Thiel Owners

oblgny,

I agree; The 3.5s were magic and a true reference speaker. But as I stated, the midrange drivers were unreliable for me. Used a pair of Forte' 75w pure Class A monos and then used a pair of Spectral DMA 90s Used as bridged 200w monos. If I have read in this thread; you have had a number of 3.5 midrange drivers go bad. I would be interested to to hear how long your nephew's have held up.
Maybe you'll return to a Pass intergrated one day. I am sure your journey is not over.
For now; I have never been more pleased with one of my systems than I am now. Vinyl, Tubes, and Class A Rule.

Just IMHO there are equal and better speakers than Thiels; But you will need to pay a hefty price for them. Took me four (4) years and 8.3X the price I paid for he 3.5s

Best to you

Nkonor...

My nephew still has the 3.5's without experiencing any issues whatsoever. (With the repaired mids.)   Actually, only one of the mids on that pair was malfunctioning but I thought "what the heck" and had 'em both done by Rob at Thiel. Total cost of the original purchase plus repair was, I think, $1400 - a figure that kind of boggles the mind considering what $1400 for a new pair of brand x might get you. 

The middle pair of 3.5's I had were 100% functioning. No issues whatsoever. 

The last pair, which I've gutted and saved all the drivers and crossovers, and the eq,  had both mids completely out. Again, "what the heck" since I paid just $200 for them. The cabinets were challenged beyond what I determined to be a worthy restore. I've offered the drivers and eq to a fellow contributor in this forum for free if he's willing to pick them up. He has the first right of refusal. If he passes on the offer I'll offer the same to any other member here with the same caveat. The woofers are in fine shape , the tweeters have dimpling but sounded fine. The notorious midrange drivers, well, for a fellow Thielista with mids in more compromised physical condition than these - "hmmm, why don't you work, you look okay?" - might want them for repair. Again, free if picked up. 

This afternoon I listened to my recently acquired BAT integrated without the REL sub in the chain and find that the 3.6's are revealing more sufficient detail at low level listening than with the Simaudio Neo. The phono stage in this BAT is truly remarkable, far better than the Neo's managed to be. 

As you noted and I've said, I continue to be curious about other speaker brands, with Thiel and Magnepan being my personal point of reference for what a speaker should do for me. Both brands do a lot for me, and Thiel edges out Maggie in that comparison.  Maggies suffer by dint of their size and how they impose themselves, Maggies win because of their light weight and move ability. Thiels are HEAVY mothers. Also both are weighted in terms of being able to acquire them - my financial wheelhouse would never assume a $10k+ expenditure. 

By the way I never had a Pass integrated. I had an X150.5 amp  and a BAT VK3i preamp at that time. I went for the BAT Integrated this time around because a decent used Pass integrated was/is roughly double that. Ouch. I liked the BAT pre so much I figgered chancing an integrated from them was fairly low risk. I was right, I'm liking this thing a lot. 

oblgny,

Hope those mids
 in your nephew's speakers hold over time. Yes,! I did lose a couple of tweeters too.
 I knew you had the Pass X150.5. I would suggest that you mate Pass and Bat if it's ever in your financial future.Appreciate your reply.

Best

I've never blown a driver in any speaker I've owned in my whole life (and that's a lot of them).  Some people either have bad luck, or like their music super loud I guess.

prof,

Live levels sometimes. Soft on a Sunday morning; Saturday night we're rocking. Musicians listen "Live" all the time. I have a 100+ yr old  house and space so I do not annoy the neighbors. It is a brick Landmark Status. They do not build homes like this anymore. No kids. Take care of 10 feral cats ; they live outside .

How are you coming with your decision on 2.7 / 3.7s ?

Avalons are 12yrs old; no problems with the drivers. If I remember right, Kathy replaced 4 or 5 midrange and 2 Tweeters.

Best