@jafant No, I don't want or need any more speakers, I need to clean out my stereo room, too many big speakers. I also have a pair of Acoustat Spectra 33 electrostatic speakers. Big speakers are a pain to sell and take up a lot of storage space.
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!
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!
14,028 responses Add your response
Guys have you ever seen this guy's youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/adadasd42/featured He has the biggest amount of Thiel speaker systems i've ever seen in my whole life very impressive.It would be nice if he could come share his experience on this thread. |
Thiel CS6 w/SS1; I dusted them off for the first time in many years. They sound amazing and they are not properly located yet. I connected them to see if everything functions, so I could sell them after the 1st of the year. I don't follow sales and have no clue what they are worth. I've got a bit over ten grand in them. I'm hoping for 35 hundred based on age and condition. Any help would be appreciated. Note: They will be sold on Audiogon or not at all. |
@yabe1951 That is the correct way to unbox them. I helped pack my 3.7s from the previous owner and also unpack them at home. Even though the speakers are not really that heavy for speakers I recommend you get some help to carry them some distance. I had to take them up stairs and then back down and up again. A real pain, It is easy to press on the COAX drivers if yo are not careful. When I removed the COAX drivers (they were messed up) it became so much easier to carry them up and down the stairs. When you carry these speakers by yourself, your hand naturally gravitates to the area where the COAX reside. |
New here. Perhaps the least interesting question ever... I just acquired CS 3.7s after having them inspected by Rob at Coherent Source Service. They arrived truck freight, and frankly not being as young and strong as I once was, I struggled to get them up the front steps and into the house. The boxes are large and heavy. So, what is the best method for unboxing a set of Thiel CS 3.7s? I suppose that one would open the bottom panels, set the box with the speaker upright, and lift the box up and off, but I have not done this since I got 3.6es in 1994 or so. I think there is a box within a box and some other packing in there. Forgot how I did it then... Thanks for helping with something so mundane. |
@yyzsantabarbara Yes the Diablo 300 is very easy to resale and i'm very familiar with the Gryphon house sound.But since i'm not in a hurry i can still investigate on the Coda pre-power.Please report back when you will have auditioned the 16.0.I would have to travel to southern Italy to audition Coda amps, that's too long of a drive for me so i will have to fly there when possible. |
I have a CODA dealer 100km from me (so very close). They also said they allow home demos of their gear. I may have a listen once COVID is taken down. The thing that intrigues me on the #16 over the #8 is not the Class A, it is the SNR of 130 vs 118. The Luxman m900u (12 watt Class A), which I thought was amazing with TAD gear, has similar specs to the #8 (18 watt Class A). The #8 is supposed to sound like the m900u but at 1/3 the cost. Why not get the Diablo, if you decide that you do not like it you can easily sell it since it is so highly regarded. |
I asked a dealer about the #16 last week. He sent an email to CODA to ask about the specs on the #16 at 2 Ohm. Yesterday, I was reading something online (I forget exactly what) about the CODA #16 and that post or review said the 100 watt Class A is for both 8 Ohm and 4 Ohm. I received an email from Doug Dale of CODA (info@coda.cc) on the #8 and he said that that unit halves the Class A output as impendence is halved. Now that I am set and amplification on the CS3.7 (Benchmark AHB2) I am looking around for an amp for the KEF Blade 2 that I will get in 2021+. The CODA is a consideration. It could also be swapped with the CS3.7. Now back to my CS3.7 in my office. What a great speaker. I think my new COAX drivers are breaking in now. Just an incredible sound, this is some of the best sound I have ever heard from any speaker. I have heard quite a few the last 10 years. Luckily, I do not have much work to do for my job because right now the music is too distracting for me to concentrate on any work. |
@thieliste, I’ll hazard a guess that the 16’s 100 Watts Class A output halves with each halving of impedance (assuming it can hold up below 4 Ohms) below 8 Ohms. And that happens as the CS 3.7’s sensitivity is dropping as proportionately with impedance. Interesting that the 40 though not quite a double down monster still has a respectable 2 Ohms rating, but the 16 does not. CODA 16.0 Stereo Amplifier - Destination HiFi Coda 40.0 Stereo Amplifier - Destination HiFi |
JA - thanks for the B&W lead. I haven't heard a B&W since 1995. They certainly have advanced the state of the art. In Thiel history, B&W was a significant player. Being an imported product, they were at a pricing disadvantage, and having such luxurious designs and presentation, they appealed to upmarket customers. Thiel's niche was to surprise the more frugal customer with how much sonic goodness could be gotten from Thiel at a fraction of the price. But B&W certainly deserves kudos for what it produces. |
Last thing about Convolution filters and then I will stop. I am listening to some rock music now, Robert Plant and Rainbow. I was starting to feel sleepy when I was listening. This used to happen prior to the Convolution implementation (too much sound pressure). The imaging was also off and the sound seemed to be coming from the speakers instead of the speakers disappearing. I thought these are old recording and maybe that is how they were recorded. I must have had a brain freeze since I was under the impression that I had turned ON the Convolution. It is very easy to see on ROON current track being played. However, it turned out that I have not enabled the Convolution because I had listened to headphones the prior night. I think I was fascinated by the new MQA DAC setting in my sound path and did not notice the Convolution was missing. I turned ON the Convolution and the pressure that was making me sleepy disappeared, the speakers also disappeared, and the imaging became great. This is some great technology. OK, no more on the Convolution stuff. |
Tom, Sounds great, I have no intention of letting my CS2’s go, These are actually a second pair since my original pair bought new in the late 80’s lost sound to the tweeter/mid. I believe there is a gent Rob in Lexington, that you likely know, repairing these but it was easier to just get a nice used pair. After Covid mess maybe I will road trip to Lexington and see if I can get my originals repaired. Still I may look for some later 2 series just because I really love the sound, they work brilliantly in my space, and I know the design execution just got better and better. Amazing after 30 +/- years they still rival or best many of today’s high $ designs...cudos to Jim....and I haven’t done anything with room equalization so who knows how much better this might get....look forward to hearing about your work... |
jm - FuzzMeasure is similar to Room Equalizer Wizzard. It seems that REW has many more adherents in hi fi land. I got FM because JA used it extensively in his Stereophile graphs, and it works well for my semi-pro room optimization work in recording sites, studios and theaters. FWIW: I've been working on my CS2.2s, because I have them, as my main workhorse to develop upgrade paths for some classic Thiel models. Everything learned will apply to the CS2. So if you love yours, you might keep them and see what we can eventually make of them. |
thanks for the historical info. Great stuff to hear..no pun intended ha I don’t have much too trouble with my CS2’s in my 13x22 room, they are along the long wall about 8’ apart and my listening position about at the equilateral triangle point. Room is well deadened with panels and the CS2’s throw a remarkable very wide and accurate stage. I am struggling a bit more with the Magi 3.7’s, as I think they want even more space...still working on that although they sound very good especially those sweet mid and highs...well what highs my slightly older ears can hear of the highs anyway... I still think the Thiel’s may have an edge with the right recordings and, quite likely, as a result of the placement challenges you mention but it is close. I am a bit concerned if I go to the 3.6’s they may suffer due to the room situation so also considering one of the later 2 series as I think I will always have to have a pair of Thiel’s available for me...ha...good listening |
JM - I'll chip in with a personal anecdote. When the Classe DR6 /DR9 setup was new, Thiel used it in demos with a pair of bridged DR9s. I still have and use those amps. The Classe replaced Threshold 800s. Thiel outgrew the Classe sonically and went to Mark Levinson and then Krell, with Bryston in the mix for our lower cost products. Although we didn't use Pass officially, Jim and Nelson held mutual respect and Nelson used some Thiels as development test loads. I have not heard the 250.8, but would expect it to considerably outclass the Classe. All that said, I am still amazed by how much more improvement can be attained by solving room issues. In fact, many or most of my niggles with amps, cables and recordings have evaporated after running down and fixing room issues with FuzzMeasure and trial and error. |
Yeah those 250.8 are not cheap even used. I have been trying to score the 3.6 or maybe 3.7 so definitely aligned with you on that. Funny but just started researching DAC’s this morning and also streaming maybe Roon or Innuous. I have a fairly substantial collection of CD’s and vinyl but Tidal is pretty sweet, currently streaming from an Astell and Kern AK120 II portable. For the price of the 250.8 could likely almost do all....appreciated. also on the piano part of this thread Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Vladimir Ashkenazy London Decca |
All, New to the board. Great informative reading. I learn a lot about matching and challenges one doesn’t always think of when getting new equipment. I am currently running Magnipan 3.7 and Thiel CS2 (depending on my mood, love them both) from ole school Classe DR-15 amp/DR4 pre. Very very happy overall with the sound on both but considering what going to a Pass Labs 250.8 might bring. Or maybe an upgrade to preamp? (Also have Rega P8/Alpheta3/Rega Aria mk3/California Audio Labs CD). I know the Classe stuff is dinosaur so maybe not much experience here with that but it has served me remarkably well. any thoughts would be appreciated.....Thanks. |
@
solobone22 which specific piano recordings? I want to listen to what you are referencing. Sure -- just off the top, Scarlatti 30 Sonatas, John Browning piano, Nimbus, 16/44; Brahms 7 Fantasies,etc, Emanuel Ax piano, Sony,16/44 , also Mari Asakawa's excellent new recording of Elliott Carter pieces, Centaur, 24/96. That's a good beginning cross section of venues, recording technique, piano touch and tonal balance. The Scarlatti doesn't have those lowest notes but is good for mid and upper mid. |
@tmsrdg A shame you cannot use ROON (or JRiver). The Convolution file optimization is incredible. It fixes the room which I think is always the biggest hurdle to great sound at home. For me this a likely a bigger hurdle than most, because of the big speaker in a small room. I had 3 filters made for me. The first was very good but needed a bit more bass presence. So I received a 2nd file that had a slight boost from 100 Hz down. That gave me a slight irritation in the ear. So we made a 3rd file that was half the bass adjustment between 1 and 2. This was the goldilocks filter, It was just right. This showed me it was not the amp that was deficient it was the room. Today, I just found some extra money to buy some audio gear but I now have no need for anything. I was thinking of the Halo Audio May Level 3 DAC that people are raving about but I have 0 desire to change what I am hearing. This Benchmark stack is amazing. I currently streaming some 70’s BeeGees, with their huge bass lines, it sounds so good without fatigue. |
@
yyzsantabarbara
, Thanks for the responses and all the links. My Aurender N10 server is incompatible with Roon, so I can't consider the Convolution app.If there's one thing I'd like more of in my system, it's low frequency "weight." It's pretty easy to tell when listening to say, solo piano music, where the low end drops off a bit. The listening room is adjacent to another equally sized room separated by sliding glass doors (open midcentury modern floor plan). My wife's Steinway is literally only 8 feet to the right of the right speaker on the other side of the doors. She can play the same passage that we've just heard from a recording as a reference. Everything tracks exceedingly well, but, yes, lower octaves don't have that same impact. I have seen the future, and it involves subwoofers. |
@tmsrdg Oops, forgot to answer the question about the boost adjustment. My HPA4 had the boost disabled on XLR1. XLR2, RCA3, and RCA4 all worked. I worked it out with Benchmark tech support. We ended up doing the FACTORY RESET on the GUI. I lost some settings but not big deal to manually restore them. I think I may have seen this before. It was important to get the 10 dB boost today because the Convolution adjustment took away 11 dB. I learned a about ROON DSP settings the past few days. There is boost in the ROON settings too but as of now I have disabled that. |
@tmsrdg I know you had a single AHB2 and are also a musician. I was thinking why does my system sound bad and yours so good with a single AHB2. There were hardware issues for sure but the room was still a big impediment for me. Here is a link to a post I made that digs deep into what I did. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/room-correction-roon-rew-room-eq-wizard/post?postid=2064340#2... Here is a another post I made that has a bit more info. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/speakers-good-for-close-to-wall-placement/post?postid=2065116... The ComputerAudiophile.com site is were this advanced DSP stuff gets chewed around more than here on A’gon. All I have to say is this Convolution engine in ROON is brilliant stuff. Just transformed my system. If you want to see some graphs send me PM and we can do that by email. Don’t tell anyone since email is not allowed. |
@tmsrdg https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/did-you-audition-nc500-vs-nc500mp-or-nc50... I just got my 3rd Convolution filter from AcousticSound.ca. I now have found the perfect frequency curve for my speakers and room. I lose 10 dB of gain by running the Convolution filter in ROON but my preamp (HPA4) has a 10 dB boost feature. ROON also has PROCEDURAL EQ which allows you to reclaim that lost gain. I decided to use my premps boost instead (I could use both). Remember, my posts about the AHB2 not hitting hard enough. Well with the drivers and the wiring fixed. With the gain boosted and mainly with the Convolution filter. Things are really rocking. A big speaker in a small room sounding like it is now is incredible. No fatigue at all. I also spoke with Benchmark technical support because my preamp had a glitch on the boost adjustment (we fixed with a factory reset of the GUI). They also said that 2 mono AHB2 can put out 700 watt at 2 Ohm. They cannot publish this because the amps cannot run like that for extended time. They also said the mono amp is stable to 1 Ohm. It also has the forward correction to stop clipping to get to the speakers. Just an FYI. Wow, just so happy with what I am hearing today. The CS3.7 has never sounded this good in any dealer demo I went to with much more expensive gear. |
@yyzsantabarbara, a little while ago you posted: If you wait a few more months the Purifi modules with 1000 watts into 2 Ohm should be released by Bruno et al. The goal of these Class D amps is to remove a 0 from the price of amps. It should be a great match with the 3.7.Could you give us a link or more information on this? Manufacturer, where to purchase, that sort of thing. I’d be interested in following this myself. I’m in no hurry to replace my excellent ABH2, but there’s something intriguing about 1000 watts into 2 ohms. Thanks! |
Hi all. So if anyone is interested in hearing how well an Audio Pro AP1200 works with the big Thiel's, one is for sale on Canadian audio site for $150 Yes $150 Canadian dollars, no joke in real nice condition, way nicer condition than mine, cosmetically that is. Mods if this is not allowed, please remove. David |
Well thanks for the welcome Jafant! I listen too, but not limited too: Telarc discs Chesky discs All the "approved demo material from the late 1980's thru the 90's" Bach Pat Coil Jennifer Warnes Dave Matthews Band Lorde (very well recorded) Rebecca Pidgeon Metallica Def Leppard The Eagles Human League Dido Streetheart Ratt Neil Diamond Neil Young July Talk The Killers Kings of Leon and so on............. Channel 28 The Spectrum on Sirus XM or Classic Rewind and Classic Vinyl for casual listening Most all music that is well recorded, but I draw the line at dance, country ( George Jones and Johnny Cash maybe) and most rap. I do listen to some Eminem. And I am happy to say the 3.6's do not disappoint in anyway. My wife is also VERY pleased with them, she has very good hearing and if something isn't right I hear about it and need to make changes to correct it! The lack of colour and the complete lack of any sibilance ( unless intended by the recording) is what she enjoys most, She has been to shows with me, heard very expensive setups, and has not liked them. She really likes the current setup so far the best, Dave |