I'm with bluetone. The first time I heard the 3.5 demo-ed at a local emporium my jaw dropped. I finally picked up a pair in excellent condition seven years ago. Recently I upgraded my amp and preamp with more nice vintage gear. A Classe CA300 amp and Superphon Revelation preamp. My jaw dropped again. The palpability and power are still astounding.
The foam surround on one of the mids has finally given out though - and I am in the same boat as bluetone and many others. I stupidly had only one of the mids rebuilt by Thiel back in o4 and that one is still good.
I’ll be trying the scan-speak 10F/8424G form Madison soon. I’ll first compare it with pink noise, other listening tests and some simple measurements, to the original in the other speaker. If it’s close I’ll put the 10F/8424G in both and work on getting the original 13M 8521 re-foamed. The tough thing about that is finding the right foam surround for it.
Re. harshness etc. As many have noted. These need the right room and the right electronics or they can sound very annoying indeed. Satisfy their requirements and and they are still capable of astounding
I will post again after experimenting and would very much like to hear how bluetone and others have faired in this endeavor.
