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I think what has been important for me is getting to a "stopping point;" that is, to have a piece of gear good enough so that it doesn't make me restless or curious to try something else or upgrade. The Transparent Premiums are a stopping point, so are my MC501 monos. NO interest in upgrading or changing those. The itch to explore new options comes with dissatisfaction or curiosity in my experience, and that is fueled further by what I'm exposed to (this site, audio magazines, etc.). It sounds like you hit a stopping point and now just listen and enjoy; I'm there in part, and it would behoove me to go all the way. |
For the first time in my audio journey, I am supremely happy and have no desire to do anything else. Of course, I just did a lot :roflmao:
Learning to listen to MUSIC and not the SYSTEM is really key here. I am working on that right now, exploring new genres and buying more music than gear now. |
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Marc, Well, you know that means, right? You finally found the secret combination. It’s out there and you know it when you hear it! Congrats! |
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Both pairs of mine needed them replaced, this is one photo of one of the sets: https://i.imgur.com/6S44osh.jpg |
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The design of the Mirages makes it difficult to get at the drivers, so I admit I've never even inspected them. I'd figured I'd ride them until something goes wrong, then if fixing them is too much of a hassle or not an option, replace them with whatever I can afford that comes closest to what they give me. |
Another hopeful sign. I bought the Zach Snyder Justice League movie on blu-ray. I finished it yesterday. It is much better than the 2017 version. It sounded great, and my attention wasn't diverted to the sound; it remained focused on the story and what happened on the screen, with the sound being part of the whole. That is a good sign.
What's not so good is the idea of that upgrade to Transparent Super crept back into my head as well. Even though I appreciated what I heard with Justice League, curiosity still creeps in, it seems. Also, it's been a while since I played anything other than blu-rays; that might be something to consider. I have been re-discovering old song favorites recently, not by playing them on my system, but through watching reaction videos on YouTube. While it's nice to get a (usually) younger person's perspective on the songs, that should drive me to the CD or LP I own and listen that way. So far it hasn't. I think convenience plays a factor there. Much easier to pull up the videos on YouTube (even with the annoying way ads are inserted now) and watch. I'm getting lazy. |
Fantasy has struck again. The idea has come to explore an upgrade to my Transparent Plus ICs on the main sources to Super. So I contacted Transparent, and utilizing the Upgrade program would get a decent trade-in. This would be for the Gen 6 Super (which I didn't know they had; I thought it was only the upper tier stuff that was Gen 6).
Transparent thinks a better upgrade would be to do the speaker cable, whether Plus or Super. The retail price for a bi-wire pair of Plus speaker cable would be less than the IC upgrade, but at 8 ft. is way too long, as speakers and amps are right next to each other. An old e-mail I found says 6 ft. is the shortest they can make. Bi-wire adds $175 to the price. But if bi-wire, won't that reduce the effective gauge for each lug? Plus is 10AWG; i don't know about Super. My Kimber 12TC is 8AWG, and I use two pair to keep the effective gauge high. Transparent, however, doesn't recommend that. I should ask why. It gets worse. I contacted Magnum Dynalab about the MD107T and a possible trade-in of my 102. The tuner doesn't see much duty, so this makes no sense from a practical perspective. But the 107 has a McIntosh-esque look to it, which is cool. It uses JJ tubes, which I used in my 2300 before the Black Diamonds I use now. I CANNOT afford all three of these moves; at best, I could do one. The cheapest would be the speaker cables. AARGH. Here's hoping it all blows over. |
The MD107T wins based on looks alone. Curious, what is current retail on this?
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Urges to upgrade/change something occur usually in the midst of a lull in playing my system; I recognize that I've fallen into one again here of late. That needs to change, especially as I'm off work for at least another 2.5 weeks recovering from shoulder surgery. Changing speaker cables didn't occur to me until Transparent suggested that would be a better upgrade than the ICs in terms of system impact.
I have more info now to help me navigate this latest episode. A 6 ft bi-wire run of either speaker cable (Plus or Super) would cost the same as the standard 8 ft version, so no savings there. Both are 10AWG. Even 6 ft is still too long, but I could live with that; my Kimber 12TC is 4 ft. I also learned that Transparent's tech allows them to maintain the gauge at the speaker terminals, which is cool. So would the Plus' network module offset the heavier gauge advantage of the 12TC (8AWG) in terms of performance? I don't know. I'd really need some sort of audition, which would be at home preferably; According to Transparent, Gen 6 cables are in very short supply for audition at the moment, maybe in a few months there'll be some; meantime, perhaps some Gen 5 is out there. |
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