Thiel Owners

Thank You Andy and Tom for the follow -on comments regarding Active/DSP speakers.  Happy Listening!

When a coherence claim is made I suggest getting the panel of test plots. Generally there will be some aspect that is compromised such as B&Ws progressive 180° phase shifts handed off through the range (second order slopes.) The smooth transition is called "coherent", etc., so you have to sort it out. Fourth order L-W slopes can be time corrected, but all the drivers end up with latency relative to the input, which causes its own form of digital ringing.

There are many successful design topologies. Phase-time coherence is something that we at Thiel along with Richard Vandersteen (independently) and a few others for short times, decided to pursue. It's a very difficult pursuit, and much ink has been spilled "proving" that it doesn't matter. If the others admitted it mattered, they would have to apologize for their product. But to those who 'get it', it does matter. I couldn't go back, no matter how sweet or luscious some $6 figure speaker sounds.

Do you really want to hear the crap from these dealers?

I wonder how much of this is a genuine expression versus sales pitch designed to sow seeds of audiophile doubt in hopes of getting you to buy new speakers. High-end audio is hurting. These brick and mortar stores are disappearing; manufacturers are struggling, too (compare numbers of ads in Stereophile now versus 15 years ago). The middle class is crushed, reducing the pool of potential buyers.

What do your ears tell you about your 3.6s?

I have no interest in active speakers. I’m confident my amp is far more capable than that in any active speaker. There have been *some* improvements in speakers over the past 10-20 years, namely carbon and beryllium diaphragms. But Thiel drivers are excellent even now, all the more so considering the price of speakers with exotic diaphragm material. My CS2.4s are probably my last speaker, almost certainly if my XO rebuild is successful.

last_lemmingGood to see you again. Thank You for the update. My understanding about owning B.A.T. gear is to obtain that Six-Pack Modification. You own a very nice system. How do you like the Parasound/B.A.T. combo?
Happy Listening

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The Parasound is better than ever now, but I think the reason has to do with the output/input matching of impedance of the preamp and amp.  I think the Six-Pak helped that relationship somehow.

I thought when I paired the BAT with the Parasound amp I was good, the stats as I understand them are:

The output impedance of the BAT is 1k ohm  (the manual says the amp must have a min. of 10k ohm input.

The Input for balanced connection on the Parasound is 66k ohm

beetlemaniaI know that your XO project / rebuild is going to become quite successful.
Happy Listening!