Hello brettmcee, I will chime in. I have had my CS6 speakers for 16 years now. I know them pretty well. As far as amplification they need lots of current. The impedance drops to 1 ohm at some frequencies. As a rule if your amp can double wattage from 8 to 4 and then from 4 to 2 ohms then it should handle the Thiels. But another important consideration is a dedicated power line to your amp. That also helps the sound quite a bit. Next, placement: I find the Thiels sound best when at least 8 ft apart on centers to get a good large sound stage. I also find that the bass sounds best when the center of the tweeters are 4.5 to 5 feet from the side walls and 5 feet from the back walls. Yes, they take a large room, in my experience to sound their best. At those dimensions, I toe the speakers in just a bit, like 1/4 to 1/2" front to back to bring the imaging into sharp focus. Too much toe in and the imaging gets too much in your face and the large holographic sound stage starts to collapse. I also find tilting the speakers back slightly affects the sound. Try tilting the speakers back such that a level on top of the speaker front to back is off by 1/3 bubble. That should help with the hollow sound.
Now, about the floor. The CS6 speakers will interact with the floor even when using spikes. Without spikes you do not stand a chance. The speakers must be decoupled from the floor to clean up the bass. Carpeting seems to suck the life out of the music. I have my CS6 speakers in a carpeted room too (but I am getting hardwood installed any day now) so I have the speakers sitting on stone tiles. I tried wood boards and stone. I preferred their sound standing on their spikes on stone tiles on the carpeted floor. In my last house, I had the Thiels on carpet and then changed the flooring to hardwood. It made a big improvement in sound. Decoupling the speakers from the floor is crucial.
I added subwoofers to get that last 1/2 octave. I feel I have successfully integrated the subs with my Thiels by having them roll off at 34 Hz and I phased them based on their relative position to the Thiel's woofers.
I have auditioned the Wilson Alexia 2's a couple of times now. The Wilsons have incredible bass. They are a little faster than the Thiels and the bass is a bit cleaner. The problem is that it is not a hands down massive difference. The Thiels do some things better actually. So I'm struggling with the idea of changing speakers because I'm asking myself if I will really move up or am I just looking to change for the sake of change.
The Thiels can be very rewarding. Even after 16 years they still give me goosebumps and can move me to tears. These things are very nearly timeless.
