Thiel Owners

I've always been nervous about having speakers shipped so I tend to constrict my inquiries to "local" sellers.  I just had a gent drive up from Tennessee to pick up a pair of Alon ll's that I had for a month - now THAT's audiophile!  (But that's another thread altogether, ain't it?)

Audiogon, Thiel, damn you!  Since becoming a member you have driven me to an enjoyable madness.  I hasten to add that all of the stuff I have bought over the last few years were attempts to find the "right" matches for my Thiels. It was never, "gee, these speakers kinda suck" as it was "gee, these speakers need better stuff" even though they immediately made my room sound better no matter what amp I had at the time. 

McIntosh, Musical Fidelity, Primare, Threshold, Simaudio, BAT, GAS, Pass Labs, Conrad Johnson, Audio Research (pre only)  - each have had their go at my 3.5's. This quest has had its ups and downs, I wish I still had my Pass X150.5 to see how it would do with my 3.6's now. I moved to an integrated recently because I grew weary of all the wires and NASA type startup procedures involved with separates, but who knows what the future and/or opportunities may present?  

Of the aforementioned amps etc the Pass amp/BAT pre combo was, IMHO, perhaps the best. (CS3.5)  I also liked the ARC preamps I employed - brighter than the BAT yes, but I like bright more than most. At this point in time a Pass INT 150 remains out of my reach financially. Used they're going for upwards of $6k. My BATVK300xse integrated is doing swell right now. 

The difference between the 2.2 and 2.3's I had was minimal. The difference between the 2.3's and 3.5's was not - it was a much more obvious difference, and all good. The difference between the 3.5's and 3.6's is immediately obvious - very different, but all good. What an amazing product Thiel is. 

Damn. Now I'm thinking 3.7's...


You b*st*rds!

I’m curious how many 3.7’s Thiels were built before closing down their production line. 

Thanks for the warm welcome and positive encouragement on the speaker shipping!

I'm figuring out how to set up my virtual system... but, it's basically a rag-tag group of vintage components that have somehow learned to play nice with each other and actually sound really great with my 3.5. My analog front end features a direct-drive JVC al-y7 turntable with an AT oc9ii cart. Digital source is a Pioneer Elite (upside-down) CD transport into a Schiit DAC. My preamp is an all tube VTL 5.5, and the amps are a pair of 1963 Sherwood a-5500 iv in bridged mono, feeding about 160w per channel into 4ohms. Interconnects are Monster Sigma retro golds and Speaker cables are Straightwire Serenades. As far as power I have everything hooked up to a 20amp Equitech son of Q, with several power cords from jps labs and Acoustic Zen. Like I said, strange group of components that actually sound quite musical together.. especially through THIELS ;)

Jon,
thanks for not holding a grudge. After all we're all fellow Thielistas! Also, thanks for the link. Some very interesting reading on JTs design philosophy. 

arniespin

It's sales like the one you got that will drive down the price of my 3.7s if I have to sell them!! ;-)

Lucky guy.

Sounds like you are well set up for the 3.7s.  I'll be really curious what you think.  I'm driving mine with 140W of conrad johnson tube power and they are controlled beautifully from top to bottom.  The 3.7s are a bit overdamped in the bass relative to a lot of other big speakers, which actually makes them easier to place in real rooms.  You can really modulate the sound via placement (like most speakers).  I tend to prefer a nearer placement (I'm about 6 to 7 feet from mine) and the 3.7s remain coherent close up (the coincident mid/tweeters and their wide bandwidth certainly help that). 

The 3.7s sound smooth either toed in or toed out - the more you toe in (again like many speakers) the brighter and more focused the sound.
I actually prefer the Thiels widely spaced, facing essentially straight ahead, with just about no toe in.  The sound becomes much bigger, more spacious, with more dimensionality and depth to the imaging, but also a warmer, richer tone. 

I'm curious what positioning will work best for you.