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!
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^As is often the case, unless a manufacturer offers a 2 Ohm spec Stereophile doesn't do a complete test at that load. Even then they will often just test one channel of a stereo amp, even knowing that the amp shares its power supply between both channels. The skeptic might presume that Stereophile is more concerned with avoiding embarrassment to a potential advertiser than offering useful information to its subscribers. Furthermore, there seems to be a pattern from manufacturers specs sheets that suggests that manufactures have figured out how to avoid Stereophile's 2 Ohm testing.  That this manufacturer suggests suitability of the unit under test for 2 Ohm applications, Stereophile offers incomplete testing into 2 Ohms for distortion. While the results of the 2 Ohm distortion testing suggest significantly higher distortion into 2 Ohms than is the case into 4 or 8 Ohms it is still within reason for the end user. Importantly there is no measure of power output into 2 Ohms. 

Why all the concern with continuos power into 2 ohms?  I believe the modules I read somewhere are made by IcePower (and their spec sheets talks about 2.5 ohms as does Peachtree's).  The person asking the question, the most important thing in suggesting something, uses Thiel 2.4s.  They don't have an impedance as low as 2 ohms at any frequency and they don't even have something as low as 2.5 ohms.  It (the 2.4s) dips a drop below 3 ohms at 600Hz and is pretty consisentently around 3 ohms the rest of the audio band.  The nature of the audio industry is what it is.  That's why I try things in the real world.

I would be more concerned about the sound quality characteristics of the Peachtree Nova 300 than its power ratings.  Here's a quote from Art Dudley from the review mentioned previously:

"By the end of my time with Peachtree Audio's nova300, I was impressed with its superb overall musicality but remained somewhat ambivalent about its sound, at least one aspect of which—grainy trebles—is associated in the minds of some with class-D amplification in general."

I owned a Nova 300 for a while and thought it was a decent and affordable unit.  That was before I owned any Thiels, so I can't comment on how it paired with them, but depending on who you listen to, it might not be a great match sonically.  In regards to Art's comments above, Peachtree responded that the Nova 300 was probably not a great match with Art's high sensitivity speakers.  

It's been a while since I owned mine, but my memory is more of it being a little rolled off on the top, so it might actually be a good match with the Thiels.  Other integrateds that I've owned from ARC, Simaudio, and Vincent to name a few, all seemed to have a little more detail and a little more "grunt" and body than the Peachtree.

^As was posted earlier, one is unlikely to find specs for a very specific load. Standard specs are for 8 / 4/ 2 and sometimes 16 Ohms. "The nature of the audio industry is what it is." Working from a standard 2 Ohm spec will comfortably cover the needs for a 2.4 user. Other impedance specs could come up short. Does the IcePower spec sheet indicate power into load?

Real world trials are experienced by most everyone. Conclusions vary. 

 

 

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I owned a Nova 300 for a while and thought it was a decent and affordable unit.  That was before I owned any Thiels, so I can't comment on how it paired with them, but depending on who you listen to, it might not be a great match sonically.  In regards to Art's comments above, Peachtree responded that the Nova 300 was probably not a great match with Art's high sensitivity speakers.  

It's been a while since I owned mine, but my memory is more of it being a little rolled off on the top, so it might actually be a good match with the Thiels."

 

Thanks for sharing from actual and that's the best we can do in a forum like this.  I've owned Thiel 2.3s, 7.2s and 3.7s.  I've had Proceed HPA, Bryston ST, Bryston SST, Modwright, a couple of Icepower AS (1200) amps, one in stereo and one modded dual mono and now a modded LSA Voyager GaN 350.  In addition, my friend worked at a high end shop and many moons ago (15-20 years or so), I did virtually all his installs/set-ups with him over a 6 year period.  Delivered and set up, 1.6s, 6s, 2.4s, 1.7s in addition to what I've owned.  The store carried Levinson, Proceed, Bryston, VTL. Ayre, Linn and probably a couple of others for electronics.

I can also agree that the IcePower modules I've heard are a little more laid back at the top end than the modded Voyager I know own (and it too has more detail and body).  The 3.7s are not as picky in my experience as some as the older Thiels with sounding bright with certain things.  I once delivered a system with 2.3s and I wanted to shoot them.  The guy had two high walls of glass (probably 12 feet high), a (5 ft.) coffee table at an angle between the walls to house the equipment and a glass and stone fireplace opposite the speakers.

When someone poses a question, I try to put myself in their shoes within their budgets and what they want to accomplish.  I often help people who are not audiophiles.  I wouldn't want to impart any of my disease (😀) to them.  We all have different tastes and goals and there's nothing wrong with that.