Thiel Owners

@tomthiel
I am surprised by your Lex v FST listening results. And this seems to confound the upgrade path I imagined. On the one hand, FST owners will be relieved that their sound is not necessarily diminished by those parts (good news). But on the other, Lex owners may be looking at retaining fewer parts in the upgrade, increasing costs (bad news). Perhaps the Lex coils are the only parts worth salvaging?

Beetle - I say that I don't yet know enough to make any calls of good or bad news. As time goes by I will compare notes with Rob and others and get more solid footing. I did not mean to imply that Lex was inferior. In fact I hear an overall rightness and musicality in Lex compared with an overall analytic precision in FST. Shades of allure. 

I am learning about specific alloys, materials and methods in the various parts and over time will be able to make educated choices among the extant parts. For example: remember our cap noise test which revealed no noise? Such tests, including listening, will identify re-usable vs non-re-usable parts. As I introduce upgrade parts, my knowledge base will grow. 

Such is the collective institutional knowledge of a company or designer. That knowledge is quite weak in Thiel-land today. But, progress is being made, albeit slowly. Getting started is the hardest part.

Your thoughts on 2.4 upgrade vs all-FST might be of interest to the group.

tomthiel,

I listened to both the 3.7 and 2.7 in my dealer's showroom, using several of my own CDs.  I'd listened to these CDs over several years with my Thiel 3.5s, so I might have developed a certain mind-set as to what I wanted in a new pair of Thiels. 

My "review" CDs were from the classical  genre - - symphonies, concertos, chorales, operas, requiems, instrumental trios and quartets and organ.   I went back four times to listen.   

Yes, the 3.7 had a more extended bass, but I preferred the 2.7s way it handled the upper bass and lower midrange.   So, I settled on the 2.7s with an SS2.2 sub.  Cost/price, or appearance, were not  considerations.

I certainly might be missing something, as I haven't listened to modern jazz, rock, heavy metal or synthesized music, etc. through a high fidelity stereo system.  Just classical music through my two channel rig - - from 78s through 45s, LPs, 1.5 reel-to-reel, to CDs. In the mono years, I built my own speakers, using JBL, Altec-Lansing and Tannoy drivers. 
 
BTW: I got my love of music listening to Enrico Caruso on 78 Victor Red Seals, played on a wind-up Victrola with cactus needles. There's been quite a bit of progress in recording/playback capabilities  since then.

George 






, 

I'm feeling extra lucky to have what I believe are an early pair of 3.7s.  I bought them used in 2012 and the SNs on the boxes were 41 and 42.  Whatever was on the speakers themselves is completely gone.  I just shone a flashlight directly on them and couldn't see anything.  I'm no golden ear but these have cured my desire to upgrade.  The only things they don't do are the deepest bass and crazy loud.  My other system with ATC110s and Velodyne DD18 does that and then some so I want for nothing.  

jafant

 In addition to your own preamp,  see if you can get them to use a "settled in" Bryston BP17 cubed preamp  with the 4B cubed amplifier.    The 17 preamp made a difference with my 4BSST2. Smoother and cleanly-defined upper midrange and highs, particularly  in the soprano voice and violins. 

Just a thought.