Thiel Owners
pwhinson, Did you ever figure out that electronic digital glare/sound experienced while auditioning the 9H loudspeakers? I believe that I was hearing the same effect earlier this week with the BlueSound Node2 / Bryston Pi playing ROON/Tidal files? I did not detect any extraneous "sound" while playing CDs on the same system. Happy Listening! |
Disagree, unsound, with wholesale dismissal of multiple brands known to work with Thiels, including those with sub 4 ohm impedance. It’s complicated to predict the interaction between impedance and phase angle, never mind how the partnering amp will interplay. The measurements can flag models unlikely to work and those likely to work but there is a large in-between that can only be known by listening. Also, there is the room and the listener’s preference. The Ayre AX-7 drove my CS1.6 louder than I cared for as does my AX-5 drive my CS2.4. In responding to a PM from jafant, I estimate my personal upper limit of comfort at the listening position (9’ away) to be about 85 dB. There’s about another 12 dB available before clipping with my particularly combo of amp and DAC. My experience with the CS7.2 was also powered by Ayre, either a V-1 or V-5. And my CS3.7 demo was in the Rowland room at RMAF. Wes Phillips reported that his 35 W Fisher wasn’t his first choice for the CS2.4 but “it didn’t acquit itself too badly”. General guidance of amp brands is useful but not any more so than actual reports from users who have tried specific combos of Thiel and amp. Even for the CS5, I’m confident that there are suitable amps from most of the brands you mentioned. |
I listened to a pair of Harbeth super HL5 plus tonight and I think these may take my Thiels' spots. Definitely a non-fatiguing sound, with the best ability to separate individual instruments of my listening so far. Also the best chamber music and jazz trio presentation, with a palpable sense of the players in the room. I've heard better renditions of the Tympani shots in Sibelius 1/Scherzo, but i could pick out the instruments, hear the wood in the strings, and feel the venue. I discovered some new information in each of my audition tracks. And, important for us apartment dwellers, they still drew me in at low volumes For those interested, the other equipment was Aurender-Backert Rhumba-Bryston 4B cubed. |
@ronkent, I've posted much of this before on this thread, but here it is again: https://www.stereophile.com/content/thiel-cs24-loudspeaker-measurements Notice that the Thiel CS 2.4's spend the vast majority of their time "..significantly below 4 Ohms between 100 Hz and 50Khz.." with a challenging phase angle to boot. https://www.psaudio.com/products/bhk-signature-amplifier/#tab-specs Notice that PS Audio only indicates that at 2 Ohms the BHK 250 is only "Stable for musical transients". That's a rather low bar for these speakers, basically saying that the amp won't blow up if briefly exposed to 2 Ohm loads. No mention of how much power and for how long it can deliver that power into that load. Well, never mind "...musical transients" we can see from above that the Theil CS 2.4's practically live in that impedance region. Now the BHK 300 seem to be spec'd much more up to the task, though the amps are not quite doubling down to 2 Ohms. So one is paying for some unused power over the vast majority of the time. Still this would appear to be a pretty good match. Notice the last sentence: "....,though it will perform best with speakers having and impedance of 4 Ohms and above.-John Atkinson I have no doubt that these are fine amplifiers, and that they can provide much enjoyment, but at nearly $15K I think one could find amplification better suited to the demands of speakers like the Thiel CS 2.4's I don't mean to pick on PS audio (FWIW, I'm quite impressed with their digital products, though they are rather expensive), similar results can be found on many of the other highly touted amplifiers. |
