AudioQuest, 72 V DBS, rambles

[AnotherJohnson]

FWIW, I’m going to visit Paragon again when weather breaks. I’m going to take some Thunderbirds and Hurricanes with me and we’re going to compare them to higher level “tuned” Transparent products. If the difference is significant, I’ll probably make the change. I’ve already got some top of the line Transparent power cords (last generation though). I like the Hurricanes better in my present system, but I am using one of the Transparent power cords to connect my P20 to my 20 amp dedicated duplex.

[AnotherJohnson]

I ended up sticking with balanced Thunderbirds on all interconnects except TT to phono preamp where I stuck with the latest Linn Black RCA, and the phono preamp to the amp where I went with the 25’ Transparent Reference series tuned to those connected components.

I also ended up with AQ Thunderbird speaker cables.

TAS issue 338 came today. Pp118-21 reviews the Thunderbird cables and interconnects. It closes with

“Thunderbird Zero joins a very small cadre of cables that, in my opinion, demonstrate exemplary transparent sonic behavior and convey superb musicality all along the system chain. Without question, this is one high flying bird.”

What he thinks doesn’t impact what I think, but I agree with him 100%

[AnotherJohnson]

Regarding the Burmester 911 mk3, and other Burmester amps as well, the official Burmester position is that you should not use banana plugs, but rather only copper spade lugs.

I have always preferred banana plugs because of their ease of use. But as I’ve migrated into high end speaker cable territory, I’ve noticed that the cables get fatter, stiffer, and more difficult to route. The banana plugs really look less reliable than spades. The fat stiff, heavy cables can ease themselves out of a banana socket more easily than a well secured spade would let go.

If you’ve priced 10’ pairs of fancy speaker cables lately, you know that even the low end of the high end can run into five figures.

The punchline is that I’ve sent the Thunderbird Zeros back to AudioQuest for retermination. To the tune of $500 for all 8 lugs … plus round trip shipping.

What will amount to $800 with shipping will save me from having to buy a pair of properly terminated comparable cables for about 10 times as much.

[AnotherJohnson]

And while the Thunderbird Zeros are at the spa getting their nails done, I’ve dug out their forerunner… the William Tell Zeros on my shelf.

My pair of WT Zeros have spades on the speaker end and bananas on the amp end. But they are lighter and more supple than their bigger brother.

They’re sounding quite nice too. Surprisingly so. When the Thunderbirds come back with their spiffy new ends, I’ll have to do a shoot out. The Burmester and Sasha DAWs seem to like them.

[AnotherJohnson]

The Thunderbird Zeros arrived back today, now terminated with spades instead of bananas.

The AQ spades have an angle which makes it easier to mount on one side than the other. And the 9111 mk3 has very large wings on the tightening knobs.

Suffice it to say it was a pita to get the very stiff and heavy Thunderbirds in place. I finally prevailed and am letting things warm up while playing Nickel Creek.

First impression is that things are back to the highest standard … you can really hear it in the strings and percussion. More detail too … especially in buried vocal tracks. Bass is more authoritative and timbre is very real.

[Joe Appierto]

Enjoy!

I know what you mean about the angled spades being a little difficult to work with. A friend sent me one of the AQ lower level models (CV-4) and I had to push my CA200 back a few inches so its rear end could hang over that back of the rack in order to get them on. They do, even for entry level, sound good.

[AnotherJohnson]

Transparent’s spades do not look as nice. But they are easier to use. The AQ Thunderbird Zeros are $6600 at retail for a 10’ pair. The Reference level Transparents sound as good, but they’re $10k at retail for the same length.

AQ returned my bananas in the package. So I could go back … but this is sounding incredible, so I’m inclined to leave well enough alone.

I need to go through cables and interconnects and get an inventory to pass on.

[admin]

Very nice. Glad they are back in the system. Enjoy the tunes!