The Future Of Theta

[Steve Williams]

Well I thought I would get this forum started with the generic question asking the future of Theta.

Certainly over the years Theta has made some sensational products with a very serious and loyal following. With the sale of the company however Thet has fallen off the radar with false hope and promises for the much awaited HDMI 1.3 version of the CB lll. Unfortunately expectations have risen and fallen at last year's CEDIA and CES shows.

So to all Theta owners, what are your plans? Are you holding out for the ugrade or have you moved on and if so what did you switch to

[JackD201]

I was hunting for a high powered multichannel amp and the contenders were the BAT VK-6200, Moon Titan and Theta Dreadnaught III.

Theta's website is an absolute mess when it comes to this amplifier. I think even professional installers would get a headache with how convoluted the description and options are. I hope they can fix this. It turned me off enough to scratch it off my list. I ended up ordering the BAT.

I still have a Pro Prime II and Pearl Combo from the 90s and they hold up quite well to many well regarded transport and Dac combos of today. Probably my best deal in my audio history since I got both for about $500. I got my Emms for a good price too being ex-dealer demos, but the CDSD tray keeps screwing up and the DCC2 SE keeps screwing up as well. The reason I bring this up is that when the Emms go down the antiques are normally what get pressed into service.

[jadis]

I still own a Theta Pro Generation II. I first heard it at Audio Excellence in San Francisco back in 1990. Liked it enough I bought one. The top DAC then was the ML No.30 I recall. I never got to update but still, I can enjoy my CDs with this DAC running with a Philips transport.

[rblnr]

I sold my CBIII and Six Shooter after they missed the 1Q 2010 date posted on their site for the HDMI upgrade release. Mine was a demo unit at a good price, so didn't take much of a loss. Best sounding processor I've owned, and that includes Meridian and some of the other usual suspects.

A major issue I see and one that informed my decision to sell is how the company which has no software dept. and apparently very limited resources will deal with the inevitable firmware updates that will be needed. With the exception of Meridian who is as much a software company as a hardware company, no one has gotten HDMI right w/o problems on their first release. Much as I want to see Theta succeed, I've arrived at the opinion the processors are beyond the reach of boutique companies.

Have been using an Onkyo 9.8 for the last few years for hi-rez HT -- still waiting for a processor that is exactly what I'm looking for.

[Bulldogger]

Because I am in the process of relocating, the time that it takes for the upgrade does not mean much right now. Nevertheless it would reassuring to see the company operating in a professional manner. Many say that they still prefer the Xtreme dacs for redbook. If the dacs are still that good, the CBIII should be at the top of the pile for sound quality with higher resolutions. Low rez sounds largely the same, through most processors,IMO.

[Bulldogger]

I asked AGAIN today, "Hello Mr. Magee:

Absolutely! It's still the number one priority for the company, and is getting the lion's share of resources internally.

Best,

Carl Nicolson
Theta Digital
1749 Chapin Road
Montebello CA 90640
USA
+1 (818) 572-4300 voice
+1 (323) 278-0083 fax
tech.thetadigital@gmail.com



> Can is I assume the HDMI upgrade for the Casablanca is still moving forward? Sorry but I have to keep asking,lol.
>

[Steve Bruzonsky]

I got a smokin' deal on my five Theta Enterprise amps a few years back and even with Theta from a practical standpoint being around in name only now, I am glad to keep my amps.

For now I am keeing my CB3 and Six Shooter and am seriously contemplating getting a Marantz universal player because when Mark Haflich says Theta is in his opinion a goner, and all signs except for Carl point that way, what else needs be said?

Really, its all Theta's fault. If Theta isn't dead in the water, they could be releasing some beta units and giving good updates to us. All they do is give us sales rubbish. Enough is enough!

[Bulldogger]

I think there is now hope. I still need to see more from the company to think that will survive long term. They already make amps and have engineers for that. The question will be what other engineering talent will they bring on board? The will certainly need that unless they just want to be basically ,"modders."

[JackD201]

Looks like Theta is back on the ball. Casablanca now has HDMI 4x 1.4 along with some other stuff. The rest of the line is still there, Citadel, Dreadnaught, DAC and Uni transport.

[audioguy]

I think we will be able to answer the question on Theta's future in a year.

Given that Lexicon quit, the Theta CB was one of the remaining high end SSP's that I would consider once they get Dirac working.

Given my new interest, I recently asked a Theta dealer some questions and he said he did not have answers and would forward to Theta. Three weeks later, I had not heard anything, sent a follow up email and got responses from the dealer, not Theta. And many of my questions were not answered -- even after re-asking.

This does not give me the confidence to move forward. And I continue to hear on AVS about continual hardware/software issues, even with the CBIII HD about system hang-ups which require re-booting (an issue I had with each of my CB iterations). And, has been asked previously, will they have the resources in house to provide quick and reliable updates to the issues that will surely exist with the implementation of Dirac. (which apparently has been delayed from June until some time later this year - [here we go again??]).

Next year at this time, Dirac should be implemented and it's stability issues, if any, exposed as well as the support necessary to keep customers happy. If all is well, I would definitely place them near the top of my list.

But we shall see!!