Thiel Owners

thielrules

Good to see you.  The 3.5 model is very popular here. Thank You for sharing your point of view.  Happy Listening!

rules - I love the 3.5. My decision to not include it in my upgrade program is based on lack of availability of drivers or a solution for modernizing the equalizer and the inherent bass-response limit for "modern" recordings. 

The product history and back-story is beyond the scope of this post. But the 2.2 in 1990 tested the adequacy of the passive radiator to extend bass response (depth and quantity.) The 2.2 succeeded and Thiel took that path. 

Just wanted to make the point that the 3.5 is much easier to drive then all the other thiel speakers if not too loud.

thielrules

That's correct; however, I could crank up the volume on the 3.5s without distortion. 

I've found my 3.7s to be power hungry but not so power hungry that I thought I needed a huge, super-expensive amplifier.  I have a pair of Cambridge 840s that I think drive the 3.7 great.  You can get a pair of the current model 851w for 3-4k.  These are, if anything, bordering on too punchy.  The transients are very sharp, bass doesn't lack definition at all.  I've been using these for 8-10 years now with no problems so I can't complain about reliability.  I was listening to a mid nineties hard rock album the other day, it was an excessively punchy, in your face recording and it was hard to listen to because of how jarring the bass was.  The Bryston BP26 preamp contributes to this quality as well, it had me thinking about digging my Musical Fidelity tube buffer up to soften up recordings that are like this.

I'd hate for people to think that you need to spend a mountain of money to get a good setup.  My 2 2s are hooked up to a $900 Yamaha home theater receiver and this is, in my opinion, a great little system that I could enjoy immensely.  That is, if it weren't hooked up to the TV and used mostly for kids' shows.  It just finished cranking out the Moana soundtrack and the bass was not lacking.  I'm sure a bigger amp would be better but it's still very good the way it is.  

https://www.dagogo.com/cambridge-audio-azur-840e-preamplifier-840w-monoblock-amplifiers-review/4/