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!
In 1986 I'm afraid I could only afford a receiver and no separates. I do remember at that time I had a set of Phase Research speakers (Phil Clements) that I was smitten with....I had not heard Thiel yet since no dealers nearby. There were Audio Stores everywhere - ! My best buddy Ron was also an audio fan and we made many, many trips out of state just to listen to brands not in our area. Come to think of it, he was with me the first time I heard Thiel. He was not as smitten with them as I was and ended up with B&W. Dahlquist was on my short list until I heard Thiel. Good memories.....
what year did you discover Thiel speakers? For me, it was 2012. Yes, I had B&W 805 speakers back in the 2000's. Fine speaker for a standmount monitor.
Back in the 80's, late 80's to be sure, all I could afford was mid-fi Sony. Even that Yamaha stack was out of reach. No complaints though- the Sony gear got me from 1988 to 2003.
First heard Thiel in the very early 90's. Maybe 1992 or even 91. I didn't purchase my used CS2 2 until 10 years later. (Going through a divorce and raising two children does funny things to you wallet.) Never forgot them though, so when opportunity struck...I later bought a back-up pair since I worried about replacement parts. I doubt if I will ever replace what I have now - Thiel legacy series is where my journey ends speaker-wise. Guess I will play with the electronics!
Doing house work today - started off with Coldplay in background and wanted to hear some horns so switched over to Chicago. Now I stopped house work! Wondering what you guys listen to? I am a big Dave Matthews fan myself although I have been listening to Eva Cassidy a lot lately.
Yes I sold the BDP-09 last year. Pioneer stopped updating the firmware to support newer Blu-ray authoring schemes. I felt it was sonically and visually superior to the Oppo but the load times and sketchy BD-Live support made the parting, amicable.
Cables: Mostly Kimber Hero interconnects and 8TC speaker wire. Couple of pairs of Monster M1000 MK I interconnects.
There were major problems with disc transport failure, which many owners had to replace. I replaced it, the motherboard, flash memory, and the power supply within the first year. I think the only original part left was the chassis.
I have read about stories like yours- saffron_boots
Sadly, some of you guys got bought lemons for sure. I still use an Elite 59-AVi for DVD duty and it is outstanding! I only wished it played blu-rays.
I hold the film/movie companies responsible, as most discs, having too many codec(s) therefore making the player companies (like Sony ES and Pioneer Elite) constantly developing software/firmware updates.
Well i should get my Ypsilon home demo by end of february just before i travel to Florida for business. The distributor has delayed the demo because he didn't receive the linestage yet. I'm also looking at Nagra at the moment.
while in Florida, take every chance to visit as many dealers/retailers as possible on your trip. Take listening notes on the dealers/retailers that you do visit. I am interested in your future findings.
jafant i asked Kevin Hayes from VAC if i could visit his facility in Sarasota, i just hope i get the time to do so, otherwise i'll see him at the Munich show this year. pops yes i am very curious about Nagra driving Thiels, i'm sure 2 Classic Amps in mono config could do the job perfectly even with the bigger Thiels. I will go check on WBF as some members own Nagra gear.
tomic601,,,,,re: tilt - true, except if the floor is not level. I have Vandersteens and Richard advised me to use a laser to correct any inaccuracies. I found that Vandy's (Thiels I'm sure as well) snap into better focus if speakers are exactly in the same plain. Let me know if you need the procedure.
I haven't chimed in for a while but I have continued to follow this thread as a matter of habit. It's a good one.
Jafant... If you haven't yet decided on your amplification I will once again offer how fine a match my Pass Labs X150.5 is with my CS3.5's, I've settled into this setup for a while and every time I listen to music I am reminded how long it took it me to get "here". There is a lot of HERE, here, too. (Your 2.4's are different than my 3.5's, but I would keep Pass in the consideration column.)
Man, this just works.
Thiels make everything sound better than expected, but when you find the sweetspot as I have with Pass and BAT, it's difficult to want to better anything. I'll be following your lead with cable experimenting once I know what my tax return will be. (Currently still with 100% Transparent.)
Okay, maybe a different preamp just for the hell of it.
But NO replacement for the Pass, and NO replacement for the 3.5's. Heck, I'm contacting Pass right now to see if its possible to upgrade the amp to .8.
I have been missing you guys? Good to read about returning to your former glory! No- I have not decided nor had an opportunity to demo any gear as of late. It will be Spring before I can take any (pleasure) road trip.
Yes, Pass Labs is very much a modern sonic match for Thiel speakers. I believe PL to be the best solid -state in 2017. I certainly want to visit a dealer/retailer w/ both .5 and .8 amps in showroom(s) for direct comparisons.
Transparent cabling is a sonic match for Pass Labs. You may be the first, that I have read about, using the brand on B.A.T. gear?
What level(s) is/are your cables and cords? I can tell you from experience that is gets "better" as you go up the product chain. Hopefully, you have a local dealer/retailer to assist.
As I've said before I start out low and move up the food chain as finances allow. I'm still with the base Music Link Transparents which are fine as is. Frankly I don't believe that moving up will yield me any discernible improvements, at least in terms of $$ vs reward. Not saying I won't but there's a limit to my madness.
I had to research my notes from my last system circa 2005.
I had all Transparent "super" IC and SP. This would be based upon the MM2 catalog from the same period.
I was very fortunate to have a Transparent dealer/retailer in New Orleans (Audio Resource) at that time. The owner and myself struck up an instant friendship based on our love of Music and the High End.
He featured a generous in-home trial period on all gear and cabling. I started out w/ the "Link 100/200" then the "music link". After hearing the "super" in my system, my listening space, it was all over. I saw no need to move further up the chain. My old system was Rotel separates, B&W 805N Sony ES player. Stock PC on the gear. Richard Gray Power Company power/line conditioner, as I lived near, a Utility relay station for the city. The system sounded outstanding after midnight to 6am.
Addendum: after traveling the last 6 years and being in a position to visit more out-of-state (I have none in my home state) dealers/retailers, there exists a phenomenal difference between the middle tier and top tier for Transparent Cabling. Specifically, moving up from the "super" into "reference/reference XL" territory is very, very sweet.
And moving further up from "reference" into OPUS...beyond description.
2nd Note; to date- I have not heard the newest Gen 5 cabling/cords. All of my listening, auditioning, is based upon the MM2 series and quite frankly, I do not see any reason to move from MM2 to Gen 5.
jafant i will be demoing a full CH Precision system this saturday at a local dealer's. This 2 days show is organized by the distributor. Speakers will be Wilson Sabrina and Sonus Faber Amati. First time ever CH demo for me, i'm psyched.
I have only read about CH Precision in the audio mags. Additionally, I have not heard the Sabrina either. I did demo the Sophia and Sasha several times over the years. I auditioned the SF The Toy speaker as well.
Have fun and report back w/ your thoughts / impressions. Most important, check out and inquire about cabling!
Dave thanks for your input so if it's not for Thiel owners then too bad. One other brand to look at perhaps is German brand Symphonic Line : http://www.symphonic-line.de/
jafant you should have a look at the Technical Brain integrated for your future reference system. This beast can easily beat more than €30K worth of separates. I should ne able to audition it in april. For you guys in the US the distributor is http://www.covenantaudio.com/
The EU including Germany, is really building some outstanding gear right now. Most of it does make here to America. As always, there are some sweet cabling options, coming from this region of the world as well.
I will be autioning the TB integrated probably in April. Bob from WBF just purchased this int, after only 1.5 hours of listening he says it's way above his Dartzeel integrated, that's pretty surprising. This aftenoon i'm going to the CH demo. Take care guys.
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