Thiel Owners


Guys-

I just scored a sweet pair of CS 2.4SE loudspeakers. Anyone else currently or previously owned this model?
Owners of the CS 2.4 or CS 2.7 are free to chime in as well. Thiel are excellent w/ both tubed or solid-state gear!

Keep me posted & Happy Listening!
128x128jafant
cargen

Welcome! Good to read that you are another fan of the CS 3.7 loudspeaker and Conrad Johnson electronics. Reading through this thread, I chased the 350 Premier for quite a few years. It is an incredible Power Amp! You are fortunate to own one. Also good to read that you are located in the greater Nashville area. 

Take your time, enjoy reading through this thread. You will find several fans and owners of the 3.7 model. Enjoy the Music!

Happy Listening!
dsper

Good to see you here again. If you are the kind of Audiophile whom enjoys rich texture within musical passages, the competition, will always result short.  What gear is in your current system?

Happy Listening!

Jafant,

Thank you for the welcome and more importantly for you having started/creaated this thread 5+/- years ago. It is a joy!


Tom Thiel’s countless contributions to this thread are so wonderful. Tom sharing so many details of the formation, guiding precepts, theories and mission of Thiel are absolutely fascinating.  In particular, Tom saying this somewhere in the first 100 pages of this thread was the TRIGGER for my account below of my own early audio journey. 

 

Tom Thiel - “It bears noting that Jon Dahlquist of DQ-10 fame came from aerospace and that he used 18ga twisted pair solid copper in teflon when the rest of the industry used ordinary stranded wire. Hmmm. 

My summer of 1977 revolved around identifying and sourcing wire and other components that ended up being 99.9999% pure, long crystal, low oxygen, etc. in teflon or varnish from ITT, developed for NASA. As far as I know, we introduced "wire" to the audio industry, or at least we didn't hear about "wire" from anyone else beyond noting Dahlquist's unusual choice.” – Tom Thiel

 

In 1972, I was a starving recent college grad from the Cornell hotel school.  I sort of helped, but mostly watched, a friend build homemade speakers from stock Radio Shack parts. I thought they sounded pretty horrible, but found the project fun. Somehow, I came across the first issue of The Absolute Sound and subscribed. In issue 4, the Dahlquist DQ-10 was reviewed, so I bought a pair. By 1975, I had purchased and myself installed a fairly elaborate after-market upgrade kit, which included replacement ribbon tweeters, different mid-range drivers and something called “polypropylene capacitors”, the latter somewhat esoteric for the 1970’s. I removed and re-installed all the speaker drivers so they mirror imaged each other. Crossovers of DQ-10’s are positioned on a shelf behind exposed midrange drivers. Then I damped the crossover and drivers with modeling clay and removed the woofers in order to access the woofer cavity where I damped the entire interior with modeling clay. Those speakers are still in my attic. As you might imagine they weigh a lot. Initially I drove them with pre-owned Audio Research SS preamp and gear. Later with a conrad-johnson PV-2A and dual Hafler DH-500 amplifiers, each of which I assembled myself from kits from zillions of parts and a soldering iron. I still have the Sota Sapphire turntable with Black Widow tone arm and moving magnet cartridge that was the system’s front end. All in original boxes in my attic.

 That DQ-10, c-j, Hafler, Sota Sapphire system somehow survived my multiple moves for several years as I general managed various resort hotels in Florida, Georgia, San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Croix USVI. By the mid 1980’s, marriage and raising children changed priorities and while I enjoyed that same system, my Audio-Video journey didn’t “re-activate” until 2003 with discovery of the Thiel PowerPoint.

 I hope I am not straining the patience of anyone reading this. The relevance will eventually revel itself.  A clue is that currently own 19 Thiel speakers! 

More to come . . .

 

Chris


cargen 

(Chris) Thank You for the kind words. It is my pleasure to offer an avenue of pursuit for  us Audiophiles who enjoy Thiel Audio loudspeakers.  
I can hardly await to read more about your Audio journey, and of course, 19 Thiel speakers !!!

Happy Listening!


I just wanted to follow up on my earlier post about SST Ampzilla 2000 monoblock amps.  I've spend some quality time now with the Ampzilla's powering my CS7.2's.  This setup is actually the Ampzilla monoblock amps as well as the matching Ambrosia preamp.  My main system is an ARC Reference 3 preamp driving a pair of Levinson 436's.  I've also recently used an Aragon stack (Aurum preamp + Palladium 2K amps) with the 7.2's.  So far, I am really impressed.  My listening space is medium sized (15' x 30'), but the SST setup seems to drive the speakers every bit as good as the Aragon setup.  I need to do some sort of A/B with the ARC/Levinson setup and to try them with the CS5's.  However, my initial thought is these are very much worthy of driving a pair of Thiels.  They have great control of the speakers, are DEAD quiet, and otherwise don't seem to get in the way of the imaging and accuracy that Thiel speakers are known for.  I know the cosmetics aren't for everyone, but I think at today's prices (you can get them new for a fraction of "retail") they are a relative bargain.