Thiel Owners

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.

I have a Starke Sound AD4.320 amp on trial currently. Had some issues getting it working with my PX-02 crossover and USS sub, but suddenly everything worked. Intermittent connection somewhere. I have Powerpoint 1.2’s on my hardwood over (heavy urban) concrete floor. One might scoff whether this is a true Thiel setup. I know that tomthiel who owns some does not. These are serious two way speakers that happen to be optimized for a planar infinite baffle at 45 degrees setup. This is probably the best sound of my life. Seriously.

I used to be a an “amp denier” having been spoiled by the ‘70’s amp races to “perfection” - which the 70’s were. They became far less of a limiting factor. Speaker tech had to catch up. It did.

As you know from my recent post, I have been a Meridian believer for the past two decades. I abandoned the archaic analogue multi component system as flawed. I now have (for the time being) a hybrid system with a digital streaming front end and “digital” amplification to an analogue conventional crossover passive speaker. 
The result is sublime. And I suddenly understand what modern amplification has brought. Leapfrogged again. 

beetlemania

Thank you for your DIY contributions to this Panel.
I really must connect and hear your upgrade(s) soon.

Happy Listening!

I'm an old-timer in this business and so "cabled-up" way back in the mid-eighties, buying used Monster M1000 (their top-line) interconnects in many lengths.  Liked them very much, although I only compared them to about four other brands.  So over time I have grown two complete Thiel systems strictly with these cables, other than for speakers where I use WaterCables (the Monster speaker cables seriously degraded the sound of my Thiel 3.5's.)  

These Monster's calling cards were audiophile cables long before the name showed up in Best Buy.  The M100's new in the '80's were around $200 for a one-meter pair (most of mine were bought used at about $100 a pair.) Their calling card was three woven layers around increasingly larger dialectrics, and Monster says they were "phase coherent".  Don't know about that, but they do have depth and width of soundstage, as well as naturalness and coherence on individual instruments, and every improvement I've made in components has been audible, so they don't seem to be masking anything.

Anybody else had experience pro or con with these?  Tom, I take it from your comments that you haven't.  Did Jim or Thiel corp ever try them?

beetlemania,

I may be coming into your 2.4 saga late, but when you mention sub reinforcement, why do you go Vandersteen? Rather than Thiel that have very well matched subs - particularly via speaker level PX crossovers? I have at least 6 different subs that I have tried to integrate via line level input. The current system with PX crossover is by far the most natural and completely integrated I’ve heard. Granted, there is zero support when the amp eventually gives out. Is that your motivation?