Thiel Owners

@tomthiel, thanks for the additional info! I hope you enjoy your new Benchmark gear. I'll look forward to your more detailed comments on the extra load of the EQ for the CS3.5, especially with respect to what @unsound mentioned about dealing with the impedance "bump" in the low bass.

@unsound, thanks for the discussion of the comparison between Figure 1 and Figure 3 in the Stereophile article on the CS3.5. Does the impedance rise vs. the EQ boost in the low bass fully offset the extra demands for more power when the EQ is used? If an amp puts out only 100 w/channel into 8 ohms, wouldn't available power drop even lower when the impedance goes above 8 ohms?   

@unsound, I forgot to ask you about the new generation of Class D amps you're waiting for. Are there any specific amps or modules that might be especially promising?

big_greg

I'll partially agree with you on the highs using vinyl but I don't fault the speakers ,

there are some " rock " albums from the mid/late -sixties that can sound awful .

I have not noticed " brightness " in Classical or Jazz or Folk music but there are a few " rock " and "soul" albums that I have a hard time listening to ,

my opinion is that the mixing for AM radio was the culprit .   

@sdl4, Yes , the amp power output would drop with the impedance rise. But that’s because with that impedance rise, the sensitivity of the speaker will rise. As the eq is demanding more power, the speaker is a actually demanding less work from the amplifier to produce the same volume output, and with less distortion too.

I feel a little guilty even mentioning the "new" generation of amp modules. It’s really premature to do so. There are companies just now taking built to order amps. So far they seem to be foreign companies, so problems might have shipping and time issues. They are smaller and lighter than typical amps though. Some but not all companies making similar products have been taken to task for shoddy workmanship. Some of these companies haven’t been around that long. The sturdiness of their business legs might still be in question. It’s still yet to be seen if durability, parts, and service can be relied upon. Or what the potential resale value can be expected to be. Some of these types of companies seem to treat early adopters as beta testers. There could be growing pains before a product is truly consumer ready.

There has been a review of a prototype using power supplies that are incapable of extracting the full potential of these new modules. FWIW, the anecdotal review was very favorable in comparison to the current SINAD class leading Benchmark.

Since you asked::

Purifi1ET7040SA

From the pen of Bruno Putzeys, perhaps the foremost Class D designer in the world.

Rumor has it that Purifi is currently working on a power supply to fully extract all the potential from this module.

Here is a particularly promising offering:

P501 Mono-Block Power Amplifier - March Audio

Please note that asking price is in Australian $, the currency exchange is favorable to US $. Be sure to click on "SPECIFICATIONS".

@vair68robert A lot of vinyl sounds really good with the Thiels, and I do listen to mostly "classic rock".  I have two turntables in my main system, a Sota Sapphire and a Technics SL 1200 MK2.  The same record that sounds bright on the Sapphire will sound "good" (not bright) on the SL 1200, but loses a lot of detail, imaging, etc. 

I'm using the same phono stage for both, but have a MM cart on the SL 1200 MK2.  

It's quite possible it's not the speakers, it could be the cartridge, that the cartridge isn't set up right, the tonearm or cable, or how my phono stage handles MC vs MM cartridges.  

The thing is, I have a number of other speakers that sound great in that system with the same electronics, so it feels like I'm trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.