What's wrong with Thiel?

Thiels are great speakers. They have a wonderful clarity and have a very detailed sound. Someone on these threads said they matched them with Conrad Johnson solid state amps which would be a fanstastic match. The musical of the CJ would probably be pretty good with the detail of the Thiels. I have Revels which I felt were a little more musical but I would be real happy with Thiels.

Again Sean and Zaikesman are right on. I should point out that a lot of the caveats are with respect to getting the most out of Thiels. In many ways they are easier to place than some other audiophile speakers. Compared to many panel speakers the Thiels are a lot less fussy.

I am in agreement with Sean, Thiels are not "User Friendly". The work and involvement has been intensive. The bright side is that for every change made, a small tweak or a new component, the Thiels will reveal the merits of those changes. There were never any second guessing if my changes were synergisticaly correct. It was frustrating at times but always Fun.

I currently am driving a pair of 3.6's with a Conrad Johnson Premier 16lsII preamp and MF2500 power amp, audioquest cables, and SCD-1 front end. The sound is simply amazing the demensionality of the music is so real. My duaghter playes the violin / piano and I the piano and the air around the instruments through my speakers very nearly duplicates the real thing. What more can I say!!!! If you seek realism in your music i.e. classical / jazz this is about as good as it gets.

Since no one has mentioned this, I figured I'd toss it out and read the responses.

Looking back a few years at a Stereophile review of the Thiel CS6 (March 1998), Stereophile reports problems with its first pair of speakers, confirmed by Jim Thiel. Does Thiel go to every buyer's house to personally ensure that the speakers are right? Knowing he doesn't -- and that defective speakers get shipped -- should be enough to scare potential buyers away.

Furthermore, Stereophile reports problems with the midrange, saying it lacked "ultimate clarity or cleanness." John Atkinson also wrote, "There was a feeling of reticence in this region, described by one visitor as a 'hooded' quality, that I couldn't eliminate no
matter how much I fooled around with placement."

So while there were major problems with the midrange (of the replacement pair of speakers), the most important portion of a speaker's response, Stereophile highly recommend the nearly $8,000 Thiel CS6. That should tell readers all they need to know about the integrity of Stereophile.

If you want a phase and time coherent speaker, buy either a Vandersteen or, better yet, a Dunlavy. You'll save a lot of money and get a better speaker.