Thiel Owners

@Thieliste, it depends on the model Thiels, room, desired volume levels and the particular amplifiers in question. While Class A has advantages with regard to cross-over distortions over Class AB, there’s more to good sound than that alone. Furthermore, many so called "Class A" amps lose Class A output in proportion to increased power output into lower impedances. It's not uncommon for some Class A amps to halve Class A output with each doubling of power output into halving of impedance load. For example, one might have an amp rated as providing 55 Watts per channel of Class A power into 8 Ohms and be able to double down into 2 Ohms to provide 220 Watts of power. If we put such an amplifier on a speaker say with a sensitivity rating of 90 dB @ 2.87V with a minimum load of 2 Ohms, the Class A output of that amp into this speaker at 2 Ohms might be less than 14 Watts and that would be at a 2 Ohm sensitivity of about 84 dB. One can see that it might be quite easy to power out of Class A output and into Class AB power output. The advantages of low output Class A amp might be better appreciated with a speaker with a higher impedance load. On the other hand there are other considerations that might demonstrate that a lower impedance might be more beneficial, just perhaps not as much as with many low powered Class A amps.

@unsound Just trying to compare my Diablo 300 to the newer Gryphon Essence Monos.

My dealer can lend me the Essence stereo and pre to try out in my system so i can make a shootout against my Diablo 300 but no one has the Mono versions for me to try.

My guess is that the Essence stereo might run out of steam compared to my Diablo 300 but i could be wrong.

My room is medium size.

I recommend getting the Benchmark AHB-2 into your auditioning mix if you can. Once I latched on to its clean, quiet capability, all the way to 1/2 ohm load, I have gotten hooked. Just sayin'

Questions regarding tweeter replacement & driver polarity.

I recently discovered that one of the tweeters in my Thiel 03s is outputting at a diminished volume. In order to troubleshoot I swapped the tweeters between the 2 speakers and the problem persists with the same tweeter, so it’s not the crossover or something else. I looked online and found what appears to be an identical tweeter (Audax brand, the original is Polydax, see link at bottom of post). Has anyone had experience with these replacement drivers? I’ve also found vintage Polydax drivers on eBay but I’m concerned about their wear and tear/condition.

On another note (sorry if this is a silly question): All 3 drivers in my 03 should be wired with the same polarity, right? In my exploration I discovered that the woofers are wired out of phase with the mid and tweeter. The woofers where removed at one point for re-foaming so maybe they where reinstalled in error.

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/audax-soft-dome-tweeters/audax-tw025a1-12x9-1-textile-dome-tweeter-with-ferrofluid/

Gotta second Tom's Benchmark rec. That's all you need and the end of the story. I run all Benchmark with my 3.7s. It has completely reoriented my ideas about endlessly looking for the right tweak/cable, amp and etc. Of course, I used to do that.  But it seems like such a weird waste of time now, not to mention money.  All these people looking to color the sound in just the right way. There may be yet new caps and resistors for the speakers, but that's another story.