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  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
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    North America
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    60

    Robin Hood speaker

    Morning all anyone have a chance to compare Robin Hood vs William tell. I picked up Robin Hood as it fit my budget but of course left wondering if I should have held off for the William tell at 3X the price almost.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Berlin, CT
    Posts
    259

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    I have heard both many times. I personally got the WT bi wire and LOVE them. They are all good, but the WT is very very special. The RH silver is probably better than the regular WT. AQ draws the silver properly to keep a larger grain size so there are fewer rivers between the grains. It results in a much better quality of sound.

    The noise floor on the WT's is much lower allowing a ton more micro and macro detail. As long as your system is up for it, you will hear a much more neutral and larger, deeper adn detailed presentation with the Tells. The Hoods are better than most others that are twice their price from other manufacturers to my ears.
    System:
    Vandersteen Quatro CT
    Ayre AX5/20
    The Memory Player with built in DAC and headphone amp built in on order
    AQ Niagara 1000 power device
    Audioquest William Tell bi wire speaker cable
    Wireworld 8 optical cable into the Empirical Audio Synchro Mesh from the TV and Blueray to reclock
    Wireworld Platnium 8 ethernet cables into the EMO 70e ethernet filter into The Memory Player from Eero mesh router
    All routers, cable box and synchro mesh powered by the Wyred4sound LPS box with separate supplies for each
    Audioquest power outlets and four dedicated power lines in the room
    ZMF Ori headphones with the Audioarts 15' Pono balanced cable for the QX5/20
    Empire Ears Phantom CIEM's
    Rhapsodio 2.98 mk2 gold plated silver cable for Phantom

  3. #3
    Member
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    Jul 2019
    Location
    North America
    Posts
    60

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    Speaker cables
    Thursday night zero hours on them. My ears feel it’s louder even at 75-80DB so far it’s very hard on my ears. Come back later we know better!


    Friday April 10 7:39 AM. With about 7-8 hours playing time I find them tinny. The separation that my piccolos had is gone, as is the fine details. Die die my darling (Metallica garage days 24/96) the guitar that stood out before has now become muddied in with the rest of the music lost. Though tinny, the sound is bigger, leaving my piccolos sounding like they were choking my focals. Doesn’t take long for listeners fatigue. 10-12 minutes in my ears are bleeding. 80DB at most.


    Saturday April 11th 2:30PM. The high pitched tinny sounds is definitely dissipating and more wholesome,m. Not organic yet but there was never a claim for it. I do get a more holographic sound though, I do enjoy it. I still get listener fatigue fairly quick. That I’ll come back to on Easter Monday, Sunday I’ll take off from listening. Too much critical listening could play part in the fatigue. For the first time I get a thump from these focal’s in the bass area.
    4:04 speakers sound almost to large for the room now.


    Sunday 9:18 Metallica master of puppets. Intro at 0:30 cliffs bass guitar is nicely presented in the middle. Then jump to 5:04 heavy and clear love it, sounds thick, meaty. Die Die my darling, Lars splashy cymbals have tamed down. The music flow is much better and relaxed. No ear bleeding yet, so far so good so what (see who gets that reference). Top end is a bit much yet but the middle and bottom is filling in nicely.


    Monday 7:26am things have mellowed out. Started with die die my darling the guitar feeds along but lars cymbals are extending from the tweeter what sounds holographic. Never in a million years would I think that term would be used but here we are. Now on to Master of Puppets, cliffs bass line still clearly defined but thicker than my piccolos could have offered. The only I hear and see is the top end works by itself and the mid bottom works on it own. Top end is still dominating. Though in reality I’m only half way there burn in time. I’m sending my LUMIN in for sbooster upgrade so everything will have to wait for a week till she’s back up. But things have came along in 4 days.

    tuesday I’m letting these cook and will return one my lumin is upgraded.


  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Berlin, CT
    Posts
    259

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    Ok, this is what folks need to know about the AQ cords and cables. You need to burn them in for at least 100 hours to start to enjoy them. Mine took 500 hours or so to really sound close to their best. They really 'finished' burning in around 800 plus hours. That goes for the Hurricane as well as the WT bi wire.

    Glad that you are giving us the day to day burn in. I look forward to hearing your thoughts after 500 or so. For some, they don't know what truly neutral sounds like and may not appreciate them straight away. I have some friends who are used to tipped up highs and other artifacts that he's been told are 'hifi' sound. He now is listening much longer when he listens and has sopped listening critically as much.
    System:
    Vandersteen Quatro CT
    Ayre AX5/20
    The Memory Player with built in DAC and headphone amp built in on order
    AQ Niagara 1000 power device
    Audioquest William Tell bi wire speaker cable
    Wireworld 8 optical cable into the Empirical Audio Synchro Mesh from the TV and Blueray to reclock
    Wireworld Platnium 8 ethernet cables into the EMO 70e ethernet filter into The Memory Player from Eero mesh router
    All routers, cable box and synchro mesh powered by the Wyred4sound LPS box with separate supplies for each
    Audioquest power outlets and four dedicated power lines in the room
    ZMF Ori headphones with the Audioarts 15' Pono balanced cable for the QX5/20
    Empire Ears Phantom CIEM's
    Rhapsodio 2.98 mk2 gold plated silver cable for Phantom

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    North America
    Posts
    60

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    Now with 200 hours on them and a sbooster on my lumin mini. Not totally equal but here we go.

    Metallica Die die my darling on 24/96 the guitar that was very prominent on my crystal cable is now more integrated with the music, the whole picture is “fuller”. The tinny sound is now more of a splash and sounds very accurate. Master of Puppets where cliff walks in is still there but less pronounced. Here again it sounds fuller. The fuller sound of additional bass and mid bass could be “covering” or layering what I thought was accurate and detailed before.

    I won’t say these audioquests are not as revealing, as all the little nuances are still there just not in your face upfront. The crystal cable is definitely faster and more revealing. With that speed, and clear detail I was missing the thickness of my music. My senses tell me if I were to throw the crystal cable piccolo back on they would sound light and thin. I’m very happy with the Robin Hood single wire. I still love my crystal cable but the value isn’t there. I would like to hear the reference though but the cost there ranges from 5-6-7 grand. The lines from there just are so expensive I don’t bother looking.
    My next look will be the William tell silver or copper. But that’s down the road.

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    North America
    Posts
    60

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    Now with 200 hours on them and a sbooster on my lumin mini. Not totally equal but here we go.

    Metallica Die die my darling on 24/96 the guitar that was very prominent on my crystal cable is now more integrated with the music, the whole picture is “fuller”. The tinny sound is now more of a splash and sounds very accurate. Master of Puppets where cliff walks in is still there but less pronounced. Here again it sounds fuller. The fuller sound of additional bass and mid bass could be “covering” or layering what I thought was accurate and detailed before.

    I won’t say these audioquests are not as revealing, as all the little nuances are still there just not in your face upfront. The crystal cable is definitely faster and more revealing. With that speed, and clear detail I was missing the thickness of my music. My senses tell me if I were to throw the crystal cable piccolo back on they would sound light and thin. I’m very happy with the Robin Hood single wire. I still love my crystal cable but the value isn’t there. I would like to hear the reference though but the cost there ranges from 5-6-7 grand. The lines from there just are so expensive I don’t bother looking.
    My next look will be the William tell silver or copper. But that’s down the road.

  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Austria
    Posts
    35

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    Amazing to hear!
    How have things progressed in the meantime?

    I strongly intend to by a Robin Hood bi-wire combo (Zero & Bass) - which is also hefty pricewise but the value should be outstanding. Anyone also tried that one?

  8. #8
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Austria
    Posts
    35

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    For those who have compared Robin Hood vs William Tell (if possible in bi-wire combo) - is the difference that much to justify the big price difference?

  9. #9
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2021
    Location
    Israel
    Posts
    2

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    Hey all!

    Just got my new Thunderbirds (Zero). Only had a few minutes with them but they sounded great. Was hard to do an efficient AB test against the William Tell bi-wires, which blew me out of the water when i first heard them (before that i had the Robin Hood bi-wire and i recall hearing a big difference there). By the time i disconnected and moved everything today, I'm not sure my brain remembered how good the WT sounded to measure up against the TB. Both sound amazing, but i'll be keeping the TB for now (until next upgrade, oh no!)

    Anyway, what i wanted to tell everyone is that i now have a 3 meter (10ft) pair of William Tell bi-wire for sale at very (very!) good price. I also got a great deal on them as they were previously a demo pair for a European dealer i buy lots of AQ stuff from (especially power cords).

    Feel free to email me

    amyr

    (at)

    bezeqint.net



    Shipping will be from Israel.

    Peace.

    O'

  10. #10
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Austria
    Posts
    35

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    How did the Thunderbird evolve? Thinking about going Dorit in biwire combo configuration

  11. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Berlin, CT
    Posts
    259

    Re: Robin Hood speaker

    Quote Originally Posted by markush View Post
    How did the Thunderbird evolve? Thinking about going Dorit in biwire combo configuration
    Sorry. It’s been awhile since I’ve been here. I upgraded to William Tell Silver in 3’ length. I switched to VANDERSTEEN mono blocks so I made sense. It’s a full component upgrade for my Quatro system. Every step up in their line is worth it to me. I now use a Dragon power cord on my Niagara. I’m about to posts all my Hurricane (for high current not the source ones) power cords that I’m upgrading. Also going to sell my 3m Fire XLR to up grade with at least Thunderbird.

    Putting my money where I put my posting I guess lol.
    System:
    Vandersteen Quatro CT
    Ayre AX5/20
    The Memory Player with built in DAC and headphone amp built in on order
    AQ Niagara 1000 power device
    Audioquest William Tell bi wire speaker cable
    Wireworld 8 optical cable into the Empirical Audio Synchro Mesh from the TV and Blueray to reclock
    Wireworld Platnium 8 ethernet cables into the EMO 70e ethernet filter into The Memory Player from Eero mesh router
    All routers, cable box and synchro mesh powered by the Wyred4sound LPS box with separate supplies for each
    Audioquest power outlets and four dedicated power lines in the room
    ZMF Ori headphones with the Audioarts 15' Pono balanced cable for the QX5/20
    Empire Ears Phantom CIEM's
    Rhapsodio 2.98 mk2 gold plated silver cable for Phantom

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Robin Hood speaker

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