Thiel Owners

devinplombier

I don't know much about the Apogee line across the board. There are other high-end brands and models - Wilson Watts come to mind - that are have treacherously abrupt impedance swings with sub-1 ohm bottoms . . . and advertising that claims them easily driven. Thiel speakers present extremely resistive, non-reactive loads. But since their impedance is (too) low across the board, many amps just can't deliver the juice to drive them well.

Duramax's advice is spot on. Listen to demanding material at high volume and assess the enjoyment / naturalness of your response. I find it less than productive to try to analyze and describe the nature of the failure(s) because there are so many interacting factors and such academic understanding isn't the goal. Finding worthy ancillary equipment is your goal.

duramax747

My room is approx 32x16 with a 12’ listening triangle. My speakers are positioned halfway along the long walls, so about 15’ from the front wall.

Re your Nashville auditions, I would hazard a guess that someone at the first shop mistakenly wired the Thiels to the 8 ohm taps of the McIntoshs.

and tomthiel

I agree 100% with the importance of adequate amplification. I got my Classé monoblocks to drive my Infinity RS-II, themselves interim speakers to tide me over until I get my "perfect" ones (the RS-II are great speakers btw and, despite the fact that I’ve probably spent more time so far working on them than listening to them, I’m growing quite fond of them).

I am prepared to sell the Classés and get the amps to match whatever speakers I get eventually.

jafant

Thank you for the tip regarding the 3 CS5i in Florida.

I would consider buying speakers online from a well regarded seller, though I would much prefer to buy locally here in the Pacific Northwest so that I can audition prior to purchase.

I also want to say what a great source of high quality information this thread is! Thank you for creating and moderating it.

tomthiel

Thank You for the information on models CS5 and CS5i loudspeakers. A nice Thiel history lesson as well.  Although I have not heard big Apogee loudspeakers, I can comment on model Slant 8.  The Slant 8 and Thiel CS 2.4 are very close in presentation and sound. In a shoot out, the CS 2.4 wins as the speaker has better Bass output via its passive radiator. Both speakers exhibit excellent mid and upper range frequencies.

Happy Listening!

duramax747

Your room sounds amazing in design. I can hardly await to see pictures of it plus your System. Good things are in store for 2025.

Happy Listening!

devinplombier

Thats a good room for the CS 5i. 

I'm not sure what taps they used but the salesman seemed to be knowledgeable.

Jafant

Well, the man himself designed the room. When Tom and company come for an extensive audition I will tell more about the room as it is very unique in it's design. 

I will say this, at the listening chairs you only hear the wave from the drivers and no side wall/floor/ceiling reflections. No dampening in these areas as we wanted live acoustics and notb dead harmonics. 

The room is so well designed we did not even need a wool rug on Pz floors between the speakers and the listener. We tried and within 10 minutes we removed it. We were amazed that no rug was needed. 

I will get photos up soon. 

Any members in the NC area are welcome to stop by and hear the big Thiels.