Thiel Owners

Beetle - you and everyone else here has solved the Thiel Amp problem or you wouldn't love Thiel speakers. Indeed a high sound quality amp used within its comfort zone produces good music.

The problem introduced by amp-swapping is that there are many amps which don't produce good music when driving Thiel's low impedance load. Ask all those experts who say that Thiels are harsh, anemic, spikey, boomy, glarry, bright and so forth. You have a valid point. Specs aren't likely to tell what you need to know because amp specs show an extremely limited picture of the amp's interior workings.

As a broad generalization, Thiel speakers present low impedance, resistive load characteristics and many audiophile amps got better over the years in driving such loads. The brands presented here as successes are good bets.

Here's part of a note from a long-time Lexington Thiel insider:
Equipment he remembers from Nandino (Lex address):
" Levinson Transport/Dac Sonic Frontiers gold faceplate 2 chassis preamp, Levinson - Krell - Bryston Amps, when Dave Gordon was there you used some Audio Research.
Straightwire, Wireworld, Goertz, Kimber, Nordost cables  Another show did all Levinson with Kimber Select cables when they were introduced. Also you had the only pair of Kimber Black Pearl speaker cables (ones with the gel) I had ever seen or heard. I remember Jim liking the Nordost. Some dealers really liked the networked cables in Transparent or MIT (Progressive Audio). I tried Transparent but they always seemed to suck the life out of the music. I used Straightwire Maestro the longest. As far as amps I have used or heard that sounded good with Thiels: Ayre, Krell, Levinson, Threshold. I owned a B&K amp when I had CS2’s. Actually, one of the most musical sounds I ever had. When I moved to 3.6’s compared the B&K, Bryston & Levinson. The B&K was okay, the Bryston had a little better grip on bass but nothing dramatic over B&K. The Levinson brought the 3.6’s to life. I still think Krell was the best. Your comments about an amp that doubles down is definitely true if you want to hear what the speakers are capable of."

Cheers

My hearing issue is improving enough to get bits of listening in on my system (not too loud).

And on that note: I visited my pal’s place today because he currently has in the new Vivid Kiya speakers. He has many thousands of bucks worth of Nordost cabling, power conditioners etc. He switched a while back from tube amps to a Bryston 4B3. He’s happy. I find his system lost something I valued quite distinctly when he made that switch.

Anyway, listened to a bunch of tracks on the very expensive Vivids. In a nutshell: very vivid! More "transparent" sounding with super extended sounding high frequencies than I hear at home on my Thiel 2.7s.
It was super-fi in terms of clarity. I’ve heard Vivid speakers before, so this was more of the same.

But beyond that, as usual when I got home and whipped music on my Thiels powered by my big ol’ CJ 140W side tube monoblocks: wow what a difference. So much bigger, richer, so much more believable tone and organic quality. And despite that the Vivids are known for really "disappearing," which they did quite well from the low mids up, the Thiel system just whipped their butt in terms of a sense of soundstaging dimensionality, with solid images totally detached from the speakers. The same tracks with stand up bass on the Bryston driven Vivids sounded a bit boxy/speaker-bass to me, where on my Thiels, in my room, the bass just exists as a taught, natural instrument detached from the speakers top to bottom.


I missed that Thiel focus and density to the sound and imaging when I listened to the Vivids. Played some Johnny Cash on the Vivids and, while super clear, it was "hi-fi" sounding insofar as Cash’s voice just sounded artificial and a bit crispy around the edges. And the acoustic guitars, again, vivid, but bleached of tonal color. On the Thiels/CJ combo cash sounded like a human in front of me. And when the acoustic guitars came on on both sides, they sounded so much bigger, thicker and richer, and tonally it was "aaahhh...THAT’s that authentic acoustic guitar tone I was missing from the Vivids."

If anyone still had the idea that Thiels are bright, or thin or harsh sounding speakers, I can confidently declare a listen to them at my place would dispel that instantly. They are chameleons that you can make sound as you wish, via associated equipment, positioning, etc.
Just thought I’d share.

@prof, I completely agree that Thiels aren't remotely thin, bright or harsh.  My experience is mainly with the 2 2 and 3.7.  From what I've read both are on the warm side of the average Thiel.  That said, I can't imagine anyone finding either of them bright.  They're both very well balanced.  I find the 2 2 to be slightly warm and the 3.7 to be too close to call.  I think any deviation from neutral can be reversed by raising or lowering your seat a little.  I've powered the 2 2s with a Yamaha HT receiver and a B&K st202.  They aren't bright.  Anybody who says they are likes really rolled off highs or has some other axe to grind.  I haven't heard the 3.7s sound bright but I have heard them sound a little bit indistinct and soft in the bass.  That was remedied by doubling the power.  With enough power it's hard for me to imagine anyone finding significant fault with them.  They're fantastic all around performers. 

Happy Friday! All.