Thiel Owners

As long as locating the subwoofer doesn't become obvious, you're better and better off to move the crosspoint up to soften the harsh load of the 2.7 bass. Keep working.

vairobert68...

Indeed.  Like you stated I assumed a passive preamp would involve the very least possible of any coloration getting in between my power source and my Thiels. My power sources, imho of course, were nothing to sneeze at. 

If I recall correctly my cables were all Transparent - the entry level series, I forget their exact name. 

Perhaps another brand of speaker would have benefited from the assumed result, but as I have, and many others here have stated as well, “Thiel reveals.”
Purity in purity out - perhaps my ears could not wrap themselves around all that uncluttered, unfiltered sound?  I could not imagine any other piece of equipment at the time that could be faulted for my non-appreciation of the passive.  Sheesh. 

I picked up the Placette from a fellow member here who, prior to selling it to me had it fronting a Plinius amp. I believe he moved up the line. He was quite enthused about it, as was I. 

Becoming a member of this site and being able to procure interesting stuff has ruined me - damn you, Audiogon!!!  I would never have discovered Thiel in the first place had I not stumbled upon this site as I searched for some vintage stereo receivers. Now I look back upon my purchase history here and cannot help but be surprised at the $$ spent and the equipment moved in and out. 

But I digress again.  I would not suggest to anyone that a passive pre is not a good match for Thiel. In fact I’d love to be able to put such a setup together again.  Time will tell...

Following this thread with great interest, if not always understanding,.
I realized that I still have a Thiel Passive Subwoofer crossover modified for 2.4 mains and mcs1 center. I have sold my thiel speakers, so have no use for it, but maybe somebody would. I wonder if Rob modifies these at his new company. 

michael - Rob sets up PXOs for any classic Thiel back to perhaps 3.6s (mid 90s) for a reasonable fee.

guys - regarding passive preamps, there is another un-named factor. The principal load being driven by the source is the connecting cables to the next device. Some cables have high capacitive and/or inductive reactances. Some sources are not capable of driving those loads well, and their outputs become distressed, much like the power amp problem.

I would only attempt a passive preamp with short, electrically neutral interconnects between the source and passive pre and pre to power amp, since the passive pre does not buffer or isolate the source from the pre to poweramp run.

oblgny

In my attempt to advise or help another music lover Thiel owner
who is thinking about using a passive pre-amp I have offended you ,
I truly apologize , that was defiantly not my intention .
Please forgive me.

Mr. Thiel

Thank you for the additional information about interconnects ,
I have always tried to keep my interconnects as short as possible,
maybe that is one reason why a passive pre-amp works in my system,
and/or maybe it's because Cardas cables have a low capacitive and inductive resistances . 

Rob