arvincastro,
I was a child of the 60's and grew up in the heyday of the "receiver wars" - Pioneer, Kenwood, Sansui, Marantz to name perhaps the most popular brands. Prior to becoming able to afford any one of those my family's "stereo" was a Magnavox console driven by tubes, LP only - no radio, no nothing.
I still own a Pioneer SX1050 as well as a Marantz 2252B receiver, both of which are currently being employed and enjoyed as my girlfriend's sources of music in her house. In her living room the Pioneer is mated to a fairly cosmetically compromised pair of Meadowlark Kestrels, a manufacturer that shared an appreciation for coherent sound like Jim Thiel. The setup still surprises me as to how damn good it sounds. Those old receivers still rock.
I do believe that I stumbled upon this site looking for another piece of "vintage" equipment. It's going on five years membership here now, and I think at the time I had a Cayin integrated amp rated at around 30 watts or so per channel, with a pair of Klipsch CF-3 loudspeakers that I purchased just around the corner from my new house. (circa 1994) Since discovering Audiogon it's been all downhill...
I'm joking of course.
I began with CS2.2, then CS2.3, until my first pair of CS3.5 about....4 years ago, methinks. I drove to Massachusetts to pick them up. While I liked both of the earlier models, it was the CS3.5 which really upgraded my system. There have been only two manufacturers that have made me stop in my tracks walking back to my seat while starting the music, one is, obviously, Thiel, the other Magnepan. What these brands do so damn well for me negates any "shortcomings" of either - they reproduce music, not sound. IMHO.
Anyway...that's when I began buying stuff here. I was curious. You know the drill.
So...in order of preference with Thiel...
Amplification:
First Watt M2 - low powered solid state that got me addicted to Pass Labs. Bought it, within a month traded it back for the Pass Labs X150.5 amp.
Pass Labs X150.5 - 150 watts into 8 ohms, 300 watts into 4 ohms, plenty enough for my CS3.5's. Incredible improvement to my system. Colorless amp, colorless speakers. Truly the best match so far.
Primare A34.2 integrated - class D, 150 watts into 8 ohms, "almost 300" into 4 ohms. (Actual quote from Primare when I inquired.) Don't let anyone tell you that class D amps aren't suited for Thiel - they ARE. The reason I traded that off was because I could not employ the CS3.5 bass equalizer without...I forget. It was a pain in the ass. I had separates before where gettin git in there was easier.
Conrad Johnson MF2200, 2100 - very punchy and low-mid emphasized. CJ seemed to hold something back through the Thiels. Can be had pretty cheaply here from time to time. Mated with two different ARC preamps and still...
McIntosh 6700 Receiver - 200 watts per channel, and $6700 ill-spent. Like so many of us McIntosh continued to have a hold on my imagination over the years. Didn't have it long.
McIntosh MC275 Mark VI amplifier - loved it, but when a tube blew within a week I contacted McIntosh directly and related the problem to some "customer service" person who simply made me aware of the fact that didn't manufacture the tubes. I responded, "well they have the word McIntosh screened onto them, so..." Thanks to Dave Wasserman at Stereo Exchange in NYC for stepping into assist me - but I was done. With McIntosh forever. Feh!
As far as you're concerned I would suggest staying away from the "vintage" gear out there with the only exception being Threshold. As I related in my earlier post, I thought my Threshold's power meters were malfunctioning, but when the gent whom I sold it to told me they were working fine I realized I just wasn't pushing it for them to register. Somewhere amidst all of this swapping in and out I had an Adcom and it pulsed my speakers on startup. Whoosh! Away it went.
Regarding preamps, I truly lean toward Audio Research in that regard. To my ears they provided punch to the various amps I was using. (And there are more....) I also enjoyed a passive preamp for a while - I forget the brand - and with the Pass and the passive pre the Thiels were remarkably brilliant, if not as "forward" sounding as before.
Oh yes, with all due haste I do have to mention that when I had separates I changed all my cabling over to Transparent. I had something of a mish-mosh of cabling prior, but after reading what jafant espouses here regarding cables I thought, "Why the hell not? Everything else I've learned from this forum has had value to one extent or another..." I also think Goertz cables work very well with Thiel.
This IS a great forum. Folks here have truly helped me out in many, many, ways. unsound, mapman, jafant - to name a few - have all assisted me in bettering my stuff. I appreciate it.
Happy new year Thiel lovers!
