beetlemania
Responses from beetlemania
| Thiel Owners Update on Mills MRA-12 resistors: I replaced the other channel a couple of weeks ago. I hear more bass impact, a more spacious soundstage, and, especially, an ease of presentation. The MRAs even seem to have partially mitigated a somewhat “glassy”... | |
| What used speakers raraely come up for sale I've long kept an eye out for Avalon Ascent Mk IIs. I think I've only seen these on A'gon a couple of times over the past 10+ years. At this point, probably need to consider the cost of recapping on top of purchase price. | |
| Would like to hear from Ayre owners especially those who dared to venture. At that price point, you can get a different sound but I’m skeptical you can get better than Ayre. | |
| Thiel Owners Ayre and ARC would be on my short list. Also, Pass, Aesthetix, and Classe. Heed the power ratings per Tom Thiel. You very much want an amp with a decent 4 Ohm rating and 2 Ohm is not overkill. Maybe take a look at Wes Phillips’ review in Stereoph... | |
| Thiel Owners Prof, . . . you can keep your 3.7s and join the upgrade brigade for even more musical satisfaction. @prof Tom Thiel is learning much about the late model Thiel crossovers as well as how to improve parts quality for all the models he is now wor... | |
| Thiel Owners If Rob Gillum has the kit to fabricate drivers, it wouldn’t be a huge stretch to make new, improved versions of the cs2.4 with Tom’s XO design. Jim Thiel’s last drivers (x.7) were the best but I think those had to be outsourced. But the Lexington ... | |
| Thiel Owners @prof My pleasure. I *am* doing this mostly for selfish reasons (I want to have killer speakers at a price I can afford). But am glad to help Tom Thiel and Rob Gillum develop an upgrade that will benefit many more.I'm pretty excited about it and t... | |
| Thiel Owners Past the 100 hour mark on my Mills MRA-12 resistors and it was time to evaluate the sonic difference. I had to do this in mono, comparing the upgraded speaker to the OEM version. Not ideal but the only other choice was to upgrade both speakers and... | |
| What are the best entry level integrated amps and speakers? Is the $1500 for both or each? Years ago I had a NAD receiver and it was excellent at its price but moving up to a used Ayre AX-7, for example, is a *big* jump sonically. I told her if you're willing to get used equipment of high quality you'll ge... | |
| Thiel Customer Service - New ownership is terrible!!! - WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS COMPANY ? At risk of further muddying the waters, this is from Tom Thiel in a PM to me: My preferred solder is 4% silver in 96% tin. Lead is damaging both the our bodies and the sound. | |
| Thiel Customer Service - New ownership is terrible!!! - WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS COMPANY ? I friend with reliable ears told me the voicing on his Avalons changed when he replaced a tweeter. He used his audiophile-preferred leaded solder but the OEM solder was unleaded. Moral of the story is to stay consistent. Tom Thiel informed me that... | |
| Thiel Owners I’ve never heard ATC. Maybe they’re onto something? But I’m skeptical. As Tom Thiel wrote, the steep filter lets you operate a driver in the range of pistonic behavior. This is *highly* desirable (and also requires diaphragm material up to the tas... | |
| Thiel Owners Note that I am aware that some might want to go farther afield with cost no object components and others may balk at the significant cost of my choices. My vision is to find affordable solutions that reach the next performance / cost plateau. I w... | |
| Thiel Owners Actually, yea or nay *might* well work for everybody :)In the case of the CS2.4, Tom Thiel has worked up a one-sided layout for internal installation and a two-sided layout for outboard installation, the latter to save space and enhance the chimne... | |
| Thiel Owners @unsound Glad you find my updates informative. Your CS3.5s must be close to 30 years old - I understand your concern re: cap life. That should further incentivize you to seek Tom Thiel's upgrades as they become available. |