Thiel Owners

frozentundra,

It looks like you are using Thiel SCS4Ts with a subwoofer. Have you tried the more full range Thiel speakers without a subwoofer?

I came back to my Thiels after having Revel Ultima Salon2s in my system for a short while. To my ears and in my setup, they didn't come close to my 20 year old Thiel CS3.6s. The most obvious shortcomings were with timbre, bass impact and soundstage. Possibly it was bad synergy with my Audio Research Ref tube gear, but my wife totally and independantly agreed with me (she has no musical background and I don't consider her an audiophile, but she trusts her senses).

One day, I would really like to audition the Pass Labs classs A amps in place of my ARC Ref 150, but I don't have any dealers near me. Keep us updated on your adventures.

Jon

Excellent points - JonI, too, did not find Revel nor Aerial nowhere near appealing once I discovered Thiel. This turned out to be a good thing and saved me from making a poor purchase decision. There is something positive to be said for time-phase coherence. Vandersteen gets as close as possible, still, it is not Thiel.

Happy Listening!

Jeff,

Congrats on the Revel speakers. They have such good engineering (and science) behind them that it's almost a sure bet a Revel speaker will produce excellent sound.   While we may hear they are not to everyone's taste, it's very rare to see someone say a Revel speaker sounds bad.

I auditioned a number of Revel speakers recently seeing if I was going to replace my 3.7s (or even 2.7s).   All were extremely competent sounding - really even sounding and controlled top to bottom. The Revels seemed to me to perhaps come closest to what I heard at home with the Thiel 3.7s.   In the end I just preferred the Thiels. I'll be very curious to read what you think once you get the Revels.

Gents;

I originally wanted CS2.7’s and had heard them, but that was in 2012 or so

i could not take the scs4t’s unless the sub was running.  To thin on bottom
I knew that going in, when I bought them

I , had also, tried the F208’s at home( see pic) and highs were “ouch” with peachtee stuff. 200 watt ice class d & pre & bass so-so 

I went to a bunch of AXPONA shows and thought the Revel Ultima line was ok but, not much of low end...
mac amps, ml, Bryston, amps etc
Bryston was nice bottom end, but high end was “ ouch”

In Florida I heard them with Pass Stuff 
holy crap
what a difference amps have with speakers 

Anyway , Up and running with sub 
and I gotta say:  the be tweeter is very resolving and smooth
with the CJ ET3 and NOS tubes
( Thiel was pretty hashy, till I did the CJ, too)

 I’m pretty happy so far, Full, accurate and resolving....

I know this is “ blasphemy “, but the sweet spot is bigger than the Thiel and bigger soundstage 

so, Far the full range Studio2 is pretty nice, way better than the F208’s 
Treble is really, really, good

Time will tell
what a hobby! !!

Jeff

frozentundra
Much Thanks! for the over-view on factors that you are trying to accomplish. Several of you guys across many Audio forums are using Pass Labs/Conrad Johnson. The ET-3 is sweet. The ET-3SE is even sweeter. Are you tube rolling?
Happy Listening!