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Thales – an arm that costs an arm & leg
From: Mr Zanden
Posts: 31
Posted Date: 03-05-08 19:18
I was invited to attend Thales dinner presentation earlier this week and then went to AE’s showroom to audition the Thales pickup arm on Friday – Jlam later asked me to write my listening impression.
I must confess I normally spend 80% listening to CDs and only 20% on the black vinyls, not because LPs don’t sound better (folks who have heard my LP playback system can discern LPs sound 30%+ better than CDs) but my air-bearing tonearm requires a lot of attention & maintenance before each playing and I have to adjust VTA & VTF whenever I spin different types of records and not to mention to choose the right equalisation curve i.e. DECCA & COLUMBIA if the recording engineers did not use the RIAA curve. In addition, I tweak my system almost everyday, so I have to rely on the accuracy & consistency of my formidable Zanden 4-piece CD combo.
After hearing the history & design concept at the presentation, I was rather intrigued by the Thales arm and its reported trouble-free maintenance further aroused my keen interest to give it a serious consideration.
On the next day when I arrived to AE showroom, frankly speaking, even though AE was using the same speaker models as mine, the overall sound initially was less than satisfactory to my ears. To be more specific, the soundstage, imaging and tonal balance left a wee bit to be desired of. It is not easy to switch your attention and focus on the sound of the arm but nevertheless, I managed to do just that and after expressing my slight dissatisfaction with the sound, PT was able to tweak the room acoustics and subsequently the slight thin mid-range sound was rectified after the lower bass region was beefed up a little and the diffusor on the left window was removed, this allowed the sound on the left channel to open up a little more.
After these acoustic tweaks were successfully carried out, it was very easy to audition the tone arm as the coherence & linearity of the sound was nothing short of spectacular. I have never experienced such vivid sound from any playback system in my hi-fi experience, despite having the best linear sound from (top to bottom) my air-bearing tone arm, the Thales simply thrashed it by having a richer & more natural highs, a very life-like mid-range – you can hear the vital subtle nuances from the performance of a violinist to the vocal expression of a singer as well as incredibly tuneful bass. It was really an ‘ear-opening’ experience for me ( I was also using the same cartridge at home), therefore, I know what I’m talking about and trust what my ears are telling me. This is one hell of a revolutionary design and more importantly, a truly spectacular sounding arm. I can’t say this is the best arm in the world as I haven’t used all the available ones in the market (I have played over a dozen ones during all these years) but Thales is easily the best sounding arm among the ones I have used as well as those I have listened to (yes, I can discern the sound from the tone arm from any vinyl playback system).
Where do I go from here, this ingeniously designed master piece by a brilliant swiss designer commands a justifiably hefty price which precludes me from placing an on-the-spot order, well if AE’s vinyl king goes ahead with his purchase, I shall bite the bullet and install a second tone arm on my turntable, its your call Marvel bro !
Mr Z |
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到底要多貴的器材才能聽出音質的好壞？
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wow!!!
master tape reproduction |
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到底要多貴的器材才能聽出音質的好壞？
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From: ptsang
Posts: 15
Posted Date: 03-05-08 17:52
First time I heard a tonearm that's so free from tracking error, usually I hear dirty gritty things attached to every musical note coming from traditional arms which are not part of the music but mis-tracking distortions transforming from the friction of the arm-pivot. With the Thales arm,
""""""""""""the music is so clean that makes me think of CD or master tape reproduction. """""
The session I heard it carries a newly designed EMT cartridge, the sound is a bit weak in the lower-mid to mid-bass(possibly due to the EMT), overall the sound of the combo is promising, great on everything. I love it, hope to hear it again mating with other cartridges.
I also heard the Alpha 1 the first time, it's damnnnnn good, good enough to make me thinking of buying it. Surprisingly, its less power demanding than its little brother, I guess 30-50 quality watts can do the job in a smaller room. However, buying the Alpha 1 could possibly put me in a very difficult position, the other gears in my home are certainly not good enough to orchestrate......., mind you all, going to PT's place is certainly a trap......
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到底要多貴的器材才能聽出音質的好壞？
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