Thiel Owners

The ARC amps were just "quite good" with the stock Russian tubes. I really splurged, and bought 16 (8 per channel) NOS (and really new, never used) Tungsol 6550 tubes, USA made in the 1950s, for $175 each. And, WOW, they sound like different amps now, TOTALLY worth almost doubling their cost to me. Now they are indeed "killer" to my ears. Surprisingly, my CS3.5s don’t sound much different than my CS3.7s, with these amps. There is a consistency to the sound of all Thiel speakers that is truly impressive. Most speaker manufacturers have more variety in how their different speaker models have sounded. B&W is a prime example of this.

warjarrett

I totally agree with the ARC-Thiel synergy. My Ref5SE-Ref150 with my 3.6s are absolutely intoxicating. I'm not sure I want to risk the cost of tube rolling since the ARC-chosen Sovtek KT120s and 6H30s sound so sublime.

well my PS Audio BHK amp only uses to little baby input tubes,  but it is a great amp with my 3.7's.   would almost be afraid to try something like ARC mono blocks with those tubes.  that could break the bank

Even I suspected that I was crazy to spend as much on power tubes as on the entire purchase of the amps. Particularly since, as ARC’s only amps ever made for full triode operation, these amps make a measly 120 wpc with the 16 power tubes. All other ARC amps that have ever used 16 tubes, before or after the Classic 120s, made/make at least 200 wpc. So these are VERY special amps and VERY special tubes, and I am happy to be hearing them, despite their total cost.

To make my tubes even more interesting, these Tungsols came from a big box of military supply, in which ALL the tubes were matched (some 60+ years ago), then stored truly NOS ever since. So my set is a matched "sex-teen-tet"... well I also bought 4 spares, so a matched "twenty-tet".

Yeah, I think I was crazy. I can tell you this: I never play background music anymore, with these tubes burning. The system either has my full attention or is off. I don’t answer the phone, my wife knows to ignore me (because I will her), and even the dog won’t come in the listening room anymore when I am listening.

By the way, my preamp is a $20,000 Audio Note M6 with phono, and my cables are Cardas Clear Reflection. So the ARC amps and the Thiel speakers are hitting WAY above their current used value would suggest.