I've spent almost a week now with the BolderSB2?PS Let me call it the B2 for short,OK?
I am very impressed with what Wayne has done with what was originally a 300.00 SB2. Although the cost of this set up matches or exceeds the cost of the TP. I hooked up the B2 into input 2 and set that input to invert phase per Wayne's instructions. I used a spl to match sound levels. I spent a day listeninng only to the B2 to do "brain burn in" OK, to familiarize myself to it's sound. BTW if anyone flames me over this comparison I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!!!!!! :-) I also know what you did last summer. The B2 sounds great, I think it's a significant improvement over the stock SB3. The second day I did some informal "blind switching". eg. had a friend switch back and forth on the pre. I think I would likely not do well on an ABX. The differences are quite subtle to my ear. In sighted comparisons I would listen to piece long enough to :memorize" the sound and then listen to the other unit. I want to stress that tis comparison is completely subjective and I did what I would normally do to decide on a component purchase. Some times a difference s so great it's easy to make a decision. That's not the case here, for me. Finally I made myself listen to one unit only until I "needed " to switch. I did this several time to see which unit I subconsciously chose and stayed with longer The differences I hear in sighted longer term listening between the B2 and TP are: Soundstage: no difference, both throw a wide and deep ss Imaging : both are great I would fail an ABX on those 2. I think the B2 is a bit more laid back. It has less rythmic punch and the bass is a bit less well articulated to my ears. But these differences are VERY subtle Both are excellent at capturing note decay and hall ambience. I had 2 fears in doing this comparison: 1 tat the bolder would not stack up and I would have to offend a lot of people. 2 the bolder would blow away the TP and I would have to buy one. Neither of these fears materialized. If i had the Bolder I would be very happy I am also very happy with the TP. I the end I found myself listening more to the TP. It has more of what I want to hear. But the 2 are SO close I could not say the TP is superior. Someone else might easily prefer the Bolder. I would love to audition a Bolder modded Tp. If Wayne can improve an SB so much it would be interesting to hear what he does with the TP. My problem is that for me , the TP is so good I that would have to hear a modded TP before I would want it done to mine. I want to reiterate that I could easily see how someone could prefer either unit. They are both so good that we enter the realm of "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" I am sorry to sound like a pansy ass stereophile reviewer :-) But this is my honest opinion/ . If I thought one was significantly better than the other I would say so. I have watt/puppies/jeff rowland electronics, 2 dedicated 10 guage lines, chang light speed, asc tube traps , room tunes on top, 8th nerve adapt triangles, response seams, custom designed O brandy, Spanish riojas, priorats, penedes and cali cabs , pinots, chards, full bown linn, graham tone arm SF tube phono preamp, chassagne montrachet, chateau margaux, 14 year old lexus(who can afford a new car after Watts), dadario strings, Fredholm guitars and other ABSOLUTELY necessary accessories for listening :-) -- tomjtx ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tomjtx's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7449 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30140 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
