Thiel Owners

Regarding amplification, either I don’t listen as loudly as others or your Thiel models are especially difficult loads. When I had CS1.6s, i drove them with an Ayre AX-7; 60 W into 8 ohms, doubling into 4 ohms. That amp had plenty of balls to drive the 1.6 to any SPL I cared for. Sounded terrific other than a distortion in the upper midrange or low treble with certain recordings of female vocalists. Pretty sure this was from the Thiels and not the Ayre. My room is 18x19 with a vaulted ceiling and two large openings on the rear wall.

I’ve now moved up the chain to CS2.4SE driven by an Ayre AX-5: 125 W into 8 ohms, doubling into 4. Again, this “modest” amp has plenty of guts to drive the Thiels as loud as I care for without any sense of clipping or distress. YMMV.

That said, the impedance curve for the 5 certainly looks like a challenging load and I would pair that with something capable of delivering more current.

beetlemania
Absolutely!  There are other owners of the CS 2.4 that uses an Ayre AX-7 to drive without issue.  No doubt that the AX-5 is a very capable integrated amp as well.  Thank You for your input.
As above, we know that the big and heavy hitters (Classe' Krell, Mark Levinson and Pass Labs) can accomplish the job.
I believe that it is safe to report that Ayre and Bryston are worthy contenders to add to our Power Amp list as well. I would not mind seeing a few additional Integrated amp(s) making the grade.

Happy Listening!

beetlemania,

It's a very simple printed circuit board. Rob suggested connecting the leads to the new caps to other components that are connected to the same point on the circuit, which can be done without removing the board completely, though as I said, it makes the installation a bit difficult for one who doesn't do this sort of thing regularly. I did document what I did with photos and written notes, if anyone is interested. Not sure where I'd post it, though. It's in pdf format.

First I don't mean to take this thread off topic.  Maybe just slightly side way.  But has anyone heard a speaker with concentric midrange/tweeter?   I can think of Kef but I personally have not heard it myself.

The reason I asked is that I am trying to narrow down the unique sound signature of the Thiel?  Would you say is it because of its time-coherent design or is it because of its concentric drivers?

rojacob
Thank You for sharing your information here. It is good to learn that we have another DIY guy on the panel.  Happy Listening!