Thiel Owners

Many moons ago, when a friend worked at high end shop, I helped deliver and set-up various things over a 6 year period.  Like the 1.7s.  I wouldn't mind finding a used pair at some point (I look from time to time.  I have a couple of secondary systems in small/average sized rooms they would work very well in.  They were rated at 4 ohms (3 minimum and 87db) like my MCS1 I use as a center channel and like the two pair of SCS2s I have as side and back surrounds.  I use s receiver to drive the center and surrounds and it doesn't have an issue.  They are certainly not as hard to drive as 3.7s or my old 7.2s (which were really tough).  I would, however, get a decent amp if I got them as main channels. 

My thiel system is the adcom 5800 with AudioQuest type 9 cables I’m planning on getting. The amp will change to a krell fpb 300 or luxman m700/900u in the future.

Aloha Folks!  Been a long time and quite a bit has changed.  One thing that hasn't is the love of music!

Picked up a Krell FBI that has been freshly checked over.  This hooked up to 2.7's is another few notches up from a MSB Analog to Bryston 7BST setup.  So much so I'm putting the Brystons up for sale.  I went back and forth between the Krell and the MSB/Bryston setup and it is so much different for the better in my room with my musical tastes.

The Krell FBI is the one that is a FPB-300CX with a builtin preamp.

Also picked up a pair of the Sound Anchors for the 3.6's.  Rock solid foundation and I feel much better about them not tipping over as easily now.  The Sistrum stands look great but my are they expensive!  Anyone done a side by side with various stands?

Well it was a car long journey to pick up my new Thiel CS3.7. A stop at IKEA for some kid shopping and a little driving day dreaming made it longer trip than expected. 

I am testing the speakers out now in my small office (see virtual systems for some old photos). In my treated room with my Benchmark gear, specifically the AHB2. The speakers do not seem to hit as hard as I remember. It also does not sound that much better than my KEF LS50's with the same Benchmark gear (a match made in heaven). It has more bass but the sound seems a little inhibited. On a scale of a 100. If the LS50 is a 60 the CS3.7 with the AHB2 seems like a 75. 

My room is not idea for a speaker like the CS3.7 but I am not getting any fatigue even though I am playing music a little louder than normal. Maybe my room is a bit dead.

Currently playing Van Halen debut. I can feel the bass notes hitting me but it does not seem that powerful. Now this could be an attribute of the amp. Some reviews of the AHB2 were mentioning that the bass tends to sound leaner. I think this sound is taking me back to my demo of the Magico A3 with a single AHB2 which I did not like. Though the CS3.7 sounds better than the A3 with the AHB2. The A3 was also in a much bigger room. Many factors that could be the cause of this difference.

Now when I demoed these speakers a decade ago with top end Classe gear it was a religious experience (a 99/100). The second best speaker demo I ever had (KEF Blade #1).  This is not what I am hearing now. It sounds very good but not incredible. I know incredible is hidden in these speakers.

I am getting a microphone next week to do some measurements. I will work with Mitch Barnett from Accurate Sound to create some Convolution files (DRC) for this setup to run on ROON. I don't think that will fix what I hearing or not hearing since the room acoustic seem to be decent at the moment. The DRC will make the room acoustics to be excellent.

I have 3 amps that I thought I would look at if the AHB2 was not a good match for the CS3.7.  The new CODA #16 maybe the best choice to match my HPA4 preamp since that amp is also very quiet (almost AHB2 level) and Class A for 100 watts. I need to research a bit more on that. The CODA #8 is a bit nosier but may be good enough at $6K. The Luxman m900u would also be great. Luckily I have no cash to spend and will use the AHB2 for some time and play around with DRC and placement. 

The great thing is that the CS3.7 seems to work in my tiny room without DRC. Which was very unexpected. So the CS3.7 is a longer term keeper.

My 4 year old son was listening to Van Halen with me on the bean bag and passed out sleeping. He was not feeling it either.

BTW - I am keeping the AHB2. It is a great amp for a matching speaker. A shame 2 mono's do not work with the CS3.7