Thiel Owners

Jim dismissed the pluses because he couldn’t get past the minus of insufficient deep bass control.

Understandable, especially from his designer perspective.

The reason I’ve held on to the Premier 12s all this time is because Michael Fremer’s old stereophile review nailed the character of these amps. They have that mid-band lushness, upper frequence glow/sparkle/aliveness and yet produce taught and controlled sounding bass with every single speaker I’ve ever owned. I never feel compromised with "tube bass" in terms of a flabbiness or lack of control. As I’ve written, the 3.7s on my CJ amps had the most controlled and coherent bass I’ve ever heard.

The CJ Premier 12 amps are still expensive to buy used and expensive to re-tube when necessary. I would think a Premier 11 (the stereo version) would be a very nice substitute, and a fantastic amplifier to hear with the CS3.7s, also. I love CJ and I love ARC. I am currently using Audio Research Classic 120 mono amps with my CS3.7. They make a simply magical combination. But I am sure a CJ Premier 11 (or pair of Premier 12)  would be stiff competition.

Hello all!

Anyone here have any experience or thoughts on Class D amplification with our Thiels? As I continue to wait and research my eventual move to monoblocks, I must admit, the thought of something from Bel Canto, Theta Digital, Jeff Rowland, PS Audio or Audio Research’s DS450M (would mate well with the rest of my tubed ARC gear) has been gaining traction in my mind solely for the Class D’s promise of energy efficiency.

Appreciate any thoughts...

Arvin

arvincastro,

I have been very pleased with how the PS Audio Stellar M700 Monoblocks match up with my Thiel 2.2 speakers. Bass control and impact are excellent, and the mids and highs are dynamic and highly musical. Of course, the overall sound is also influenced by the Stellar Gain Cell DAC/Pre that feeds my M700s. At the same time, I have heard nothing but positive comments about how well a tube preamp can work with the M700s and with Thiels in general, so I'm sure your tube gear would mate well with class D monoblocks.

Arvincastro - my comments might be from left field, since I don't have much direct comparison to hi fi gear. For my work upgrading classic Thiels, I wanted 3 dissimilar amps for cross-checking upgrades. My main amps are Classe DR-6 pre and a pair of DR-9 power amps, which I have used for 30 years, know very well, and mate well with Thiels. In 1990 they were pretty decent entry-level high end with strong reviews. In addition I recently bought an Adcom GFA-555mkII, which to me represents a mid-fi amp with some hi-fi cred. My reference amp settled as a pair of Benchmark AHB-2s. That amp is primarily a pro amp, turns up in a lot of mixing and mastering studios, plus got Class A ratings from Stereophile, Absolute Sound, etc. Its claim to fame is absolute neutrality and vanishing distortion in a small, affordable, Class H package. I don't know what hi-fi aficionados think of it; I have asked here to no response, and I haven't seen it in the chatter. I am pleased with it as a colorless, honest straight wire with gain. FWIW.