Thiel Owners

tomthiel

Safe travels.  Give Bill my best.

Happy Listening!

prof

Good to see you again. The V-Cap upgrade is a must. It will transform your gear to the next level.

Happy Listening!

Rather removed from the typical subject matter discussed here, I feel compelled to boast about the all too brief meeting I had earlier today with Tom Thiel - who is the new owner of the pair of CS 2.4’s we transacted for. 

To say the least, Tom is one of the most intrepid people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. After a quick listen and equally quick conversation regarding Theil and such, he was off to pick up another pair of Theils not too far from my place. I myself have traveled to some appreciably distant points to procure Thiels in the past, my very first pair of CS3.5’s were located in Massachusetts - a 250 mile four-to-five hour excursion depending on traffic. 
 

Such is what we do, isn’t it?

While I am currently astray from having Thiel in my setup, the Maggie MMG’s and REL sub I replaced the CS2.4’s for are more than a merely decent substitute. I have decided that I will continue with these until such a time arises that I may be able to buy yet ANOTHER pair of my absolute favorite model, the CS 3.5. This isn’t 20/20 hindsight as much as it is 20/20 regret for ever having sold off the three pairs that I once had. The CS 3.5 just does everything right for my humble ears. 
 

I am prepared, and fully aware of the fact that such a prospect will be of the upgraded version Tom has been hinting at - and I will be more than willing to pay the price. I believe I’ve uttered a couple of noteworthy opinions in this forum over the years, and either, and both still hold true - that Thiel is an investment, not merely a purchase, and that Thiel is essentially Magneplanar with BASS. 

Carry on folks!

@oblgny , While the Thiel's and the Magnaplanars have an uncanny resemblance when it comes to transient response (though the Maggies are planars they are still techically dynamic speakers), and the Maggies though more coherent than most, are not quite as coherent as the Thiels, but the dispersion characteristics are very different (point source vs. dipole).. Both would make my short list. You might want consider Magnaplanar's new subwoofer with dispersion characteristics that are meant to compliment the Maggies.

@unsound. Your points regarding the existing similarities/differences between Thiel and Magnepan are, as usual, spot-on.  Obviously, since Tom was buying the CS 2.4’s we had to hear them. (I’m still with the Belles 250i Hybrid Integrated) After all, I am a 100% positive feedback member here. 

I played an Alison Kraus live CD unencumbered, just the Musical Fidelity unit, no DAC. And the Thiels were perfect. Damn, I love treble. Just for the heck of it we then listened to the MMG’s - again, just the CD player, no DAC involved. I then involved the sub at my preferred setting. 
 

In this context I will state that the 2.4’s were more articulate in the highs than the MMG’s were, but not with a margin that could make them look bad. Tom made a particularly memorable statement regarding how we perceive the upper registers or the lower ones shortly after this, and it hit me right between the eyes. 
 

I err toward appreciating, or paying more attention to the high end. My tolerance for bass response is probably well below most people’s, meaning that unless the speaker is woefully lacking in it, I can - for the lack of a better description - forgive it. My brain makes up for it in some manner. The Thiels bottom out @ 36hz, the MMG’s @ 50hz. The REL I’m using goes down to 30hz. My employment of the sub can probably best be described as minimal. I do like, and I do appreciate bass, but Thiel taught me well about articulation in both treble and bass. 
 

I will follow your suggestion to audition the new Thiel sub. I have had a previous less than satisfactory experience with their DWM bass panel when I had the 1.7 model. It was…awful. Apart from adding too many additional cables, it added zero to the sonics in total. Meh. 
 

I am slowly rebuilding my main setup. I will not be selling the Belles 250i Integrated. I had to sell my Pass Labs X150.5 amp due to a financial need at the time, an act that I regret to this day - which IMHO - was the best amp for Thiel. Articulate amp? Meet articulate loudspeaker. The Belles could probably use a checkup, and I’m looking for a tech for that purpose as we speak. 
 

I just added a Pro-ject cheap seats turntable mated to a Pro-ject DS tube phono stage, along with an Aurender N100H 2TB music server. My next mission is to look for a DAC that will complement the Aurender since the cheap seats Jolida FX Glass DAC is dated.