Thiel Owners

Happy Black Friday- All

Hope everyone had a fine Thanksgiving (for all those here who celebrated that day yesterday or at all). ...

Here's another back story question: Early on, Thiel and Classé Audio seemed to have a close, if informal, relation in marketing and in-house systems (Classé and Thiel were marketed together mid-1990s at my local high-end salon, tomthiel still has legendary DR-era Classé amps). OTOH, the good fit between Thiel & Bryston has been well covered in recent posts. Over time, I heard fewer mentions from Thiel of pairings with Classé and more of pairings with Bryston (the two brands competed in roughly the same market niche). I speculated that this had something to do with Bowers & Wilkins purchase of Classé and their pairing at Abby Road Studios.

Question: How much was this shift at Thiel due to the B&W acquisition vs. technical differences in the evolution of the Classé and Bryston lines.

Side note: The Classé brand was eventually shut down by the conglomerate that purchased B&W. An attempt to resurrect Classé within the Sound United conglomerate is currently underway. In contrast to newThiel, new Classé is trying to retain most of its design team and culture. It will be interesting to see if the Classé reboot succeeds.

ish - I can only provide informal remembrances. I would say there was virtually no connection to the B&W / political change. Thiel didn't pay much attention to that stuff. The dealers variously aligned with various manufacturers, but Thiel / Kathy didn't get involved with those dealer decisions unless asked for product-performance / sales success advice.

You're on the right track with product-performance drift. Dave Reich's DR-series amps were extraordinary in performance / price at their time. After he left, the amps kept the basic circuitry, but drifted into euphonic design territory, which didn't serve our needs as a manufacturer. We sought out very linear, neutral, high-performance gear. Bryston continually worked in that direction as well as being rugged and reliable. Jim used Bryston in the lab as his reality check against the big, expensive workhorses.

I personally never felt the Bryston gear provided the nuance and detail that our products could deliver. We used it at shows to demonstrate high performance / affordably priced capability. Reviews and rumor suggest that their present cubed series steps up their performance quite a bit. Good people, good gear.

Thanks, Tom. I’ve never had an opportunity to listen to DR-series Classé amps. I think my first Classé amps were the first post-DR generation. They tilted to a warm sound. Maybe that agrees with your comments.

My current-generation CT-2300 has a much more transparent and neutral sound to my ear. From what little I understand, its design is fairly distinct from previous Classé series, including the DRs.

ish_mail

Good to see you. Thank You for sharing a bit of Classe' and Thiel history.

Happy Listening!