Thiel Owners

I want to update my statement about stereo vs bridged Benchmark AHB-2 use. I spoke with John Siau today who said they updated their software to allow current to 1 ohm at full power, with no sacrifice of noise or distortion performance. Any Thiel model can be used either stereo or bridged. I listened today and found very slight subjective differences. Stereo produces slightly more 'air' and sense of harmonic detail. Bridged produces slightly fuller bass lines, probably due to the halving of damping factor from 370 to 185. Bass still sounds clean and tight. JS does not relate to these subjective differences. I will change from bridged to stereo, using one channel of each amp per speaker for a slightly better 'I am there' presentation, since 100 watts provides more than enough volume in my space.

I'll also correct my statement of limited audiophile acceptance. My impression was wrong, they're selling like hotcakes. I love mine.

@stspur 
I don’t think you’re going to find a 630V EL. If you’re swapping for fresh ELs just match the voltage rating. The high voltage *film* caps are for critical feed path placement in which higher voltage = thicker film = better sound. 
Now, if your 3.6 is like @vair68robert CS2.7 and you have ELs in the feed path and you want to upgrade to film caps then you might need to go to an outboard solution. And be prepared to $pend.

Happy Friday! All

All

yesterday's HiFi Chats via YouTube featured Dave Gordon of ARC.
We have many members of the Panel who own ARC gear for their Thiel Audio loudspeakers.

Happy Listening!

And it may interest you that Dave was Thiel's national sales manager from the late 80s to 90s. He moved his family to Lexington to help Thiel navigate their rapid growth into compatible and excellent dealers that he knew from ARC and Magnepan. He eventually went back home to ARC, and everyone was better for the experience.