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Thiel speakers--can you power them with reciever?

Or do they really need a separate amp?

I am getting the bug to make a speaker change(for my front L/R speakers), and from what I read, it seems like a used set of Thiels may be up my alley in terms of sound characteristics.

But, looking at their rated specs, they are rated at 4 ohms, with a minimum of 3 ohms, and have fairly low sensitivity at 87Db.

I'm also looking at used Vandersteen, Eggleston, Merlin. It seems like most of these have similar ratings to the Thiels.

Any thoughts? I am currently running my 5.1 system off a 130wpc receiver, but I do have a 5 channel power amp I could use. The receiver is not known for having much output into 4 ohm loads.
mtrot
hifitime
715 posts
 
Here are test results on Ultra 2 receivers.Anything over two channels kills the power.7 time 4ohms will probably kill the receiver.Denon AVR4308 140 watts.Drops to 111 watts X7 at 8ohms@1khz.Not 20-20,000,might not be possible.Test link below.Yamaha RX-Z9 175 watts.test out at 138 watts X7 @1khz.Not 20-20,000 either.Typical SELECT2 acording to S&V.
I can't think of any receiver that will give a full bandwith
power with all channels driven at 4 ohms!

Denon test link>>>[http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/receivers/2676/test-bench-denon-avr-4308ci-av-receiver.html]Yamaha RXZ9 test link>>>[http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/assets/download/yamaharx-z9inthelab.pdf]
hifitime
715 posts
 
I forgot to mention,A/V receivers use 8 ohms as the standard.They do not have to meet the old FTC standards that were made to regulate two channel stereo amps.
mtrot OP
804 posts
 
Thanks for the replies. Of the other brand speakers I mentioned, do any of them present an easier load than the Thiels for a receiver to drive?

The Receiver is a Yamaha RX-V1800. It is currently driving a set of Legacy Signature II left/right front speakers, plus a Paradigm center channel and PSB 5T surrounds. I am bi-amping the Legacys via the feature on the Yamaha that uses the surround back amps.

I set the Legacys and the PSBs to large in the receiver setup menu, and I often try the center on each of the available settings(small/large/none) to see which way I like it better.

The receiver seems to drive this setup OK in terms of not clipping at the levels I listen at, which is not super loud. But it sounds like that would not be the case with the Thiels.
hevac1
812 posts
 
What model Thiel are you thinking about?

If you are talking about anything model6 and higher you will need LOTS and LOTS of power and be able to handle 2 ohm loads and maybe lower.

A friend of mine has Thiel model 7s amd his new Moon W-7M 500 watt amps had to be modified by Simaudio to handle the load at loud volumes.

Thiels I think were not intended to be used with a receiver and I also agree with Mitch4t.
THX has nothing to do with weather you can handle Thiels, you will need real transformer power not chip power.
Most speakers built today do not have the constant loads Thiels have, we use Subs more now for that kind of bass.

Thiels are great speakers but are hard to power and give justice to with just any amp.
mtrot OP
804 posts
 
I was thinking of something like the 2.4 or 2.2

What about some of the other brands? Any experience?

My power amp is the Sherbourn 5/1500A, which is a 5 mono channel design. It has 5 toroidal transformers in it and is rated at 200wpc into 8 ohms, and I think 350wpc into 4 ohms. If this is not enough, I need to move on from the Thiel idea and look at other brands.
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