Thiel 3.5 equalizer advice

Using the Thiels without the EQ is like buying a Maserati simply to drive to and from the supermarket - you may enjoy the ride but you'll be missing out on what the overall intent was in designing it. I am currently "driving" my 3.5's with a Macintosh Mc275 tube amp which, for some people, may appear to be too little power for what are legendarily "power hungry" speakers. I listened with and without the EQ in line and I can testify that the EQ is necessary. It could be my ears alone which detected better imaging with the EQ in, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I love these speakers.

Another deliriously happy 3.5 owner here. I’m also a huge advocate of the equalizer. Interestingly, I used to own KEF Reference 107/2’s and pretty much hated what the KUBE equalizer did to them, essentially sitting on the sound terribly. The 107/2’s, not in the same class as the 3.5s in my view, sounded far better sans KUBE. It’s quite the reverse with the 3.5s.

The Thiel equalizer doesn’t interfere with the sonic character of the 3.5s and merely allows them to accurately plunge the Stygian depths, but only when recordings dip to 20HZ territory. The 107/2s sounded very colored in the low end, to these ears at least.

I don't believe Thiel still sells them but they can be repaired

You can always get something like DiracLive or miniDSP and configure your own. If they can be bi-amped, you can relegate the EQ to the bass amp.

Best,

Erik

^CS 3's had two pairs of binding posts on each cabinet, the 3.5's only one pair.