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Thiel Owners

Guys-

I just scored a sweet pair of CS 2.4SE loudspeakers. Anyone else currently or previously owned this model?
Owners of the CS 2.4 or CS 2.7 are free to chime in as well. Thiel are excellent w/ both tubed or solid-state gear!

Keep me posted & Happy Listening!
128x128jafant
jafant's avatar
jafant OP
19,748 posts
 
sdl4

Excellent! Good to read that Shunyata is a sonic match. 

Happy Listening!
jafant's avatar
jafant OP
19,748 posts
 
Spring Solstice
snbeall
63 posts
 
Jon_5912,

About wire/cable effects, I’m with you - a bit skeptical (and feeling bad about it). That said, I have to think that if there are effects, many would come from length, not to mention physical connections/interfaces (as tomthiel has found), so that eliminating or reducing them would be a good goal.

The end result of what you describe as you shorten the connection chain is the active speaker. And the end result of your other notion of taking it a step further and keeping the signal in the digital domain as far as possible are Meridian’s DSP speakers. It’s why I’ve owned a pair for two decades. My Thiels are a more recent enjoyment.



tomthiel,

I can’t help but think that going active was discussed/explored @ Thiel Audio. Could you comment? I can’t imagine what could have been produced were Meridian to use Thiel drivers....

It ruins all the mix and match tinkering that many audiophiles love, but I think you would get a lot more of the younger generation (not to mention spouses) interested in audiophile sound. And honestly get better sound in the end. KEF and Devialet are interesting current examples.

In my perfect world, there would be standardized module sizes similar in principle to rack mount 1U, 2U, etc. that manufacturers could produce and swap out to update as advances come. 


beetlemania
834 posts
 

 similar to the improvements in beetlemania's 2.4 upgrade. 

Two years later, I remain of the opinion that these are my last speakers. Compared to the very be$$$t speakers/systems I’ve heard, the list of faults is short:
1) no audible output below ~30 Hz;
2) low bass is not as resolved as a quality sealed box design (eg, Avalon Ascent);
3) image density not SOTA (eg, TAD Ref One).

1 is noticeable only on music with organ. 2 is only apparent in direct comparison. Those two faults could be addressed with, maybe, a stereo pair of the Vandersteen subwoofers and I would have a near SOTA system at a relatively “affordable” price (but not excited to have two more large boxes in my living room). Meanwhile, my sonic priorities - resolution, transparency, and neutrality - are very close to the best I’ve heard at any price.

Bravo, Jim and Tom Thiel. Thank you.
yyzsantabarbara
4,895 posts
 
I have recently tried for long periods 3 speaker cables with a Thiel CS3.7. From my Benchmark AHB2 amps I used the following:

1) Benchmark SpeakON terminated cables. (6 foot)
2) Audience Conductor SE (9 foot)
3) Audience FrontRow with SpeakON termination (1 meter)

Both Audience were better sounding, though the Benchmark was also good. The FrontRow is a great sounding cable.

I am still using all 3 cables with #1 and #2 for different purposes.
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