Wednesday Humor

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AKA How Mr and Mrs Mancave shop for speakers ...

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The Oyaide Tonearm Cable: Everything matters. Really.

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We're using this cable right now, and wow do we hear more music. It took me nearly a decade to come to terms with the simple concept that seemingly innocuous things, such as placing pennies under speaker spikes, or swapping out one cable for another one, can have such dramatic effects.  Some you can explain by understanding a likely mechanism, and some ... you just don't know why, you just hear what.  As an electrical engineer, my mind has to deal with quite a bit of cognitive dissonance once in awhile over this.  And I just have to tell myself at that point that "as long as it sounds better, I shouldn't get too worried" when something that shouldn't make a difference, makes a difference. In fact, there is an ongoing debate, really heated sometimes, about various tweaks.  Like American politicians discussing US policy - there is an awful lot of shouting, yelling, hurt feelings, and anger with no resolution.  Thankfully your stereo doesn't end up shu...
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Cables Matter: XLR Interconnect Shoot Out!

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Pure silver stranded wire ... the last inch to sonic nirvana, or hokum ... opinions abound, and all too common is that people don't actually trust their ears ... Cables are some of the most hotly contested and infuriating aspects of our hobby.  You can easily spend the price of a component on a single cable if you aren't careful.  People will have opinions, but sometimes the right cable or cables can and do help maximize the money you spent.  And complicating things is the varying quality and levels of electronics - with, generally, better speakers and electronics benefitting the most from high end cables. A rational discourse about cables of the "Does it/Doesn't it" variety ... The same can be said for speaker placement and room treatments, too, but I think the so-called "debate" over cables is probably the most emotionally charged.  And yes, and the arguments go something like this:   "I tried out XYZ cable, and found the sound ...
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The Thiel CS3.7 part 2: Listening Impressions

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The Thiel CS3.7's Driver ... pay no attention to the green turntable light that couldn't help but photobomb ... We were looking forward to the demo all week.  We showed up at around noon on Columbus Day - which allowed the salesman, Bob Cesarini, to spend about a week breaking in the speakers.  Given our experience with Thiel, and the fact that they take a long time to break in, this was a good thing. The speakers had about 75 hours or so, so while not fully run in, they would be much better than a "right out of the box" sound. Most of the ugly portion of the break in would be behind it. Bob told us that the factory claims 300+ hours are needed for them to reach their full potential, but at the point of the demo, we should be able to hear what earned them their reputation.  We'll see ... After Bob gave us the basic introduction to the speaker and his optimistic thoughts on the new owners and the direction of Thiel, he left us to our own devices. (Stereophi...
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