Thiel Owners

@cascadephil  

Thanks.

Bryston 3BST / Bryston BP20 has been my amp / preamp combo since 2004.   Been driving CS 2.4s since 2011.  Before that CS .5s.    When I purchased used pair, my dealer still had brand new CS 2.4s on the floor, and was my Bryston dealer as well.  Made it much easier to audition  both the speakers and the ampflication, as well as the pairing.  Won't be so easy next time around.  And my local dealer just retired and closed his doors.  Been thinking that should I move on from the 3BST, should I entertain going with an integrated, and if so what integrated.  In that regard Hegel has been on my radar.  Hence my question.

I had a Bryston 3BST in the secondary system (along with an Odyssey Candela preamp and a Meitner MA-1 DAC) driving Ohm Microwalsh Talls (augmented by a Rel Strata III sub).  I had a friend bug me about Class D in the summer of 2017.  I had last seriously listened to them at the Capital Audiofest in 2015 and I thought they had gotten better but not quite there yet.  I told him I would look again at RMAF in 2017 and that I'd probably get one as I had multiple systems and I was sure by this point I could at a minimum replace something like the Emotiva XPA-200 I had in one system.  I ended up getting the Mivera SE amp.  I broke it in using the secondary system and just put it in place of the Bryston 3BST.  It smoked it right out of the box (was shocked by that much of a difference and surprised how much better the system sounded - always thought the speakers were more limited but was wrong).  I ended up using that (the Mivera, where it bested the Modwright amp - even more shocking and I had a Bryston 14BSST before the Modwright) in the main system.  I traded the Modwright amp for the Hegel (then sold off the amp, preamp and DAC I had in that secondary system) and then I got the EVS amp and moved the Mivera and sold off the Emotiva amp.  I still use the Mivera in the main system for HT (my main system in an integrated AV system and it is a pain to get behind it so it is easier to move the Mivera which drives the 3.7s with ease).  I wanted to get a higher end Hegel that had a less limited USB but just couldn't justify it for the secondary system.  I'm sure Hegel would drive Thiels quite nicely.

I used an Ayre AX-7 to drive my CS1.6s and now using an AX-5 with my CS2.4s. Very happy with both pairings. Measurements can give a hint but listening is only way to know.

Happy Friday! All

Hello again. My last post was in August when I talked about my newly acquired CS6's and the fact that one of them had a woofer with a dented dust cap. Tom and a couple other members gave some advise about using a vacuum cleaner or tape (Ron G. recommended the same things) but none of that worked. Whatever material that cone is made of is very stiff and didn't want to move. Due to my audiophile OCD I was seriously considering getting it repaired even though it sounded OK.

Well, through sheer stupidity and carelessness, I solved the problem. I was hooking up my Denon Blu Ray player to my PS Audio DAC and didn't mute the preamp. I sent a few seconds of loud digital hash through the speakers and blew one of the woofers. Fortunately the woofer that fried was the one with the dent. I called Ron at CSS and he patiently helped me through the process to get the woofer removed and sent in for repair. When I finally got it sent to him the turnaround was very fast. My speakers were out of commission for the last few months but last week I reinstalled the rebuilt driver and my CS6's are back in action!

In the meantime I worked my way through this entire thread and I have to say that this has been like a 400 level course on speaker design and construction (not to mention amps, cables, etc). Virtually all of the discourse has been constructive and based on first-hand experience. Thanks so much to Tom and the other knowledgeable participants in this forum. This has made me appreciate my Thiels (and Thiel owners) even more.

BTW, SNs are 1537 & 1538, Morado finish.

I will make some subsequent posts regarding my amateur speaker surgery and other relevant observations but again, thanks to all who have generously contributed your experience and knowledge. This is hands-down the best audio discussion I have ever seen in my 40+ years of this hobby.