Thiel Owners

I should think the speaker set up track on XLO Test CD and similar is independent of speaker brand or type. That’s the beauty of it. Hunting for the perfect speaker locations for using trial and error or even using a diagram is practically guaranteed to obtain local maximums only. Usually, all things being equal, speakers should be placed closer together than one might predict a “sensible” distance. The more diffuse the sound using the out of phase track the larger and more correct the soundstage will be when the system is in phase. There is no guesswork with the speaker set up track. Trying to find the locations by ear is like trying to solve x simultaneous equations in x + N unknowns. 😩

Wrong test CD. 😩

The XLO Test CD speaker set up track is self explanatory. The person who is speaking walks you through it. It’s ridiculously simple. 

prof

“Fortunately I don’t burn much brain-fuel over the wires in my speaker (or otherwise). Whatever Thiel chose, it met the values and specs they were going for, and the results are speakers that are still highly competitive with anything today, whatever wiring those other speakers may be using.

For me I’ve got enough in this hobby to obsess about, without throwing concerns about high end wires/cables in to the fray. I’m as prone to thoughts of upgraditis as anyone else. Having recently acquired a high end turntable, now I have to think about things like VTA, VTF etc - I’ve gotta draw the line somewhere and my skepticism about the high end cable/wires industry makes dropping concerns for expensive cabling an easy move for me.”


Shirley Temple: I don’t go all the way.
J. Edgar Hoover: I don’t go all the way, either.

“There’s sometimes a fine line between skepticism and superstition.”

😀

Who died and made you moderator?

@jafant, I was commenting on the speaker wire/cables that happened to be the subject of discussion at the time. In particular, why some folks aren’t worried about internal speaker wire or even cables. Are cables and internal suddenly not associated gear? Specifically what I was commenting on is why folks ignore or are afraid of wires and cables, after spending a small fortune on good speakers? Even if one is a little overly skeptical, perhaps. Try to keep up with the discussion.

So, you’re the facilitator here or what? I’ve done nothing wrong.

Yes, aczel is interesting. 😬 I figured you had to be 95+. I did the math.

That heap funny.

prof
Oh yeah, I've visited it before!

The ongoing mystery has always been if the site is one big troll (not implausible given that seems to be Kait's modus operandi), vs anything serious. I think the site is mostly a troll, like many of Kait's comments here, though I think he's sometimes serious in his comments on this forum. He says enough wacky things though, with apparent sincerity, that the line between fiction and honesty with him is hard to discern.

More fake news from the professor. He’s just mad because I see through his so called philosophical jibber jabber. 😛

prof
I’ve recently felt some despair concerning the amount of snake oil in our hobby and the industry, (when audiophiles wonder why we are a source of bemusement and mockery, we need look no further than the farcical high end cable racket).

>>>>>>Try not to despair too much. Look on the bright side - much has been learned about cable design from high end cable companies. One cannot ignore the “sound engineering” involved in many newer innovations implemented by Audioquest and others - e.g., highly polished solid core wire surfaces, control of directionality for not only speaker cables and interconnects but also power cords and HDMI cables, cryogenics, silver content in connectors, and others. I hate to judge too harshly but it appears there is quite a bit of misunderstanding regarding the nature of the audio signal in cables, you know, judging from the recent threads on the subject.

Whooops! You must have accidentally switched your auto-destruct button ON as I don’t see anybody back there, just a big puff of smoke 💨

Prof
I don’t want to turn this thread in to a cable debate.

>>>>That’s pretty funny! 😬