Thiel Owners

Well I must say, as a 3.5 owner, this is the thread that keeps on giving every week. Some fascinating insights guys.

Listening to the 3.5s as I write and I can confirm other recent comments that their reputation for brightness is simply a misunderstanding of what’s happening when you listen through them. They will ruthlessly murder bad recordings, which is what you’re hearing sometimes. Use a first class recording and you’ll get first class sonics. It really is that simple and not a necessity to pair them with amp exotica, though of course more is always more :-)

Most crucial tip is to let your amp(s) warm up nicely, otherwise the Thiels will reveal any audible negativity in that process too.

In terms of Thiel’s repair tariff, I won’t hesitate to use that service as requirements dictate. Paid $800 for mine, in pretty mint condition, and good luck trying to find better high end audio value than that.

Also concur with the point about bass. Full range only rears its head when full range is on the recording. As has also been said, this is bass that’s musical and 100% coherent. I reckon that’s one of the toughest tricks to perform in speaker design. As we all know Jim was a towering genius.

Think fine electrostatics with true balls, all delivered seamlessly, and you’ve got the picture.

Will continue to follow what everyone says with interest and chip in where I feel is useful.

Thanks! for sharing- catalysis

most of the experts here are into the older/vintage loudspeakers. Nothing wrong with this as we all like different flavors of JT's designs.

Happy Listening!

catalysis...

Your points were spot-on regarding how the 3.5's sonics improve when the amplification is warmed up a while.  I've mated my solid state amp to a tubed pre-amp and I usually,  but not always wait about 15 minutes before playing anything.  The sonics are noticeably better after about an hour as well. 

It's funny how my appreciation for the 3.5's,  "older models",  has made me something of a zealot.  I arrived late in the game to Thiel speakers,  after Jim passed away,  and only through Audiogon discovered them.

I also find it most curious about how people find them "too bright" at times,  an opinion I previously reserved for a pair of Klipsch CF-3's purchased in 1994 when I moved into my house here.  Two ten-inch woofers and a horn loaded tweeter that used to grate on my ears like nails on a chalkboard.  Ouch.  I cannibalized the drivers and sold them off, then reconfigured the cabinets to hold most of my cd collection.

Since then,  discovering Audiogon along the way,  I've had a LOT of speakers.  Among those that I have liked are Magnepan,  Totem,  Von Schweikert,  Meadowlark...

The two that keep me curious are Thiel and Magnepan.  The one that I've kept is Thiel.

The aforementioned brands and a few others that I've had were all good in their own right,  but the two that actually stopped me in my tracks have been Maggie and Thiel.  Thiel has proven to be the winner in the last comparison,  and if I may quote myself from another post,  "Thiels are Maggies with bass."

unsound's knowledge of the brand is second to none and his posts here have been immensely helpful to me.  I will one day move up the food chain but it won't be at the expense of my 3.5's.

Unsound,
Why do you think the equalizer is so important?  In my room the speakers without the eq. or the sub measured a valley at 60Hz and a peak at 40Hz.  I needed the high pass filter from the sub to flatten the response curve.  What you suggest will put a bigger bump in the low frequency response curve than I started with, add another layer of electronics to the signal path and create more load for my little 100-watt tube amp.  The guy offering me the mid driver even suggested that the equalizer could be responsible for blowing the mid range, a suggestion I took with a grain of salt.  My midrange appears worn out, not blown.  

Yeah, I could have moved things around to get a better response at my listening position but it's my living/TV/listening room and I have a partner to live with so there are more considerations than just my obsessive audiophile needs.

It's possible to overload that mid range, certainly, and there are many anecdotal cases of this. The 3.5's will go plenty loud enough without the need for that, however, unless your listening room is half the size of Madison Square Garden :-)

In terms of the equalizer, this is how they were designed and I see no reason to meddle with that. But as always with audio, one's own experience is unique and, of course, very room dependent. If you think your setup is better without the equalizer, then leave it out, or maybe just select the 40HZ option.

I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated listening room, so the Thiels are located without any spousal input :-) I can imagine situations where if the 3.5's are placed near the rear wall that the equalizer will not be performing within spec.