Thiel Owners

jafant, It's interesting to think about what an ideal location for a retailer might be.  40 years ago I bet a pretty high percentage of people walking into Audio Consultants were people who lived in the neighborhood.  I bet now almost none of them are.  Certainly not the ones buying the expensive stuff.  I bet they're mostly taking special trips to the store and it makes almost no difference where the store is as long as it's in the greater Chicagoland area.  I was just poking around and F1 audio is moving to just south of where the Libertyville Audio Consultants was located on the same street.  They'll be in a shopping center kitty corner to a former United Audio/Tweeter.  There must be some demand around here.  The only thing in the area that interests me is the SS3 in Libertyville on audiogon.  I don't need it, can't justify it, won't buy it, but I want it.  

Happy Friday! All

For those looking for good equipment to power their Thiels speakers without robbing the bank ;-)

Thorough review by Christiaan Punter regarding the following components of Audio-GD (exactly the same set I use)

Audio-GD Master-1 preamplifier
Audio-GD Master-3 power amplifier
Audio-GD R8 ladder DAC 

https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/digital-reviews/spdif-dac-reviews/audio-gd-part1/

Conclusion

I’ll be honest: I think that the R8 DAC is the star of the show, sounding very nearly as good as the Aqua Formula xHD DAC which given its low price is an amazing achievement. But don’t assume that the Master 1 preamp and Master 3 power amp are mere bystanders. This pre-power pair also offers extremely good value for money, delivering a combination of transparency, neutrality, and even-handedness that is normally impossible in this price class. I think you can easily spend double the amount and not get better sound. But the most amazing aspect of all is perhaps the further increase in performance when all the components are wired using the proprietary ACSS connections, giving the system such a leap in performance that it becomes impossible to fault, even in the company of esoteric hardware. Oh, and should you still be worried about the build quality of these products then the 10-year (!) warranty should instill confidence.