Thiel 3.6 to Eggleston Andras II

Hey Pops,

You wrote:

"I just get nervous with components out of production, especially that long but I probably shouldn't as long as the company is in bus."

You realize that the Andra II is also out of production too, right? (Albeit the Andra II has only been out of production for a year or so, which is not that long, and of course EgglestonWorks is still in business too.)

I can give the Andra II my highest recommendation in its price range, particularly for rock music. (And, as you know, I do own a pair, so take that with as many grains of salt as you like!!) ;-)

My two cents worth anyway.

Good Luck in your search.

Regarding James63's advice about auditioning the Revel Salons: I would like to chime in that I owned the (Original) Salon's smaller brother, the Studio, and while it is a fine speaker, it is not quite in the same class as the Andra II. (I have auditioned the Salons too though, and they are basically just a Studio with deeper bass response.)

The bass response is the Revel's strength, as it is fairly deep, and very fast, (although no faster than the Andra II's Isobaric twin 12" woofers). The Salon does go deeper than the Andra II, but the Studio was not as deep as the Andra II is.

However, the mid-range while very neutral, is not as musical as the Andra II's is. Vocals on the Andra II are better than the Revel was capable of reproducing.

And the treble response on the Revel, while being very well extended, is not nearly as refined as the Andra II's Isotar tweeter. (This was the very first thing I noticed when I hooked up the Andra II speakers after having owned the Revel Studios for many years.)

In addition, the soundstaging and imaging of the Revel speaker while very good, not in the same class as the excellent imaging and soundstaging of the Andra II, (which is one of its strengths). The Andra II speakers disappear from the soundstage as well as any speaker I have ever heard, period, which is one of the things I really like about them. (They and the Avalon Eidolons are champs in this regard, in the $20-25K speaker class range.)

FYI, these commments are based upon the orginal Revel Ultima line of speakers, and not the current version, which I understand is better than the first.

And, as long as people are giving you alternative suggestions, I highly recommend giving the Avalon Eidolons (or the Avalong Indra, its replacement), an audition, as they are good competition to the Andra IIs. They have slightly less bass response, but have a slightly flatter frequency response in the mid-bass region, which while not being quite as good for rock, makes them slightly better for classical music, (IMHO anyway).

Those are my two more cents worth. (So now you have four cents worth of my advice!) ;-)

Congratulations on the upgrade.

I am sure you will appreciate their fine qualities for years to come. (I certainly have so far!)

If you have any further questions regarding the Andra II speakers, (i.e. such as which amps and cables work well with them, feel free to drop me a line).