Thiel Owners

Thoft - to augment unsound’s point - an aspect to consider is voltage sensitivity of a speaker in a room. I like that you can listen at 3/4 volume setting. Many preamp designs lose performance as the volume setting decreases. Often the criticism that a speaker doesn’t perform well at low volume is less a characteristic of the speaker than it is of the amplification driving it. Of course our ears roll off in the bass and treble at lower volume, so speakers with a bloated bass will sound "better" at lower volume. But the preamp considerations are a significant determinant factor. PS Audio’s ’Gain Cell’ solution side-steps the issue and sound "the same" at any volume setting. Such a puzzle. Nice solution. PS's moderately priced Gain Cell DAC-Pre is my go-to preamp for this reason among others.

Thanks very much for the info Tom.  That's what I figured.  I don't have
much urge to take the grills off my 2.7s.

I do find my Joseph speakers benefit somewhat with grills off in terms of opening up the high end and delivering all they are capable of.  At the same time, though, they are actually a bit more coherent with the grills on (high frequencies more seamlessly integrated).   In fact I find many speakers sound a bit more coherent in the top frequencies with the grills on.

Prof - I suppose an 'ultimate' solution would have nothing in front of the drivers, except possibly a phase plug at the apex of the tweeter. The bare baffle then needs propagation control. We used splatter paint and fabric on baffle (in my time) to break up glare. Later, the perf metal may have performed that function. I like my new Ultrasuede on Felt solution. 

Once a designer decides to protect or otherwise hide the drivers, then it's a dance of interacting variables. The user might choose differently than the designer, but often lacks knowledge of the trade-offs. 

Jon_5912,

Back to amp question, you might want to check out Starke Sound's AD4.320. They are on sale, satisfy many of your requirements, offer hassle free 30 day in home trial. A unique D class module boosted to 600kHz and analog power supply. No association other than keen interest. Mine arrived last night but remains boxed. 

snbeall

Good to see you again. Have you found a SI-1 integrator?

Happy Listening!