Thiels or Von Schweikerts

I loved the sound of Thiels too until I got them home. Once I sold them I was even happier. I have owned Von Schweikert VR4 gen II for about 4 to 5 years now and love them.

The Thiels were the most finicky speakers I have ever owned and it took me away from the music. They had me focusing more on upgrading the sound than the sound itself. I could never get them to sound like what I heard in the dealer showroom and some music sounded just terrible on them anywhere. The final straw was when my brother brought over the Klipsch Forte and Academy center he had just bought used to try out as he had no receiver yet. This was about 7 years ago so I connected his speakers to my system which included at that time a Proceed AVP, Plinius for the front and Parasound HCA-2205 for the surrounds. I actually preferred the sound of the Klipsch set to my own speakers by a long shot. His $200 Academy bested my $2,200 Thiel MCS1 center channel.

I did try 3 different pre-amps, 4 amps, 2 or 3 cd players and a variety of interconnects and speaker cables on the Thiels but could never get them to sound the way I wanted.
I know the room has a lot to do with it and set-up but having tried 5 different speakers in the same room with a good amount of success I could only draw the conclusion that the Thiels were not for me or anyone else who listened to them.

I have heard other set-ups with thiels and they sound really nice but I had a horrible time with them and would never buy another set.

The Von Schweikerts are great as they do a lot very, very well and the center is the best I have ever owned.

Thiels are one of the most loved or hated speakers I have ever come accross but I have never met anyone who hate Von Schweikert's.

Good luck

Another option for you may be Ohm Acoustics. They have a 120 day full money back gaurantee. Your purchasing factory direct. Theey are very nice people to work with. I happen to love my 100 mk3's and have had them for about 6 months Good Luck with your search.

http://www.ohmspeaker.com/

Mjaudio: That's a great story, glad it had a happy ending. I used to own Klipsch KG4's not too much more expensive than your brother's center (shyeah, I wish they'd sounded like an MCS!), and also auditioned VS VR4's at the time I bought my Thiel 2.2's, which I've owned for 9 sufficiently-contented years now :-)

Both are excellent speakers, but have to agree w/ mjaudio, the Thiels are system sensitive. I'd do a search in members system's to see which amps & cabling synergize w/ the Thiels. I've owned the vr4jr's for over a year and can highly recommend them. Supurb sound and seem to mate very well w/ a variety of amps. Only requirements being 1) that they require a lot of clean power for them to open up to thier full potential 2) load w/ lead shot 3) biwire.

My vote goes to Von Schweikert, too, for many of the reasons noted by Mjaudio. As a bonus, they're way more efficient than Thiels, so you don't have to spend megabucks on an amp capable of driving them.