Thiel 2.3--bright or harsh ?

Hi Pops. I have Thiel 3.6 driven by the latest Plinius SA250 in one of my systems and they do sound great (and not at all bright - as you say. But the 2.3 is not in the same ball-park and tonally leaner IMO. I feel the Plinius is better than either the Classe or Aragon, but with the 2.3 I would tend to use a tube power amp.

Follow up response to "Pops" my son has an Aragon 8008st and had for a short time a pair Thiel 2.3s, same problem as with the Krell, too bright. It wasn't a good match. With Thiel 2.2s his current speaker the Aragon works much better but the 2.2a are a different speaker. Be careful when matching a tube amp with the Thiels especially one with only 50 WPC if you want any kind of a bottom end. The mids and highs will be ok but you will have very weak bass and the whole speaker will sound lean. My Jolida 502a did not work as well as a SS. If you go tubes look at AR or VTL etc but at least 100 WPC.

They need a lot of break-in; they do warm up a little. They sound lean unless they get a lot of power. They sound lean if you mate them with lean sounding solid state (I suspect that Krell amp). I found Cardas cabling to be incredible match to make they sound more musical. MIT might work as someone above suggests. Tube preamp is just about a requirement, IMO. And did I mention - break-in?! Art

I had a simular experience with the 2.3. I would not call them bright per say. It was more like the upper mids were very forward and in your face. I made a felt ring and put it around the mid/tweeter which helped smooth out the sound somewhat. Has anyone else had trouble with these drivers failing? I had terrible luck with them. I had 2 pair come appart within 6 weeks! The surround came loose where the voice coil couples to the midrange. It was horrrible --the tweeter was still working just floating there and would buzz when it struck the midrange. BEWARE these speakers and not meant to handle a lot of power. Thiel did replace them under warranty. After I got them replaced the second time I sold them and bought B&W Nautilus 804's. I have had them for about a year and am really happy with them. The Thiels bottom end may be better but IMHO the 804's sound so much more musical better balanced and effortless that it was no contest. Sad to say as I have always had respect for Thiel products and I feel that their early designs were way ahead of the competition.

I have a pair of Thiel 2.3's with the new upgrade, they sound better with the upgrade. I auditioned your same setup. Did not like at all. I also auditioned pass labs x-150 and x-2. Loved it - bought em. I never really liked the rega. Try the adcom gcd 750(budget), Wadia, Sony SCD, much better choices.