Searching for the most "accurate" speaker (below 15K)

Prof

That was a nice synopsis of what you experienced. 

The issue with the Persona's and I would add Radiho, and Focals is that these remarkably high resolution loudspeakers do not have as much coloration as many other loudspeakers and so you must be very careful of finding the right matching gear.

In our shop we show the Persona 9H with the fantastic T+A HV Series of electronics and we demo with three different state of the art digital sources.

When we showed them at the New York Audio show we used the T+A reference PDP 3000 which sounded great, however, in our shop we also have the Light Harmonic Davinci and the Aqua Hifi Forumula  Dac with a Baestis music server.

The Light Harmonic brings a bit more warmth and life which it should it is a $35k Dac but the point is the system goes from really good sounding to absolutely amazing, The bit of extra midrange magic just adds the right touch of texture and boy the speakers sound is elevated accordingly.

So what we have been preaching is that when you have speakers with this kind of clarity, speed, and lack of colortion you must add some flavoring to the mix or the sound can be too netural which to some listeners is going to be too cool or analytical. 

You can see the same kinds of issues with the Magico guy who is going from a Rethem wideband driver to the Magicos in his thread and was first driven out of the room as he is going from a polite top end to a Beryilium tweeter which doesn't hold anything back. 

This is the age old battle of resolution vs musicality and those in the easy to get right camp ie Harbeth, Vandersteen, Quads, Rethem, Legacy, Sonus Faber etc vs the high resolution camp Magico, Radiho, Persona etc

Prof there were many people who hated the Thiels I used to sell them because they were too forward for many listeners. 

I used a Bat or Preamp with a Vac PA 100/100 with the Thiels and the match made the Thiels come alive with the right amount of tone color hence this is why you love the CJ/Thiel combo.

What was the dealer using with the Personas when you heard them?

Dave owner
Audio Doctor NJ

ATC or PMC

@keithtexas

which atc's are you looking at?

Dave,

Thanks.

I’ve been at this hobby a long time too, I’ve got a good idea of why I like the Thiels ;-)

I know the old Thiel rep for brightess. It was actually hearing the Thiel CS6s on VAC amps, way "back in the day" that got me interested in Thiels and tubes, and the CS6s sounded fabulous on my CJs.

Jim Thiel’s last design, the 3.7, really licked those niggling complaints - not bright, open but incredibly smooth, no more slightly hollow or nasal reductive character to the upper mids (which depended on seating position). The 3.7s are really the fruit of Jim's speaker journey IMO.   I tend to prefer tubes for most speakers so I love them combined with my CJs. My pal reviews for a high end mag (I used to do a bit too), and his impression of previous Thiels were "made me want to run out of the room." But he did a 180 on them once he heard my set up, and thinks they completely unfatiguing and easily the best sound I’ve ever achieved.

As I mentioned on the Thiel thread, I’d enjoy hearing the Persona’s hooked up to my CJs, or a similar type of tube amp. I’m sure it would nudge them more towards my own preferences.

That said, I’ve found there is only so far one can go with peripherals like amps etc in terms of altering the sound of a speaker. Most speakers have a voice, or timbral quality of their own, that remains and usually I hear that no matter what’s hooked up on the other end. There’s no speaker I’ve ever owned that I didn’t also like with different amps - e.g. solid state - because of the continuity in a speaker’s presentation. Adding tubes for me is just perfecting the sound, not a large alteration.

So there has to be a "hook" that I hear in the sound of a speaker, a general voice that I get on with, and then I can nudge it this or that way with set up, amp choice. (Blind testing cured me of spending lots of money on cables used as tone controls....).