Looking to hear from Thor owners

McPherson,

What components do you have in your system besides the Thor preamp?

Leatherneck
I am currently using
-Sony 5400es cdp
Plan to get the Modwright upgrade
-H/K Citation 16a amplifier
@150wpc Rebuilt by H/K guru
-Focal 918 tower speakers
-Velodyne sub

I have been in the early stages of building a sysem for a number of years now. I had the speakers for about 4 years before I made any major purchases. I am still getting used to the Thor and deciding if I want to keep the Focals. They are very detailed but a bit on the bright side to me.
I dont know if I wanna go down the cable upgrade route,etc to take the edge off of them. I also need to experiment with tubes to really see where I am...kinda like what you said about auditioning the Thor preamp.
I dont have much to reference because I went from a Marantz receiver to the Thor, but this pre is really something! What I like the most is the sound floor is so low now. I dont have to turn it up loud to experience the music...that is saying something for me.haha
Have you ever heard the Modded 5400 by chance? I know a lot of people seem to compare the Oppo to the Sony due to the upgrades available/bang for buck factor.

Mcpherson,

I haven't heard the sony 5400 modded or otherwise. I have had several of Modwright's cdp's over the years and his products are always outstanding. I don't see how you could go wrong either way. I am using the logitec transport almost exclusively anymore playing flac files through my PC. The sound is so close to the cdp to not be a consideration to me anymore. With all of my music on a dedicated hard drive I am listening to a lot of older music I pretty much never got around to digging out and playing on the single player. I went for the Oppo so I can play blueray dvd and eleiminate one pc of gear in my system, while still having a high quality cdp.

Russ
What amps were you using before the Thors? I am trying to figure out if my next upgrade should be amps or speakers. I thought about the Merlin VSM if I could get them at a decent price. The Focals seem a bit bright but then again it could just be the total of everything upstream.

It is all about matching components and set up. What are you using for cables? What kind of music do you listen to? A great system can sound less than ideal set up improperly in the room too.