Transparent Audio: Gen 6 Announcement

[jfrech]

I've always been fascinated with Transparent speaker wires. However, my home is in Sarasota, fL. We have excellent dealers here for most other lines. My previous home was in Maryland so I retain a dealer relationship for Wilson Audio and dCS there. He is not a Transparent dealer and feels Nordost is the best match with Wilson so I'm a Valhalla2 speaker cable owner. Bottom line, I have no access to a loan of Transparent speaker cables for a listen. I should add that I've been warned that my new c-j ART27A power amplifier driving Wilson Yvettes can be a little fussy about cable selection. Any suggestions?

I nearby Transparent dealer should be able to ship you a "loaner pack". A few interconnects and speaker cable to try. Something is the middle of their line up. Wilson's are internally wired with Transparent (like my Rockports). It's worth trying them out...they also have a certified used program.

I've always hear great things about Nordost, but never tried them so I can't comment. Good luck

 

[Coppy777]

Contact the Cable Company. Massive lending stock.

Actually... do a lot of business with the Cable Company. They have had no relationship with Transparent, so this must be something new. Will contact them immediately. Thanks

 

[Coppy777]

FYI... as I thought and just verified, The Cable Company has no access to Transparent products.

 

[jfrech]

FYI... as I thought and just verified, The Cable Company has no access to Transparent products.

For Transparent, I'd call them or the closest dealer and get a demo kit...it may not be the level you want, but you get the full experience.
Cable Co is great for a lot of things, not saying anything negative about them...Best of luck!

 

[LL21]

How's the break-in JFrech? I have noticed that TA tends to be great out of the box...tends to shut in a bit with less weight thru the middle of the period, and then opens up wider than before with a lot more detail, and then bass come back in last.

 

[jfrech]

How's the break-in JFrech? I have noticed that TA tends to be great out of the box...tends to shut in a bit with less weight thru the middle of the period, and then opens up wider than before with a lot more detail, and then bass come back in last.

Yup. My experience also. I’m in the middle stage … been away on business some so it’s taking longer.

 

[gfroman]

Belly of The Beast!

Enjoying the Reference XL and Reference MM2 biwire speaker cables.
Actually sound great with my Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 XLR interconnects.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

Belly of The Beast!

Enjoying the Reference XL and Reference MM2 biwire speaker cables.
Actually sound great with my Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 XLR interconnects.

Very nice.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

Enjoying the Reference XL and Reference MM2 biwire speaker cables.

Those are very serious veins for the very serious heart that is pumping some serious music

What kind of cables did you use before and what made you change them? Constant pursuit for the perfect audio quality?

 

[gfroman]

"Constant pursuit for the perfect audio quality?"
Why yes!
As you know, every system is so different and responds differently with cables.

Past cables -
Audioquest William Tell Zero/Bass
Audioquest Thunderbird Zero/Bass
Both sounded good, but not near the imaging I'm getting from the Transparent.

I do have some Wireworld Platinum Eclipse cables in the wings, which will match nicely with the same make/model XLR interconnects I have installed.
Once these expensive Transparent cables are finally sold, that will be my move.

 

[Bobvin]

Belly of The Beast!

Enjoying the Reference XL and Reference MM2 biwire speaker cables.
Actually sound great with my Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 XLR interconnects.

Are those the same vintage? I get confused by Transparent's naming schemes, at least before the rise of Gen5, Gen6 which helps keep things sorted? (I have Ref MM2 speaker cables as well.)

 

[gfroman]

The Ref MM2 are older Gen 4.
The newest Gen 5 and Gen 6 Reference XL version is just below the Opus line.
(Reference > Reference XL > Opus > Magnum Opus)

 

[Bobvin]

The Ref MM2 are older version.
The newest Gen 5 and Gen 6 Reference XL version is just below the Opus line.
(Reference > Reference XL > Opus > Magnum Opus)

And the Reference XL you show, is Gen5 or Gen6?

 

[gfroman]

Mine are Generation 5 and calibrated for my Rowland amps.
The latest Generation 6 just came out I believe last month.
Thanks

 

[jfrech]

Mine are Generation 5 and calibrated for my Rowland amps.
The latest Generation 6 just came out I believe last month.
Thanks

Hi, I am curious why you don't keep one set of the Transparent speaker wire and have it reconfigured to biwire on the speaker end? I suspect if you did this and did the Gen 6 update you'd be very happy....

 

[gfroman]

Transparent told me there is no way of configuring the Ref XL cable to biwire at the speaker end.
I could buy a 18" "jumper" cable from them, but not the same performance as running 2 sets of cables from the amp.
Keeping both sets in my system is great and I'm loving them!!
Except for the price of owning them - that's a lot of money invested in speaker cables!!

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

"Constant pursuit for the perfect audio quality?"
Why yes!
As you know, every system is so different and responds differently with cables.

Absolutely and that is why I used the word "pursuit". I guess it's a neverending pursuit, but I believe it's more about the journey, less about the goal. Good luck with the further steps of your setup!

 

[gfroman]

Content inappropriate for content of thread. Post Deleted

 

[Karen Sumner]

Belly of The Beast!

Enjoying the Reference XL and Reference MM2 biwire speaker cables.
Actually sound great with my Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 XLR interconnects.

Belly of The Beast!

Enjoying the Reference XL and Reference MM2 biwire speaker cables.
Actually sound great with my Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 XLR interconnects.

This is an interesting set up, but I think it might fall short of the intended application for the speaker cables unless what I see in the system is 2 identical stereo amplifiers with one used for each channel. Even then, the speaker cables should be identical models and vintages. It appears in this photo that 2 vintages and models of Transparent speaker cable are actually hooked up in parallel in each channel from a single amplifier output. If this is the case with this set-up, it in effect halves the intended electrical characteristics of the cables, and the sonic results would have no relationship to what was intended by the design. We have cabled an MBL system using 4 identical mono blocks with identical OPUS Speaker Cables, and the system was terrific. The Transparent factory was correct to recommend an 18" jumper for gfroman rather than a second pair of speaker cables as the neatest, most budget-conscious way to hook up the MBLs. If you are considering buying pre-owned cables from any source, including 3rd parties, Transparent is happy to help you achieve the best set-up possible with your system and advise you on recalibration, updates, and upgrades, next steps, etc.

 

[gfroman]

Thanks for your input, Karen!
Yes, the GenV XL speaker cables are calibrated for my Rowland 925 mono amps (dual speaker terminals on each amp). These cables supply the Mid/Tweeter terminals on the MBL 101's.
The other Reference cables are just supplying the Low/Bass terminals on the MBL's, so they are not as critical for calibration.
This combination seems to work remarkably well, except for the expense of the 2 cable combination.
The 18" jumpers do seem to be the logical alternative choice for the Bass terminals.
Thanks again!