Current Thiel and Aerial owners-- please comment..

I had full-range Apogees and sold them knowing that there had to be something better out there. I spent several years and more money than I want to admit looking for that speaker. The only thing that came close to the transparency, detail, speed and imaging of the Apogee was the Martin-Logan CLS-IIz. I’ve gone full circle and come back to an Apogee full range ribbon speaker. Sometimes you need to try different things to realize that you had what you wanted all along. Expensive trip, same destination….

I demoed both the Thiel and Aerial extensively. I settled on the Aerial 10Ts. I have them coupled with Sim Audio's W5 power amp and Sim's P5 preamp. I have a Thule 150B CD player. The Aerials were much warmer and involving sound than the Thiels - even with solid state. I think that the 10Ts are still a superb speaker and can be had at a good price. If the are placed close to a wall I recommend plugging the port. I bought 2 port plugs from Dynaudio which work well. Aerial (or any rear ported speaker mfg.) should really supply these with the speakers as most of us cannot put the speakers well out into the room. I love my system and feel no need to change - as for now!

While I have not auditioned the Aerial 10T/20T models, I was not impressed w/ Aerial. Something was amiss during my demo time compared to the Thiel loudspeakers.

I replaced two pairs of Maggies, .7 and 1.7 respectively, as well as a pair of Von Schweikerts over the last year or so, never giving my current Thiel CS 3.5's up. As Jafant below knows all too well, I'm a Thielista - as is he. 

I'll soon be reacquainting mine with a Pass Labs X150.5 amp, for me the best possible match of two brands that are uncompromisingly without coloration, that excel in clarity. You'll see that some folks feel that Thiels can sound "bright", and I guess my own ears either forgive that, or do not hear it. 

On the used market Thiels are indeed a bargain now - and the only thing that would make me retire my 3.5's (not sell them) would be a pair of geographically desirable 3.6's, or higher. I really like Maggies for what they do so damn well, but Thiels add bass without the necessity for a sub. 

My 3.5's are one foot from the rear wall. I have pictures in the virtual systems section here. It's a fairly big room with a sloping from 9' -17' ceiling. My loudest listening level is probably many other folks starting point, and I hear everything very clearly - even sitting 10 feet away. 

I replaced a Polk SDA speaker set with Aerial 8bs on stand, on spikes into hockey pucks. Driven by MC2300
(Grateful Dead amp) and Mac C31v (this pre amp changed the sound of entire system for the better) I am happy as hell.

My garage system is a Mac 4100 driving Thiel 3.5s- very articulate system. Everything sounds great. Bassy but tight, great spectrum in mids and highs, not even using the equalizer.