Thiel Owners

@jafant:  not sure I ever answered your question about changing the distance between the speakers...yes a huge difference, much better imaging, wider soundstage, more holographic, NO problem with centerfill at all, images come from mid-way between the speakers all the way to just outside the speakers.  Imaging and fine detail including fine detail in quiet portions of the music increased dramatically when I changed over to pass amplification.  Huge thumbs up on that for me.  

BTW this Thursday I’m getting an in-home audition of the Paradigm Persona 9H which another poster in this forum seemed to think gets closer to the "rightness" in terms of timbre and tone that my Thiels give me. Its my first venture outside the Thiel family to try to get to to that "final speaker" for this 61 year old. Of course another audiophile asked me if such a thing actually exists and I can tell you for certain that you WILL have a final speaker of some sort! I’m fortunate enough to be able to at least consider some of the best. I have a short list of other products to hear but I’m going to have to go out of town to hear them. Its sad that today’s high end can only be heard in all its diversity in only our 3 or 4 largest cities. There you can find anything. I’m in a city of 7 million (Atlanta) and the dealers we have are really good but there are only a handful of speaker designers represented. If you want either Vandersteen or Von Schweikert Atlanta has you covered. Others, not so much. While the 9H is expensive you have to remember that even the Vandersteen Quattros are now up to $15K pair.

beetlemania
Thank You for the update from your end. Outstanding detail in the recent post. I am excited to hear the upgrade path that you have explored and integrated into the SE.  Happy Listening!

pwhinson
Thank You for the follow up. I had a feeling that moving the speakers a margin apart could make a positive difference in presentation and sound within your excellent system.  Thumbs up indeed.

Happy Listening!

pwhinson
I concur with your assessment of Atlanta regarding dealers/retailers.
I have watched, for many years, Audio shop after shop closing their doors? The few that are operational do a very good job for us consumers.
You are correct in that only a few speaker brands are represented city-wide. I am looking forward in reading about the in-home demo with Paradigm.

Happy Listening!