After receiving it back, I installed a Lyra Etna to the TA01, which, in addition to an extremely good performance in all disciplines, is particularly inspiring because of its enthusiastic peformance. And with the Thiele TA01 it’s no different. When testing the Velodyne Digital Drive Plus 10 subwoofers the combination was able to prove not only its enormous potential in the low frequency range with Peter Gabriel's "Sky Blue" - a test track introduced by Audio-Reference's Max Merk, who had brought the Velodyne's to Gröbenzell - but also its immunity to massive low-frequency sound waves wafting through my listening room: There is nothing on the TA01 that has too much of a slackness or could be triggered to resonate for any other reason: Even in what is probably his most complex tonearm design to date, Helmut Thiele has managed to control and dissipate resonances excellently. After experiencing the electronic subsonic lows in "Sky Blue", Max Merk and I then treated ourselves to Jonas Hellborg's "Drone" and "It's The Pits, Slight Return" from the album Elegant Punk: similarly strolling through low frequencies, but handmade. I can't remember having listened to the last track in particular as clear and nuanced and yet enthralling.

Lately I have received (too?) many components for testing that weren’t burnt-in. So it made much sense to let cartridge, phono stage and loudspeakers (and cables) collect hours of operation in conjunction with the internal wiring of the TA01. In addition to my test records, I came also to listen to some forgotten albums. When playing-in the Børresen 01 Silver Supreme and the Ansuz Speakz D2, it happened to be the title track of the album Dawn Dance by Steve Eliovsen and Collin Walcott that particularly impressed me with its colourful high frequency range with regard to the differentiation of the three guitars recorded in multitrack mode. Also Paul Motian's album Le Voyage captivated me with its extremely fine rendering of sometimes delicate, sometimes energetic cymbal sounds. Charles Brackeen's soprano saxophone, which can be slightly aggressive with other tonearm/cartridge alliances - and transducers as well - has now got enough power, but never topples into nervousness - even though the Lyra Etna is certainly not one of the most restrained sounding cartridges around. Afore I've already given lots of credits to the special abilities of the Lyra and TA01 combo in the bass range, but perhaps I should stop focussing on individual disciplines: This duo plays in real harmony: What a great, holistic musical experience!

For testing the Soundsmith Strain Gauge in combination with two SBoosters, I installed this cartridge system, which currently is unique in the way it operates, in the Thiele TA01 instead of Einstein's short-scaled The Tonearm: The Soundsmith, which certainly needs a stable arm with some mass, conjugated perfectly with the TA01. The fact that I heard it better than ever with Zakir Hussain's rediscovered test record Making Music, probably has to do with the subwoofers newly integrated into the chain as well as the improved power supply for the Strain Gauge’s power control unit, but would certainly not have been possible if the Thiele had not allowed the cartridge to track accurately, which is quite demanding in this respect. So the positive results I got from Einstein's The Pickup and the Etna are anything but coincidental. To burn Aavik's phono stage R-580 in and extract my first sonic impressions from it, I let the Lyra Etna return into the headshell of the Thiele. With Albéniz-Frühbeck de Burgos' Suite Española and Dick Schory's "Buck Dance" and "Duel On The Skins", the combo fascinates regarding the size of the soundstage, its enthusiasm and vibrancy. For me, there isn’t the slightest aspect for criticism! And that's why I leave the Etna in the TA01 when Helmut Thiele announces his visit to Gröbenzell.