Thiel Owners

@jafant Congrats. 

I was going back and reading this thread starting where I join in with my drama.  I had remembered that someone who actually owned the 3.7 and 2 x AHB2's AND was a classical musician said that the single AHB2 was preferred over 2. I always like to hear what a musician thinks of gear because they have more experience in real music than me.

Here is some comments emailed to me from John Siau on the compatibility in relation to Stereophiles comments.

3.8 Ohms at -40 deg is not a problem. You will not hit over-current shut down, even in mono mode.

The maximum SPL in mono mode will be about 6 dB higher than stereo mode.

The unique thing about the AHB2 is that it stays clean when driving low impedances and difficult phase angles.

Anyways, there is enough info now in this thread on the 3.7 + 2 x AHB2 synergy that we can put it to bed. People can make up their mid based on the great comments here. I am sure people would like to get back to regular scheduled programming.

Hi, y'all.  Been away from the thread for awhile, but not from the subject.  I'll explain in a minute.

About a year ago, warjarrett ("Sandy") wrote back to Tom and myself about both the Amber amp I had suggested for Thiels, and on the subject of tubes vs transistors in general. Sandy said as the conclusion of the note: " So my advice is that just about any stereo tube amp, with at least 60 wpc, into the CS3.5 is pure heaven. With solid state, you need to be more careful to audition in advance, and don’t go lower than 100 wpc in power."  I now find myself concurring completely.

At the time of Sandy's note I had been thinking about returning to tubes. I had previously driven my first pair of 3.5's with an ARC D90 and later a VTL ST-85. But after many changes to the system I ended up with solid state, and still later substitued the Amber Series 70 amplifiers that both Sandy and I think are well suited for Thiels.

Just after the first of this year, a pristine ST-85 came on the market at a good price and I snapped it up.  It sounded great (again) with the 3.5's, but even better with my 2.2's.  So eventually the 85 ended up with the 2.2's in my second system, and I started looking for ST-150's, which are VTL's "Big Brother" to the ST-85s.  The 150 is a brute-force amp powered by two quad's of 6550 or KT88 tubes and massive VTL transformers.  The thing weighs over 65 pounds out of the box and puts out 150wpc into 5 ohms, which happens to be the Thiel 3.5's actual impedance for a perfect match.  But the aspect that really enticed me is it's ability to be switched to Triode mode, where it puts out 65wpc of pure tube bliss.  My system has now reached a state of musical finesse never before experienced. So Sandy was right in claiming that his Triode tube amp used with the 3.5's took him to a new place.

The moral: if you want to try tubes with Thiels, don't be shy .... but make sure you have 60 or 90wpc, and if it is triode, even better.  And I can highly recommend these two VTL amps for the purpose.

I never got the accolades given to the Cowboy Junkies "Trinity Sessions" album when I listened to it with all the other semi-decent systems I had. With the CS3.7 I get this album. Rather brilliant recording on the 3.7's.

Speaking of tubes i also did consider integrated tube amps to drive CS 3.7s, the ones i was looking at are the Allnic T-2000 25th and the VAC Sigma 170i.Both of this integrated could probably do the job at moderate volumes in medium size room.

Jadis I88 is also another good tube option.