Thiel Owners

I spoke to Rob and he said I should check for proper ohms of a small 66 ohm resistor on the crossover board. I have not done that yet, but have been checking other things in my system. I think all of the drivers may be OK. I have a few older Vansevers PLC which have switches to adjust the speed of the transients which I had set to the high settings. I set them to their lower settings and I can hear a difference. I will leave them at this setting and do more critical listening. I also have 5 Shunyata Sidewinder power cords which may be affecting the upper frequencies?  I am considering adding 1 15 or 20 amp dedicated line, have heard this makes a difference, especially since my listening room shares the same breaker as my kitchen with an older refrigerator. I decided to add an external amp to power the main front Thiel CS 2 2 instead of my 6 year old Denon Avr 4200 which has 125 w rms into 8 ohms and 165 w into 4 ohms with only 2 ch driven. More like 78 w 8 ohms and maybe 100 w 4 ohms. I was considering an older vintage Adcom GFA 555 amp, which I had before my Thiels in the 1980's and liked the sound. I see them for $400 to $600, but this is original and know I would have to shop them and recap which is probably not going to be cheap. I have been researching new low cost amps with very good reviews. The Emotiva Basx 2 or 3 caught my attention and would like to try one, they have a 30 day return policy. Most of the used amps show no returns and you never know what you are getting? Any thoughts on these or other low cost amps being a good fit for my system? Any recommendations on amp interconnects for the external amp under $100 each? Thanks, Richard 

@audio1326

I looked at the Emotiva web site and noticed that the Basx 2 stereo and Basx 3

3 channel amps do not have a ground wire connection for the power cord . 

You might try purchasing a 12awg extension cord long enough to plug into an outlet without any appliances on that breaker for a test .

I am contemplating getting an older vintage Adcom 545 or 555 I or II for my Thiel CS 2 2's.  I also am considering a new Emotiva Basx 2 or 3 for this task.

New amp wil be connected to Denon AVR X4200 W to drive mains (Thiels).

The price is similar for all.  Would prefer a serviced Adcom due to older parts needing replacement.  Is a 545 ok or do I need the extra power of a 555?

I don't play system super loud. Not sure if Emotiva Basx is up to the task of the Thiels and the GEN 3 are more than I want to spend.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.  Thank You.

btw: The Cheapaudioman just had a video that Emotiva was just bought out by The Klipsch Corp.  Does this influence my decision about future quality, warranty and price????  Thank you in advance.

audio1326 - I’ll chew a slice of your query. I investigated your question for affordable amps for the CS2.2 and landed on Adcom, and specifically the GFA555. In that process I sorted out some considerations, summarized here.

The GFA555 was designed by (the legandary one and only) Nelson Pass, as were the 535 and 545. Simple, low parts count, high current circuits which depend on high-quality parts. First generation boards were built in Japan with ’best’ available parts. Later runs moved to Taiwan with lower quality parts. I don’t know the serial numbers. There is even better Japanese transistor sets and components available now. (See Audio Upgrades below.)

The geriatric capacitor problem is a real but manageable problem. A competent electronics shop can measure performance of the caps. If they’re good, they’re good.

I bought a GFA555 and a GFA555 mkII which is generally considered ’more refined’. My journey landed on the original (Nelson Pass) GFA555 being superior and upgradable (by reason of its intrinsic superiority). I would consider the added cost of a 555 over the 545 or 535 to be a no-brainer. Transients require power and more is better if circuit finesse is not sacrificed. The 555 gives up nothing and gets more power.

The winning aspect is that Jim Williams of Audio Upgrades in Carlsbad CA upgrades this amp to two performance levels. The upper level adds world-class metal film resistors to the basic job. Cost is in the $hundreds, not $thousands. Very highly recommended.

Furthermore, Bill Thalmann of Music Technology is reviewing my Jim Williams GFA555 upgrade to recommend and test further audiophile enhancements. I intend to recommend this amp with upgrades (wherever the particulars fall) to Thiel Renaissance clients as a high value, high performance amplification solution.

I will not comment on other contenders, having no personal experience - with the exception that Prima Luna is an outstanding performer for its price. (As long as you enjoy tube rolling.)