Thiel Owners

I have the thiel CS6 speakers and they are fantastic to my ears. I use the Aragon 8008 (1998 vintage) and Audible Illusions Modulus 3A preamp. I also use a BSP 400 mirage subwoofer (old but very effective) I use the SL1000 MK2 for my ablum collection.(31 yrs.young) The associated equipment and my cs6 speakers are nirvana for me.

Tom Thiel -

Perhaps an answer to your question re replacing with high current amps on 2.2's.  I recently pulled an Adcom 5300 away from the 2.2's and replaced it with an older Amber power amp still in good shape (this amp was noted for its current ability back in the old Absolute Sound days).  The change was pretty dramatic ..... bass firmly under control at all frequencies, making it sound much more "3.5-like".  I then substituted in Outlaw M200's, which did the same thing but a somewhat more laid-back mid-range.

thannotopis321
Welcome! Good to see you here. I remember the Aragon brand from the 1990's.  I look forward in reading more about your musical tastes.
Happy Listening!

Happy Friday! All

Tom Thiel and Harrylavo:

Hello Tom, this is my first post in this forum. I have been posting only in the SteveHoffman.tv forums for the past few years. Today, I just found out that you are here. So, here I am too.

During the decades of owning my Thiel CS3.5 speakers, I have tried hundreds of amplifiers with them, and can remember my sonic result with just about all of them. Adcom NEVER sounded good with Thiels, no matter how much power. Together they sound bland, lacking in dynamics, and electronic (not natural). The Amber Series-70 was an excellent combination in every way, one of the best I ever heard. It had actually only about 60 wpc (but it was famous for a having a VERY large power transformer and capability to deliver high current to low impedance or wildly varying impedance speakers). The other excellent matches were Classe DR series amps, all Mark Levinsons, and all Krells. But when I started hearing tube amps with Thiels, I never went back to solid state with them. Even very low power tube amps sound REALLY great with Thiel CS3.5. In fact, I never found one tube amp that didn’t sound great with them. Even a 6 wpc SET amp from AES was awesome. Now I am using Audio Research Classic 120 mono amps with my CS3.7, and it is an impressive match with the CS3.5 also. I think $3000 for a pair of these amps is a bargain. With my 3.5s, I am still using my MFA (Moore Franklyn) M-120 amps in triode mode, 60 wpc. When listeners hear this system, they cannot believe that I have been listening to such great sound for about 30 years. Newer, comparable amps would be from Bruce Moore Design, but are expensive. So my advice is that just about any stereo tube amp, with at least 60 wpc, into the CS3.5 is pure heaven. With solid state, you need to be more careful to audition in advance, and don’t go lower than 100 wpc in power.

--Warren (AKA "Sandy")