Now on the Theta bandwagon..

SysOp

New Member
Jun 18, 2011
27
0
0
Beverly Hills, CA
Hello all-

I am new here and as of a few weeks ago, a new owner of Theta gear- This upgrade has been a long time coming :D.

I'm in the process right now of getting everything set up and dialed in- I migrated from an Integra 80.2 processor, Arcam P1000 amplifier, and Pioneer 09FD transport. And that system didn't sound bad at all, especially at the paltry price point of the Integra / Arcam. Talk about bang for the buck!

I have as follows:

Theta CBIII pre/pro with Extreme DAC L/R/C/Sub1 and Superior DAC SR/SL/Sub
Theta Intrepid amplifier (Handling LRC + Sur channels)
Oppo 95 universal transport, using SPDIF to the Theta for digital content
Theta Six Shooter for SACD and 2ch listening from the Oppo, will probably use this for BD format playback as well.
Speakers are Genesis 6.1 L/R and 6.1 C
Genesis subs are built in to the 6.1 L/R towers, each sub has it's own 500w/1000w peak amp
Energy Veritas 2.0ri surrounds - will be replaced soon by either Genesis or BG Radia - I might need to go inwall hence the BG consideration.
Synergistic Reference active shielded interconnects and Alpha Quad active speaker cable for L/R/C
Surround speaker cables are Synergistic Decora, double runs.

Power conditioning provided by:
PSAudio wall outlets (4)
VansEvers model 12 for the Six Shooter
VansEvers model 11 for the CBIII, Oppo and DirecTV HDDVR, and soon-to-be Toshiba 65" 480hz LED
1 Furman P1800-PF handling the Intrepid
1 Furman P1800-PF handling the Genesis sub amps
Mix of custom made ElementCable power cords and Shunyata Venom power cords. I have to say, the ElementCable power cords sound *just as open and black* as my single uber-expensive Synergistic Tesla power cord, and better than the Venom. This blew my mind.

I'm still in the 'break in' stage with the power cords and conditioners, a few 2ch listening sessions so far have been quite remarkable. I have found that the Oppo 95 analog out to the CBIII in Analog Direct mode sounds the best for 2ch- incredibly open and transparent. Here is a real kicker though- I cannot yet use the Six Shooter! My CBIII, for some reason, was manufactured with an aux digi input card that is *missing* the vol data output port (it is an original CBIII, not an upgraded unit). How's that?? I spoke with Theta and they were remarkably helpful- They offered to swap me for a new digi card that has the port on it. Now that is what I call customer service!!

So that's the story- Can't wait for the new TV to arrive and have our first movie night session. Toshiba (and everone else) is completely back ordered on anything 60" and over- There is apparently an industry wide problem with getting the larger glass or an associated component. Been waiting 2 months for the new set!!
 
Last edited:

LesAuber

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2010
141
0
361
Welcome aboard. I think you'll find Theta sound quality addictive.
 

SysOp

New Member
Jun 18, 2011
27
0
0
Beverly Hills, CA
Thanks Les- Indeed. It's all my dealer's fault... ;p

Planning to do the HDMI upgrade in a few months. Spoke with Mark at Theta support and was told that it is not required to upgrade the Superior card to Superior II, the Superior card will still work fine for HD audio. That is contrary to what I've read on several forums, so thought I would share the info. What else is interesting to note is that the new "Premium" 4ch DAC card (Theta's upgraded entry level DAC), processes at 192khz whereas the Xtreme D2 and Superior / Superior II are still limited to 96khz. Hopefully Theta will introduce a 192khz upgrade for the higher end DAC cards- It's either that or invest in a Gen VIII v2.
 

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