Any experience with the Thiel CS.5

No problem, glad to offer my input.

Actually, I forgot a couple of other problems he had.

A used Counterpoint preamp he bought went belly up after a few months, (not too uncommon for that company, as Counterpoint was always prone to problems, but still....)

And an integrated amp he bought, on Audiogon, a day or or so before the aforementioned pipe breaking, arrived with the preamp portion not working. (Unfortunately, he did not get a chance to try it out for several weeks, due to the construction in the house, and when he did, and informed the seller, the seller denied all knowledge of the problem and refused to refund him his money. I even tried to intervene, as I have a long and fairly reputable history here, but to no avail. Scumbag seller, IMHO.)

So, yeah, "If it wasn't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all!" ;-)

Jeez Kurt...sounds like your brother-in-law is walking around under a black cloud! Thanks for the input. I had good luck with some 3.5 and model 6 Thiels before I got into Magnepans...and a small 2nd system thought these might be worth a look....never been much for bookshelf speakers on stands....but who knows.

Actually the 3.5 are still in use at a friends house....must be 20, or so, years ole +/- and never touched.

Thanks

My brother-in-law has them, (bought used a few years ago for $600 as I recall). They sound pretty good, albeit, as you might expect, a bit light in the bass response. Resolution is pretty good, as is the imaging and soundstaging. They are rather small for a floor stander, so the imaging is not "tall". But all in all, a good entry level audiophile speaker.

I will point out that he has had a bit of trouble with drivers going out on him. After a year or so, a tweeter went out, and now a woofer has gone out. However, Thiel has replacement drivers available for a reasonable price, so the customer service is both good and still there, (which is great for a speaker this old).

Again, these were used, so maybe age is just taking its toll on them, but it does seem odd that this has been happening, as it has never happened to me when I've had older speakers. But then again, he has had a run of bad luck regarding this stereo; from his dog chewing through the speaker wires; to his mother-law breaking his stylus while dusting his turntable; and having the storm pipe above his condo unit break and collapse his roof onto his old stereo receiever. Not to mention the aforementioned driver problems! Needless to say, he is NOT allowed to touch my stereo! ;-)