Thiel Owners

beetlemania...
Your post regarding driving your CS2.4's was MOST appreciated at this moment because I am about to tender an offer on a pair that's available locally here in New York.  (not the SE version) I just sold my Audio Research DSi200 integrated to assist funding it.  The seller is asking $1800. I'm offering $1400 - we'll see what develops.
My listening levels are pretty much in line with your own.  While I do listen at louder levels every once in a while,  most of my listening is done very conservatively.  Example:  I once sold a Threshold amplifier at a serious discount because I thought the meters were broken.  After the sale the buyer contacted me to say nothing was wrong - I just never listened loudly enough to get the meters moving.
At this moment I am once again enjoying the Maggie experience.  I love Maggies and I love Thiel.  My Maggie MMGi's frequency response is 50hz - 20khz - not much downstairs at my preferred listening volume.  Pushed a little bit,  just above that zone they do fill in nicely.  I can feel the bass.  But at lower volume...I find myself wanting.

Thiels do a much better job at reproducing that "feel" of the bass at lower listening levels - at least IMHO.  I'd keep these Maggies otherwise,  but this pair of 2.4's is tantalizing.
I'll be keeping the Belles 250i integrated.  Based on my previous experience with Thiel and Magnepan I just know this will be a fine synergy.  This Belles is outstanding.

Happy Friday! All

@oblgny 

If those 2.4s have undamaged drivers and 7+ cabinet they are probably worth the asking price. Doesn’t matter about the SE or not. Most of the SE features were cosmetic (the finish *is* stunning). The only change affecting the sonics was use of Clarity Cap SAs on the coax feeds. In fact, some older 2.4s might have otherwise higher parts quality than the SE. Regardless, I promise you Tom Thiel’s upgrade will be head and shoulders beyond that. 

I recently had the opportunity to hear a couple of uber $peaker$ and the experience confirmed my impressions: in terms of resolution, transparency, soundstaging, and neutrality, my modded 2.4s sound as good as the best I’ve heard.

Not surprisingly, the 2.4s can’t match the bass performance of $$$ designs. And not simply bass extension (the 2.4 has energy down to about 30 cycles which covers nearly all musical content). In particular, a sealed box design I heard has a clear step up on the Thiel’s passive radiator. Bass definition/ articulation was notably better via sealed box. That said, I consider the passive radiator to have a good mix of tradeoffs considering their price point (when I got the 2.4s, the first thing I noticed was tighter bass compared to my Vandersteen 2Ce Sig IIs).

The uber designs also have a more tangible image density. One speaker, retailing for about $80k, had an unbounded, open sound that was exquisite. And I’ve previously  heard a $peaker that recreated the sense of hall space on live recordings in a way that no other has.

Would I trade my 2.4s for the $80k model? Yes, I would. Can I afford the $80k model? Not even close! It’s quite amazing how much SQ Jim Thiel brought to regular working people. The 2.4 is a speaker that working class people can realistically afford. And Tom Thiel’s XO upgrade brings the performance on par with the best I’ve heard in the parameters that are most important to me: resolution and transparency. The weaknesses I outlined above are minor. The $$$ designs showed me a few places where they outperform my 2.4s but they never left me feeling my speakers are broken or deficient in any way. I just bliss out to music on a system that is paid for!

Highly recommended :)

Beetlemania...

The speakers appear to be in good to very good shape cosmetically except for one speaker having some imperfections at the base. The drivers appear to be in excellent shape - at least via the photos supplied. The buyer has 100% positive feedback on eBay - as do I,  so I’m going to sleep on it and make the decision in the morning.  


The seller countered with $1550. Methinks that’s the best I can expect to hear for these. You’ve pointed out a lot of what impressed me about Thiel from my first pair of 2.2.  And now, with the option of upgrading them via Tom Thiel - down the road a bit - I will be able to restate that Thiel is an investment, not a purchase. 


Thanks for the the additional info.