The opposite of Thiel - based on my memory dating back to the 1970's ... how about Cerwin Vega
Showing 50 responses by jazzman7
oblgny FWIW ... I too find SQ of Qobuz to be marginally better than Tidal. I have nothing against MQA streamed from Tidal, but there is also something nice about being able to stream in Hi Res at native resolution via Qobuz. I too hope your 2.4 speakers find a good home. Someone in your locale is going to be very lucky. You yourself are also fortunate that your local dealer is still alive and kicking ... I'm still very much in mourning that my own local dealer (Audio Consultants in Evanston, IL) recently closed its doors. |
Arvin, I think you've expressed the real joy of this hobby. The personal satisfaction of a carefully crafted system, where the pieces have been assembled in a pains taking fashion over time, in many cases over many, many years. The special bliss when the synergy is there to be had and the gear and the music all come together and magic happens. |
In case anyone is interested: TMR has listed a pair of CS 3.6 speakers in dark cherry. Listed condition as 8 out of 10. Asking $1399 + $299 for shipping. https://tmraudio.com/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/thiel-cs3-6-floorstanding-speakers-dark-cherry-pair-cs-3-6/ |
In case anyone is interested, today TMR has listed an amberwood pair of Thiel CS 2.2s. Asking $1199 ... Condition 8 out of 10. https://tmraudio.com/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/thiel-cs-2-2-floorstanding-speakers-amberwood-pair-2-2/ |
Just in case anyone is interested, TMR has listed a walnut pair of CS 3.6 speakers for $1399 + another $399 for shipping. Condition listed as 7 out of 10. https://tmraudio.com/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/theil-cs3-6-floorstanding-speakers-cs-3-6-walnu... |
In case anyone is interested, The Music Room has just listed another pair of CS 2.2s. Asking $1299 plus freight. Listed condition as 8 of 10. https://tmraudio.com/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/thiel-cs2-2-floorstanding-speakers-cs-2-2-amberwood-pair/ |
Hello all! Discovered this thread a couple of weeks ago. Great thread. Now that I've read it from beginning to end, thought that it was time to introduce myself and join this band of brothers (and maybe some sisters). Like a number of you, I live in the Chicago area and have been a long time customer of Audio Consultants in Evanston. So a little history. My journey to Thiel began with Magnepans. Had a pair of SMGa's and I was quite happy with them. I had picked them up from Audio Consultants back in my bachelor days in 1984 together with a Braun/ADS A2 Atelier Integrated Amp (80 watts per side into 8 Ohms). But in 1996 my wife and I were very concerned that our young toddler (he's now 26 and in grad school) was more than capable of toppling over those baby Maggies and injuring himself. So it was into Audio Consultants my wife and I went to find a solution. Simon at Audio Consultants said he had just the speaker for us, the Thiel CS .5, so we traded in our baby Maggies for a pair of baby Thiels. Then flash forward to 2004, and my trusty ADS A2 after twenty some years of faithful service gives up the ghost. Back into Audio Consultants I go, this time with my 11 year old son in tow. Once again Simon has the answer. He suggests a used Bryston 3B ST with 16 years remaining on its 20 year warranty. But where am I going to put it? I explain that I have my stack of gear sitting atop an old fashioned ice chest. At which point my 11 year old speaks up and says, "Dad, what about putting it underneath the ice chest". And that is where the 3B ST has been ever since, with a used Bryston preamp taking the place of the ADS A2 in the stack atop the chest. Once I had it all set up, boy did that Bryston rig make those baby Thiels sing. Then at some point Simon in his very understated gentlemanly way puts the bug in my ear "you know, with the amp you have you can think about better speakers". So fast forward again, this time to 2011, and with a home renovation and family room addition now behind me, I target buying a pair of used CS 2.4s which I locate at Audio Consultants Libertyville store. And the .5s. Instead of trading them in, I have them bubble wrapped sitting in my crawl space, awaiting the day that my son has the place to put them. CS .5s serial#s 0439 and 0440 in Black CS 2.4s serial#s 2951 and 2952 in Black Ash (as to provenance, I am the third owner ... all owners purchased the speakers from Audio Consultants; speakers were approximately 5 years old at time of purchase in April of 2011, and was told that owner direclty previous to me had traded them in for a pair of 3.7s ... so there is the possiblity that a previous owner is a participant of this thread) |
@jon_5912 But agree, perusing the recent arrivals on Audio Consultants Used Equipment list is a daily ritual. It is where I found my 2.4s along with a few other items. I get my hair cut at Jay's Barber Shop just around the corner on Maple, and following my hair cut it is very hard to resist popping into Audio Consultants to look around, chat or simply say hello. |
rwmeditz Another thought re your amp situation. If you are willing to consider separates, you could think about finding an appropriate power amplifier and continue to use the Linn integrated as your preamp via its preamp outputs. Using this stepping stone approach, you could then take your time with regards to potentially upgrading your preamp, at which time you might wish to consider worthy preamp/DACs for upgrading any listening you do in the digital arena. Just a thought. |
Hello batmanfan! I have a pair of Thiel CS 2.4s powered by a Bryston 3B ST fronted by a Bryston BP20 preamp. Speaker cables are Transparent Music Wave Super Gen MM. Interconnects are Kimber Hero XLR. Almost all of my listening is in the digital domain (only exception is an old Rotel analog tuner). Although I have a very good CD player, a Bryston BCD-1, I rarely use it. All of my CDs have been ripped as uncompressed FLACs. My listening is via either these ripped CDs or via TIDAL. My digital supply chain consists of the following: Hard wired ethernet connection (albeit utilizing Netgear powerline ethernet adapters) into Melco N1A. All of my FLACs reside on the Melco which functions as a NAS, a streamer, and not unimportantly as an ethernet line conditioner. Melco feeds Chord Qutest DAC via Curious USB cable, as well as a Bluesound Node 2i hooked up to Melco's outbound player port via Audioquest Cinamon ethernet cable. The Bluesound player feeds the Qutest via Tributaries Coax and my older Bryston BDA-1 DAC via Audioquest Vodka Toslink. I typically stream directly from Melco when listening to my ripped CDs, and employ Bluesound Node when either streaming from TIDAL or streaming to multiple rooms (have Bluesound kit in 3 other rooms in the house). Chord Qutest feeds preamp via Audioquest Black Mamba II RCAs. I am very happy with this setup. Have yet to go Roon, but definitely considering it. Thinking about acquiring Roon Nucleus, at which point I'd have Melco feed Nucleus from its ethernet player port, and then have Nucleus feed Chord Qutest directly via USB. |
Different strokes for different folks. There is still very much a place for physical media. But all the same, in my opinion streaming from a subscription service like Tidal or Qobuz has its place, especially with respect to music discovery. I find streaming to be a complimentary arrangement, not so much a replacement for physical media, although for some folks it can be. |
ovinewar Re DAC/Transport - here are some items I can speak to from personal experience that you could land today for less than a grand. Re transport - check out the Bluesound site's outlet store at www.bluesound.com. They are currently asking $199 for 1st gen Bluesound Node and $399 for 2nd gen Bluesound Node 2. For a more than capable DAC, I've seen Bryston BDA-1 currently going for as little as $500 on Audiogon. I personally had the 1st gen Node hooked up to the BDA-1 via Toslink and can report that this is a more than capable combination. I happily employed this combo in my main rig from 2014 until earlier this year, and still employ both pieces of kit elsewhere. |
tomthiel Might you be able to provide any history of the cs .5. This speaker, which I like to think of as the baby Thiel was my entry into the world of Thiel. I had a pair in my main rig from 1996 to 2011 before graduating to a pair of 2.4s. My cs .5s are now in bubble wrap in my crawl space, to be turned over to my son when he is ready for them. |
TMR is asking $1099 for a pair of Amberwood CS 2.2s plus $149 for shipping. Condition is listed as 9 out of 10. https://tmraudio.com/speakers/full-range-floorstanding/thiel-cs-2-2-floorstanding-speakers-amberwood-pair/ |
In case anyone is interested, I just posted pictures of my system to Virtual Systems. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8156 Comments welcome. |
jafant, I'm very happy with the Kimber/Transparent combo. Upgraded to Kimber Hero XLR from RCA interconnects in 2013 and it was a nice upgrade. Then a couple years ago my dealer had a used demo pair of Transparent Music Wave Super Gen MM available at a bargain price. Took them home to give them a try in place of my much more modest Transparent "The Wall" cables. No contest. Big and immediate jump in SQ. My wife was all in favor. Just turned around and called in my credit card to Audio Consultants in Evanston, IL. Interestingly enough, just last week met with Bob McConnell of Transparent Audio at Audio Consultants. Reviewing my cable loom, in terms of next steps, he thought my best bang for the buck would be to try Music Link Plus or Music LInk Super MM2 between my DAC and preamp. |
This post is addressed to all who participate in this thread, but more than likely mostly to Tom Thiel for assistance. I was thinking that it would be nice to have a timeline of Thiel product development. A list that would provide the years of manufacture for each of the products in the various series. I think that it could help provide context for many of the discussions on this thread. It would also be interesting to have the corresponding price points at the time as well. Thoughts? |
Concerning Audio Consultants: I was just there on Friday. There is not much left, and what is left can now be had for 35% off. I don’t recall seeing a pair of 2.4s when last there, and I don’t think they have been bothering to keep the used list up to date, but if interested in something, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to give them a call. I also saw a number of demo items that are definitely not on the list. |
In case anyone is interested, received the following email from Audio Consultants: Audio Consultants Retirement Sale Continues Dear Friends, As you know, before we officially closed our doors on December 21st, we held a comprehensive sale and most of our vast inventory is gone. However, a few interesting items remain. Some of these include: - 1 pair Vienna Acoustics Music, with crates - 1 pair Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand with boxes - 1 pair Vienna Beethoven Concert Grand, with boxes - HRS MXR double wide rack with platforms - Various Salamander cabinets and racks - Various Transparent cables - 1 Solid Tech 20” high double wide rack - 1 pair McIntosh HT3 dipole speakers - 1 pair Klipsch RS7 speakers - Critical Mass amp stands - Grand Prix amp stands - 1 pair Thiel SCS 3 speakers To inquire about anything, please call 847 864 9565 or please stop in. I will be in the store every day until about the end of January, probably from 10am to 4pm. Thank you again. Sincerely, Simon Zreczny |
@cascadephil Thanks. Bryston 3BST / Bryston BP20 has been my amp / preamp combo since 2004. Been driving CS 2.4s since 2011. Before that CS .5s. When I purchased used pair, my dealer still had brand new CS 2.4s on the floor, and was my Bryston dealer as well. Made it much easier to audition both the speakers and the ampflication, as well as the pairing. Won't be so easy next time around. And my local dealer just retired and closed his doors. Been thinking that should I move on from the 3BST, should I entertain going with an integrated, and if so what integrated. In that regard Hegel has been on my radar. Hence my question. |
TMR has also listed a few other Thiel speakers in cherry. Looks to all be pieces of a Thiel home theater system. https://tmraudio.com/speakers/center-speakers/thiel-scs3-center-channel-speaker-cherry-scs-3/ https://tmraudio.com/speakers/center-speakers/thiel-mcs1-center-channel-speaker-mcs-1-w-sound-anchor-stand-cherry/ https://tmraudio.com/speakers/subwoofers/thiel-sw1-ss2-smartsub-dual-9-powered-subwoofer-sw-1-as-is-no-power/ |
In case anyone is interested, The Music Room just listed a pair of CS 2.4 in cherry finish for $1849 + $249 for shipping anywhere in the US. Listed condition as 8 out of 10. https://tmraudio.com/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/thiel-cs2-4-floorstanding-speakers-cherry-pair-cs-2-4/ |
In case anyone is interested, Saturday Audio Exchange in Chicago has listed a pair of Thiel PCS stand mount speakers for $529 http://www.saturdayaudio.com/gear/thiel-pcs |
@nicco Had a pair of CS .5 in my living room rig from 1996 to 2011 before graduating to the CS 2.4. The CS .5 is indeed a remarkable speaker. I’ll never forget when a professional musician friend of mine dropped by, a saxophone player, and Paul Desmond just so happened to be playing on the stereo. His jaw practically dropped as he remarked that he couldn’t believe how good the sound was. When I upgraded, my dealer offered me $200, but I couldn’t bare to part with them. Have them bubble wrapped, sitting in my crawlspace, ready to be handed over to my son once he has a place of his own to put them. |
@dsper From 1996 to 2004 I had my .CS 5s hooked up to an ADS A2 integrated (80 watts per side into 8 ohms) and it was decent, but then in 2004 stepped it up to Bryston rig - 3BST with BP20 preamp, and it made for a big step up in SQ. Very same room and speaker location as displayed on my virtual systems page. Not a small room, but plenty of sound. And if more bass is desired, one could always work in a subwoofer. |