Thiel CS2.4 to what?

audiojan, the amps I am considering are the Bel Canto 600 Ref monos, Parasound JC1 monos, Pass Labs 150 INT, Benchmark AHB2 run in mono. I'm strictly a non-streaming digital guy, so front end will be PS Audio DAC and Transport.

audiojan
Thank You for the update.  Happy Listening!

So on a whim I listened to a pair of Audio Physic Avanti 3 (not really a whim as my buddy has a pair of AP Virgo 2's) and the Thiel CS2.4's are now moved into storage. The AP does everything as well as the Thiels, but are smoother (without losing details) and I have never experienced speakers that can simply "disappear" like the AP's can. I'm VERY happy with them.

It's a shame to keep the CS2.4's in storage (although it's in a finished attic, so not much of a storage per se) so I will get them up for sale. The only thing I had to give up with the AP's is that they're in Cherry, not the Maple that makes the 2.4's look so darn awesome!

audiofan,

I’m a long time Audio Physic fan - have had in my room or owned the Virgo 2, Libra and Scorpio models, as well as having heard plenty other audio physic speakers. (I auditioned the latest Avanti as well this year).

I agree, the AP characteristic of disappearing as a sound source is intoxicating. They are very hard to beat. The only speakers I’ve had that do as well (aside from my MBL omnis) were my Thiel 3.7s. The 3.7s disappeared pretty much as fully as any AP speaker I’ve heard, if not more all the way to the bottom.

(But they were visually/ergonomically too big for my room so I sold them and keep my Thiel 2.7s, which soundstage really nicely but don't disappear as fully as the larger 3.7s).

For my money, the Virgo 2s had a magic tone that AP never quite recreated. The problem for me was always their bass - it was a bit coloured and wooly in a certain region that I could never get rid of.

What I love about audio physic speakers - especially in the old days - is that they managed the hard trick of totally disappearing, maintaining incredibly fine detail, yet doing so with a warm tone that really gave a convincing warm sparkle to acoustic guitar, a woodiness to wood instruments, etc.

They are a truly great speaker brand. And frankly the Audio Physic Codex is one I’ve wanted to hear, and I had urges to grab the Audio Physic Avantera speakers advertised on audiogon a while back.

@prof, Audio Physic can be wooly unless you give them lots of space and an amp that can control them. I would actually argue that the Avanti 3's are just as magical as the Virgo 2, but just more of everything (better highs, deeper soundstage, deeper bass and more than anything else faster bass) and will completely disappear. I can speak from personal experience as we brought my buddies Virgo 2's over to compare them.

I've heard some of the newer AP models and although they're great, they definitely do lack the magic of the old ones. It's really like a different company after Joachim Gerhardt left.