Thiel Owners

@trickeydude ..... I am going to give you some advice based on personal experience .... very specific ... that may help.  Far and away the most cost-effective driver for the thiels is an Adcom brand power amplifier model 555ii.  It is highly transparent and highly capable of driving any Thiel speaker made, including yours.  Buy it used and only if it is in good shape and un-modified and it should run $400-500.  Pair it with an older Audio Research Corporation preamplifier from their SP6 series .... preferably an SP-6B but any SP-6 preamp will qualify. ...Note stay with the "6" series for both price and sound quality (you will find SP5s, SP8s, SP9s, SP10s, etc.  Some "6"s can now be had in decent shape in the $600 range.  Between these two pieces you will have a quality "high end" amplification system to match the quality of the Thiel 3.6's you have so fortuitously received (wish I had a neighbor like that!).  For now plug in your turntable, cd player, or tuner (or the tape outputs on whatever receiver you are currently using to get FM)  and listen.  If you want to upgrade later any of these your speakers and amplifiers will be good enough to quickly reveal the improvement.

If even the above recommendation seems beyond your budget, you many be better off just selling the Thiels.   They should bring somewher betwee$850 and $1300 on the used marketplace. if properly marketed.

Well guys after having demoed a Vitus SIA-025 Mk2 integrated in my system for a week i have decided to keep it.

It replaces my Gryphon Diablo 300 which will be up for sale.

Very happy with the SIA-025 - CS 3.7 combo, very musical and engaging and surprisingly the Vitus drives my Thiels better than the Gryphon.

The Vitus being a class A integrated it puts out much more current.

Vitus is very smooth, liquid sounding and full body.

thieliste - maybe we should all have a music party at your house to hear what a Thiel speaker can do.

@jafant Thanks for this thread. It made my CS3.7 ownership a very high end endeavor.

This morning I played the CS3.7's with my Class A KRELL 175XD and my Benchmark LA4 preamp. This was in the big room I moved them too. It sounded amazing, better than the single Benchmark AHB2. Which I have stated many times is not my preference for the CS3./7's (even the monos).

However, this morning I also sold the CS3.7's and will be packing it up today and deliver to a local buyer. It was a great ride and a bucket list item.

trickydude - I’ll elaborate a little on Harry’s recommendation. I have and use and concur with him on that Adcom amp. But my experience with it taught me a few things. The original Adcom GFA555 was designed by Nelson Pass, as were many of Adcom’s amps. The MkII was not - it shared a chassis, but was otherwise a French design with somewhat different characteristics, far higher parts count and circuit complexity. (Reviewers and many users like the MkII better.)

Enter another twist of vintage gear - upgrading. There are folks who upgrade select vintage amps for better performance than was possible when that piece was new. One such upgrader is Jim Williams of Audio Upgrades in California, who concentrates on pro gear - rebuilding recording consoles, etc. Great work at very reasonable prices. JW offers an upgrade to Nelson’s original GFA555 which he considers a superior design to the MkII. I suggest that an original GFA555 might be found for very short money and my experience says that a JW AUDIO UPGRADE for it will produce stellar amplification for your Thiels. (Note: I’d love to trade my MkII for an original NP so I could do what I am suggesting.)

Note that Nelson and Jim were peers and each used the other’s products from the 1970s onward.