Thiel Owners

The never ending hunt for continuous improvement goes on... I'm thinking that I may want to change my amps (currently Bel Canto REF500M, which are REALLY nice amps) and I may want to try tubes again. Can you reliably drive a pair of CS2.4's with tube amps?

I'm using an Integrator and cutting at 50Hz before feeding the amps. Should make the speakers slightly easier to drive... A SS2 takes over below 50Hz.

Jan - I'm very interested in what you learn. You might consider a higher cut-off frequency. 50Hz is right at the impedance x phase reversal. See the Stereophile review. If you have stereo subwoofers for good signal directionality and can get to 70-80 Hz where the load becomes quite resistive, you would stress the amp less. I am speaking hypothetically, having never experimented myself. I hope some folks in this community can shed some light.

Tom, thanks for your input (always appreciate your insight!). It's easy enough for me to test with the Integrator. Just raise the crossover point. Unfortunately, I only have one SS2 (which is PLENTY for the room), but it's worth experimenting.

I'll let you know what I find with the current amps and then I might go ahead and try to borrow a tube amp from friends.

So I had to test it right away... :-)

The good news is crossed at 70Hz, I still can't locate the SS2, it's just perfectly blended without leaving a trace of it's location. Interesting unintended benefit is that the speakers opened up even more! Guess releasing the amps from the difficult load allows them to really make the CS2.4's sing. :-)

Next step is to find a suitable tube amp to test out. I have a friend with a Audio Research Ref75, just need to convince him to disconnect it and bring it over (usually doesn't take much...). :-)

Thanks for the info audiojan.

I've had my JL Audio subwoofers for a looong time but still haven't got around to really giving a good try to integrate them with my 2.7s, even though I also bought the JL Audio CR-1 crossover, and an anti-node processor (if I need it).  This subwoofer stuff is just such an involved hassle, I never find myself with the free time to put in to doing it.  Some day, hopefully.