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!
jafant

@ydjames A lot of Thiel owners use Tube linestage to have a more musical presentation and less glare.

 

Yes that’s a sort of typical combo people try when they attempt to get the best of both worlds, tubes and solid state.

 

And it makes some sense. You may have a speaker that just works best with a solid state amp driving it, but want to add a bit of tube sweetness on to that, so you add a tube preamp.

 

For me though it doesn’t really work in practice, for my particular taste. I really am a tube amp guy, and I find that it’s the amplifiers more than the pre-amps that really impart the tube characteristics most. Since I find my conrad johnson premier 12s drive my Thiels really well, I have no need to change my amp.

 

However, when I borrowed my friends Bryston 4B3 amp for a while I certainly heard some intriguing things the SS amp brought to the party - even more over-all precision, grip in the bass, solidity and clarity of transients, slightly lower distortion.

 

However overall I found the sound a bit too stiff, mechanical, edgy and hard, even with my very tubey CJ Premier 16SL2 preamp. I ultimately preferred my premier 12s over the Bryston for the more organic, rich, filled out and spacious sound, while maintaining good punch and drive.

 

However to see if I can get a bit more of "best of both worlds" I’ve been experimenting in using my Benchmark DAC 2L as a pre-amp. It’s a DAC but also has a fully functioning pre-amp stage (all analog signal). It generally sounded fantastic and close to a "best of both worlds." There was a greater sense of clean, clear sound, transients tighted up, bass tighted up somewhat, sounded really "accurate" yet it also maintained the essential sonic signature of the tube amps driving the speakers - big, meaty, rich, organic, spacious.

 

So I’ve just purchased a second hand Benchmark LA4 pre-amp - you won’t get more lower distortion/neutral SS pre-amp than that! I hope to try it in my system in the next few days.

 

But in any case, my sense is that unlike the usual SS with tube preamp, it’s actually a tube amp with SS pre that gets closer to best of both worlds. IMO.

In this case my dream combo would be CH Precision L1-X1 + VAC Signature 200IQ monos.

Don't worry it's not going to happen unless i win the lotterie 😅

In case anyone is interested, TMR has posted an amberwood pair of CS 1.6 for $899 + $149 for shipping with condition listed as 7 out of 10.  Serial# 3053; 3054