Thiel Owners

Merry Chrisrmas to you all.  I've enjoyed following this thread since I saw it featured on A'gon.  It was I to whom Mike sold his 2.4s and I've enjoyed not only the speakers immensely, but sharing in his quest to find new Thiels and upgrade his system to them.  I added the SS1sub and had Robb modify a Thiel passive crossover for the 2.4.  
Yes,Robb is great to talk to and who will be the go-to guy if he retires?  For example, he highly recommended the 2.7 (which they were selling on eBay) over the 2.4 because of the new dual driver that he called the best that Jim Thiel had ever designed, and warned me they had no replacement amps for the SS1 until a new sub in the works comes out.
I had looked at the Thiels 5is that Mike traded to a guy in San Antonio and concluded what Mike learned the hard way and you've all confirmed; the speaker price is little compared to the cost of driving them.
I'll probably go back to being a fly on the wall but wanted to wish everyone a great holiday.
Bob

Janfant,
my system is quite modest compared to all of those here. A Prima Luna preamp and amp to drive the study speakers which are PSB Imagine Bs and a Phase Linear 700 Series II rebuilt with White Oak innards and speaker protection.  Sources my rebuilt B & O 8002 turntable with Jolida tube phone stage and a McIntosh MCD7008 changer or an Exemplar modded Oppo for SACD.  The Mac plays through a Schiit Multibit Gundnir DAC.
i have nothing fancier than low oxygen gold plated interconnects and financial focus is now on final upgrades to house before I retire later this year.
i do enjoy a record collection of rock albums dating back to the late 60s and have always had the best turntable I could afford so most are in better condition than I've found recent purchases rated mint or near mint to be.
my tastes of late have been more to jazz and I swear the Thiels were designed for reproducing saxophone music.  
'My biggest drawback is that out house layout and my work habits dictate the the stereo rack be in the study (14 x 16) that the Imagines serve well) while my cables to the Thiels require a 30+ foot run.
The Thiels fill an open living/dining are with high ceiling to open 2nd floor hallway while barely stressing the amp.  Even with the White Oak rebuild, I'm conscious of the Flame Linear history and have a cooling fan directed at the heatsink with a thermal sensor hanging above it set for 78 degrees and it only kicks in if the room becomes warm from the living room fireplace. It's capable of almost 500 wpc but I wouldn't trust it to double down twice to power something like the Thiel 5s without over heating.
Almost  all has been put together used.
I'm more than happy with the 2.4s but might ask Robb's advice on upgrading the crossovers. Most likely I'll do nothing except in the unlikely event Mike decides to sell the 6s or another pair of 6s or 7s comes available.
im curious about how the 7 series compares as former top of the line to the CS6.

Jafant,
my apologies for the misspelling above. I had that extra "n" lying around. It just sneaked in.

Asking a little advice, if anyone has had the experience.
As mentioned earlier, I'm playing 2.4s purchased from Mike (who had the bad shipping experience mentioned earlier with his "new SC6s") and using a Thiel px02 set up by Rob Gilliam to run a Thiel SS1 sub.
I purchased the sub after the 2.4s because I sensed I wasn't getting the full bass on old jazz classics.  The sub is set to auto-run and often doesn't kick in at our usual listening levels.
I'll probably call and ask this of Rob, but does anyone have a sense of what difference going to the SI-1 active crossover (or even maybe a JL CR1 might make in opening up the upper range of the mains by taking the bass load off?
I know they seldom come available and wonder if many were sold. Some lucky guy got one on eBay last fall for $250 because the seller didn't know what he had.

Bob

Yes, my pxo2 shares the sub 38 hz signal with the S1.  It wasn't until I started to expand my listening of 50s and 60s jazz that I felt I wanted to be sure I was getting the full timbre of the bass ryrhm.  It's not like listening to Yes where a little more or less of Chris Squire's not-so-subtle thunks aren't going to make a difference.
ive just read quite a bit about crossovers that relieve the mains of the effort of providing the bass making them seem even fuller in the midrange and highs;  makes me wonder if the sweet saxophone sounds could become deliriously fine.  I love the speakers and would have to have a pair of 6s, 7s, or a point 7 come available in Dallas to make me change.  They're powered by a White Oak modified Phase Linear 700 that puts out close to 500 wpc and it must not even be sweating because its heat sinks never warm to 78 degrees or a cooling fan I installed would come on. Our living room is about 20 x 40 if you count the fact the whole downstairs is open with a cathedral ceiling to the open hallway upstairs.  The room could handle the biggest Thiels if I could afford them, but retirement is months away and there are other priorities.
BTW, I got a call from a salesman (Steve Levin, I think) asking if I was interested in buying the second pairs of NOS 2.7s they sold on EBay because the bases weren't perfect.  Rob strongly recommended buying then, saying the coaxial driver was Jim Thiels best and the px02 would be matched for them, too. At $2700 free shipping I was a fool to pass, but I ran an ad for a week online and Craigslist to sell mine and didn't want to risk angering my wife who has been amused with my obsession.
As I posted earlier, my system is modest, centered around my old Bang & Olufsen 8002 turntable which I had rebuilt with the help of a kind B&O fanatic in Denmark.
im not very good at short answers but 1) I don't find the 2.4s lacking in bass. I just want to get the most possible out of them, staying all Thiel if I can.
2) Rob feels the point 7 series are major improvements over their predecessors, at least in the 2 series.

We hew had a great day of music listening.  Attended the Dallas Symphony for a great Beethoven's 8th and a Straus Horn concerto featuring our first horn as soloist before leaving to assume first horn of the Berlin Philharmonic.
When we arrived home, CDs 5 and 6 were still playing on the McIntosh 7008, Duke Ellington at the Newport Jazz Festival.  My wife remarked that Ellington's music was so sweet, it was like listening to Aaron Neville; kind of makes you want to smile or cry.  I reminded her that I had told her of reviews (albeit for the 5 series, not the 2.4s) that said Thiels could make you cry.
After the second Ellington CD, it switched to the single slot in which I had placed Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here".
Certainly an eclectic mix, but my wife, after making the astute analogy of wonderful jazz and sweet voices made the remark that the Thiels make our whole music collection sound almost like being at a live performance, enhancing any kind of good music.
Janfant's "Happy Listening" remark made me feel I should share that we were doing just that.  It's not just any speakers that will thrill you after coming home from a world class performance in as great a concert hall as we have here in the Meyerson.

I wish you all as wonderful a weekend as we are having!

Here you go, Janfant.  It was a long weekend so I took pictures and posted my system.  It's not much compared to what most contributors have built but I'm ok with it.  I also did a panoramic shot with my iPhone to give everyone an idea how large the living area is that I'm trying to fill.

Another nail?  Did anyone see that Thiel is selling their TM3s at half price on Ebay?  $1500 including stands.  

I think Mike B here in Texas who just replaced the 2.4s he sold to me knows Gary.  He's spoken about calling him with questions while I always just call or email Rob.  Too bad the new guys trashed the old equipment Jim Thiel had put together to make his prototype drivers.  Brings us to the same question of what will happen when the replacement parts are gone from Rob's stock.  He already wa render me when I bought a used SS1 sub and had the px02 reconfigured to my 2.4s that they only have the filters left for the 2 series (same works with the 2.7) and I they had no replacement amps for the SS1 although a new series sub was in the works whose amp would be interchangeable.  I fear counting on things like that with the owner turnover.
I'll shoot Mike an email.  He's probably busy these days with a 2 channel with CS6s and a surround with 2.4s, doesn't have much free time.
Does anyone know who bought the 3.7s on EBay?  I'd love to know what they paid.

Prof,
'I had a $999 sniping bid in, set to hit 4 sec before the auction of the SI1 sub integrator ended.  I don't like bidding early and bidding prices up.
i called and asked Rob about it.  He suggested that the px02 and px05, with the correct chips which they're running out of, match the Sub introduction perfectly to where Thiel's start to drop off (around 38 hz for the 2.4 and 2.7 as the woofers are the same).
Rob said Jim Thiel built and sold only a few hundred integrators at most, and some have come back for repairs that can't be done.  Some failures are obvious as in lights not matching settings and some must be listened for.  Since I have the px02 configured by Rob for my 2.4s I decided to pass.  If I were trying to match non-Thiels to the smartsub, I'd have taken the chance.
another thing to know about the SS1 and 2 is that Thiel has no replacement amplifiers.  A year ago they were going to develop a new sub with a compatible amp but that didn't happen.
if I had to start from scratch, I might look at REL.  Are we going to have to start a Go Fund Me to keep Rob and the service department open?  He's only 55 so could provide many of us service as long as we need.

Bob

PS, Prof,
did you note on EBay that someone was selling the coax driver for the 2.7/3.7 because they had to replace one under warranty and the color of the surround or something had changed.  That individual bought an extra so they would match.
Of course, if you leave your grills on it won't much matter.