Comparison of Thiel CS2.4 vs. Vandersteen 3A Sig.

Chad, maybe it is a matter of language usage, but I have heard the Thiel CS2.4 driven by a Bel 1001 Mk V amp and the sound was bright and exceptionally revealing, but not harsh. This is the combo owned by my former college roommate. He plays classical piano and the sound of the Thiels playing his own recordings sounds surprisingly close to the real thing. In an acoustically-deader room than his, the Thiels could be tonally dead-nuts accurate.

FUNK & WAGNALLS ENCLYCLOPEDIC COLLEGE DICTIONARY: harsh adj. 1. Grating. rough, or unpleasant to any of the senses: a harsh tone; a harsh light. 2. Unpleasing to the mind or the artistic sense; ungracefull; crude. 3. Manifesting severity and rigor; cruel; unfeeling:a harsh punish-ment. [ME harsk.prob.

Boy I wish I had room to carry around a Dictionary so I could pour over every word for exact definition, I am also jealous of how much time you must have on your hands. When I listen to Thiels if the complete package isnt exactly ideal they are unpleasing to my mind and my artistic sense and they can seem rather ungraceful and crued in their presentation, they can also sound rough and grating on my ears and tone is harsh. I hope this makes Unsound happy.

I owned new 2.4's for almost a year, ran them with all the "right stuff" (Pass X250 amp & Pass X pre, 306/200 CDP, Cardas Golden Cross everywhere) & could not listen to 80% of my CD collection. I really wanted to like these speakers & finally sold them. I'll save you the descriptives.

Sorry Chad, don't mean to pile on but I've had Thiel 3.6's for several years, 2 systems and many cables, Harsh would not be a description I would use even if not properly matched up. They are very revealing, uncolored IMO which means they pass through what is fed, that is precisely why I am a Thiel owner.

All systems need careful attention to detail to synergize and make music that makes you forget about equipment, Thiels fall in the category of "need a little more work" to accomplish that.