Thiel Owners

beetlemania

Good to see you again. I hope that you are well and had a prosperous 2023.

While I cannot attest to stock AYRE components, I can and will attest to the Twenty Series being up to the task of driving Thiel loudspeakers. This fact has been confirmed by many Audiophiles. Is AYRE a Krell or Levinson? No. Can this brand hold its own? Yes. 

Equally impressive that you matched an AYRE AX-7 with CS 1.6 speakers. Stepping up to an Ax-5 (20) with CS 2.4 is a sweet upgrade all-around.

Reading back from the beginning, my 1st CS 2.4 demo featured a Creek integrated in the 60-80w neighborhood. That Amp rocked, without the slightest hint of clipping.! 

Older Krell and Mark Levinson (particularly the 383 integrated) are sonic matches indeed. Those amps can provide >100 dB peaks for Classical music buffs. Great discussion.

Season's Greetings and Happy Listening!

unsound

No doubt that a pair of 3.5 or 3.6 speakers could benefit from a Krell, Levinson, Pass Labs or Threshold amp.  Much will depend on musical tastes and room parameters/volume levels.

Season's Greetings & Happy Listening!

@jafant, Actually the CS 3.5’s even with the up to 12 dB draw from the eq, thanks to its 4 Ohm nominal / 4 Ohm minimum load (actual 5 Ohm measured) in smaller rooms with less volume demands can get by with as little as 100 Watts into 4 Ohms. That’s a standard 50 Watt rated amp truly capable of doubling down to the load at hand.  Though I generally suggest as a rule of thumb / general guideline that most users double a speaker manufacturer’s minimum suggested power. It’s the lower impedance’s that reduce the efficiency of some of the other Thiels. 400 Watts into 2 Ohms is like 100 Watts into 8 Ohms. I don’t think many would think 100 Watts is excessive.

unsound

Right On! I noticed that you and some of the other Panel members are employing an Adcom ACE- line enhancer. Over the last decade, specifically, Line/Power Conditioners have progressed light years. How does the Adcom hold up in 2023?

Happy Listening!

@jafant,  Honestly I use the Adcom ACE’s mostly to offer more outlets. Years ago when I lived in a NYC apartment I used an earlier  though highly regarded older Adcom ACE version for the same reason. At that time I thought it might have helped with video noise. Those older models only accommodated  two prong plugs. The newer models can accommodate three prongs. The more recent models use a different “ils” ( if lightening strikes ) circuitry which claims to offer more protection. Where I currently live we have overhead power lines unlike the underground one in NYC. Theses overhead power lines are subject to more frequent brown and blackouts. So far (22 years) with these Adcom ACE’s in place, none of my gear has had any ill effects from them. I’m not sure if the Adcom ACE’s are helping with that, but as I already need the extra outlets, I don’t want to tempt fate without them. I’m not sure that any of these kind of products really clean up the power in any meaningful way.