantz or Oppo HDMI into CB3 HD than they sound with Marantz multi-channel analog out into Six Shooter!

I got the "I think" part. Thanks. I have followed the thread and it seems that you have made lots of comparisons, which is great. But I have lost track of them all! Where does the Theta Gen VIII fit into this equation? Can you just summarize what specific experiments you have run? That would be a big help to ADHD readers like me.

Sorry, but I am just too tired these days to post too much. I have ADHD when it comes to posting and remembering what I posted too much!!!!
HA

HA

What counts here is that by adding the Gen VIII Series 2 DAC into my system, even before I replaced the front right and left Enterprises with Citadel 1.5s, I found that coaxial digital into the Gen VIII sounded as good as (1) the PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport and DAC balanced analog out into the Gen VIII as a preamp, and also as good as (2) the Marantz UD9004 analog out even on higher resolution stuff. the Gen VIII is that good. After getting the CB3 HD back, and also now having the Citadel 1.5s front left and right (Enterprises center and surround) some more demoing, finding out that blu ray 48-24 Stevie Wonder music sounds better HDMI to CB3 HD than UD9004 multi-channel analog out into Six Shooter; and getting an Oppo BDP-93, finding that Oppo 93 HDMI PCM 88kHz conversion of SACD sounds better than my using Marantz UD9004 into Six Shooter!

So now I am simply digital, Six Shooter out of system. Though while I still have the UD9004 I can perhaps use its balanced analog two channel outs
for real hi rez stuff like Neil Young blu ray stereo at 192-24, as I have one set of analog balanced inputs into the Gen VIII to use as a preamp!

I am almost there. I can't quite tell if you have compared the UD9004 through six shooter versus BDP-93 into CBIIIHD without the Gen VIII?

No I haven't and I am not currently planning on this - I have enough to do so I am doing what I need to maximize my current system configuration.

Thanks Steve, you have been a big help.

I figure that anyone named after their dog or vice versa must need all the help they can get!

But I must say, theTheta CB3 HD HDMI 1.4 upgrade is no dog at all!
More like a wise old owl!