Thiel Owners

@unsound - I find it more cognitively dissonant in the used / classic speaker market than it was in the new / heyday speaker market for a speaker to require extremely specialized and expensive amplification in order to work, even reasonably well. Of course there are users with relatively small rooms who listen at relatively moderate amplitude and who by good research or luck have a moderately priced amp that can drive later-career Thiels. But there are more who don't and plenty of driver damage done by less-than-stable amps. Yes there were real problems winding underhung voice coils with enough turns to raise driver impedance. But there was also a look-the-other way attitude about less than ideal amps. Note that Jim's recommended amps were always priced at a substantial $ multiplier of a pair of Thiel speakers. 

Tom,

Can the speaker binding posts on the 3.6s be moved to the backside? 

kheine

Welcome! Good to see you here today. I look forward in reading more about your Musical tastes and system.

Happy Listening!

kheine - Yes.

There's a long story about the bottom inputs, but we can summarize that my design goal of furniture elegance without electronic clutter, has been less than popular.

Here are some considerations for your move that include the fruit of my recent redevelopment work. I believe that the 'wire as waveguide' construct is more functional than 'wire as electron conductor'. Sound quality will be improved more by managing propagation fields than by making lower resistance connections. I now land firmly on banana plugs rather than spades or bare wire. I also remove any excess conductive mass in the signal propagation path to reduce eddy currents. Therefore I judge your 3.6 plastic capped binding posts as sonically superior to the later large metal lugs and knobs. But greater improvement can be made by streamlining the signal path further by repositioning the inputs away from the electrically conductive input panel and using a straight-line, a low mass terminal system directly through the cabinet (bottom or) back. There is something to be said for positioning them at the back edge of the bottom, facing down. (I suspect you would rather not.)

I highly recommend the Electra connectors from GR Research. In fact, as a stand-alone improvement I suspect their ise will bring the largest SQ improvement / cost of anything you can do to your speakers. You would mount the pair at the bottom / back of the cabinet, right through the MDF panel (bottom or back). You can gain sufficient access through the woofer and the existing input panel.

Let us hear about your outcome.

FWIW, I personaly really like the bottom mounted cable posts. IMHO, they are an elegant solution to what otherwise would be a daily eye sore. Furthermore, it mitigates connectivity issues from curious children and pets, and the lessening of slack helps keep adults from tripping over speaker cables too.