Thiel Owners

tmsrdg, power isn't the most illuminating word, current into low impedance is a subset of power and the operative limitation. You can find out the 2-ohm spec on your amp, which should describe its capability. But, as Larry adds another consideration, current delivery spec can be construed over various time windows, so the spec can lie with demanding program material. Larry is right that Jim was a bit gobsmacked by the subjective experience of CS5 (and all our big products) users running out of bass power. The CS5 came after the CS3.5 with equalized bass, which also drew bass current, but at higher impedance than the CS5. We used a 250W Krell powerhouse which performs as rated, 1000WPC into 2 ohms. Jim assumed the role of the speakers was to perform to its stated specs, and the amp must do likewise and so forth. When manufacturers fudge such claims, the burden-in-fact falls to the speaker for under-performing. All these years later, these matters are still foggy in the mind of the audiophile world. Awhile ago I mentioned that I wish Thiel products had higher impedance minimums - 4ohms minimum as beetlemania (?) corrected my 6 ohm nominal wish. Same animal. We would all be better served via honest claims for our products. 

That series of Classe amps definitely doesn't double into 2 ohms.  I have a pair of the 200s and they were 200/400/500 watts into 8/4/2 ohms.  It's hard for me to imagine 600 watts/side isn't enough.  Much more than that and your amp will be in danger of blowing a fuse.  If you're listening to a full orchestra loud on the 3.7s you may be running up against the limitations of the speakers.  They do fine at a pretty high volume but first order crossovers definitely have volume limitations.

My 3.7s have pink fiberglass insulation in the mid/tweeter compartment.  Maybe switching to wool could be a part of an upgrade?

@tomthiel - Hi, Tom! In another Thiel related thread, you offered to share your take on why there wasn’t a CS4-series speaker. Wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing that story here?

Thanks again for enriching these discussions!

Arvin

Larry, It's been  a long time, and I might be mistaken, but I thought the late "Bud" Fried also thought 1st order cross-overs were "all wrong". I seem to recall that some of his designs were supposed to be based on transmission line cabinets, yet none appeared to be suitably ginormous enough to be actual transmission lines. Also, wasn't there some sort of brouhaha with Stereophile over the measured bass output of his speakers vs. Thiel's, wherein Stereophile reexamined their procedure; to find that they were in fact correct.