Thiel CS.5 with Sony STR-DG1000 receiver

[Seth=L]

I paired up my STR-DG1000 with a pair of Thiel CS.5 floorstanding speakers. The two seem to work well together despite the notoriety of Thiel and their reactive loads the receiver doesn't get hot at all running them and there's no noticeable stress.

The receiver does have preouts for all channels. Would it be advised to get a power amplifier, would it have a real world improvement?

[3db]

I paired up my STR-DG1000 with a pair of Thiel CS.5 floorstanding speakers. The two seem to work well together despite the notoriety of Thiel and their reactive loads the receiver doesn't get hot at all running them and there's no noticeable stress.

The receiver does have preouts for all channels. Would it be advised to get a power amplifier, would it have a real world improvement?

Depends on how loud you want to drive the Thiels given the room size?

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Sensitivity is is 89dB, minimum impedance is 4 ohms.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/t...r-measurements

I say no need for external amp.

[BoredSysAdmin]

Sensitivity is is 89dB, minimum impedance is 4 ohms.

Thiel CS.5 loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

I say no need for external amp.

Looking on this graph it seems most manufacturers would rate it as nominal 6 Ohm at 89dB - I agree no amp needed

p.s: Seth - wb and y u no come here lately?

[Seth=L]

I the room isn't overly large. They definitely need a large area to perform well. Tried them out in a smaller room and they did not sound good at all.

According to stereophile's measurements they say the speaker spends most of it's time around 4 Ohms above 200Hz.

[Seth=L]

Looking on this graph it seems most manufacturers would rate it as nominal 6 Ohm at 89dB - I agree no amp needed

p.s: Seth - wb and y u no come here lately?

I have been very very busy. Thank you!

[Seth=L]

I've been slowly getting to know what these speakers can do and I can honestly say I've never had anything that can present a soundstage as defined as this little Thiels. One of the woofers has a slight wrinkle in it though. Despite the wrinkle they don't seem to be affected much by it.

[Swerd]

I've been slowly getting to know what these speakers can do and I can honestly say I've never had anything that can present a soundstage as defined as this little Thiels. One of the woofers has a slight wrinkle in it though. Despite the wrinkle they don't seem to be affected much by it.

Below 200 Hz the Thiels present an impedance load at or below 4 ohms. I don't know how powerful your Sony receiver is, and more importantly, how stable it is driving low impedance loads.

Its rated by Sony at 120 wpc at 8 ohms (measured at 1kHz at 0.7% THD), and Crutchfield says 110 wpc at 8 ohms (measured 20-20,000 Hz at 0.09% THD). I assume this is while 2 channels are driven. But these ratings say nothing about 4 ohms or lower.

It is possible that an amp capable of delivering steady power at low impedance loads can produce better sounding (cleaner and less uncontrolled) and possibly louder bass from your Thiels. I looked briefly on Audiogon and found two inexpensive used Hafler amps.

Hafler DH-200 rated at 100 wpc
Hafler SE240 rated at 120 wpc

Other more powerful amps may have a similar effect, but I know these Haflers are good at driving low impedance speakers.

[Seth=L]

I feel the Sony does an excellent job. I chose this receiver because of it's raw power capability. It has a large extruded heatsink and produces very low heat even when I'm using surround sound (all 5 of my speakers are rated at 4 ohms I believe. For the money I can't think of a more powerful receiver with the features I need.

[zieglj01]

Sony has been doing good lately, with the 10XX series. The measurements
on the 1020 are good - and looks good at 4 ohms
Sony STR-DN1020 A/V Receiver HT Labs Measures | Home Theater