unsound...
I've stumbled across a few ads for the Thiel eq's over the last year or so but didn't bite only because, well, I have one already. (Obviously not thinking that I needed another, and as obviously not thinking to have a back up just in case...) Suffice it to add that I am now on the hunt in order to undertake the s'periment that you outlined below regarding having them modded into monos with XLR connections. Intrigued as hell, I am indeed. This will occur if and when I am able to locate another, a relaxed "to-do" line item for me.
They go for around $100 from what I recall. That's a cheap investment. I do not have any reference point to guesstimate the final cost of doing so, but if I can have the work performed on both for around $500 methinks that's a meager expenditure considering how much I enjoy these 3.5's. My local audio store here in Lake Grove NY referred me to a tech that they use when I bought a used Conrad Johnson MF200 amp a little while back.
Wow! I forgot that I put that in for service before the summer! I have to go get it!
Anyway, a few posts below I mentioned that I purchased a Khozmo passive preamp from a fellow member here just for the absolute hell of it. A couple of years ago I s'perimented with a Reference Line Audio Preeminence One B Series II passive preamp with a different amp and speakers and...I actually forget what I thought of it at the moment.
The Khozmo has two outputs and three inputs with no markings whatsoever. No manual, either. It's actually a well constructed piece of gear. I hooked it up with the Thiel eq in line.
I've decided that the most accurate description of my Thiel CS3.5's is "articulate". What I imagined would happen by slotting the Khozmo in for the moment happened. (Pass Labs X150.5, Khozmo, Thiel CS3.5's.)
There definitely is a more pronounced etching of the highs which the Thiels already excel in providing, and I must confess that I favor speakers that offer such to begin with. The "etching" I described above is not meant to infer that I sense a harshness in those frequencies. Perhaps the most accurate description I can relate of the Khozmo's impact is its absolute lack of adding anything of color whatsoever. As I've said before I find Thiels to be "colorless" unforgivingly revealing loudspeakers, as well the same for the Pass Labs X150.5 amplifier. This was a fun little s'periment. I'll be keeping this little preamp along with the BAT VK3i.
Sometime this coming week I'll rotate the BAT back into place using the tape monitor inputs allowing me to use the balanced connects between it and the Pass. I already tested that option before tossing the Khozmo in and it worked fine.
Like I said, once I locate another Thiel eq I will undertake your suggestion to have the mods performed. Should be VERY cool, indeed.
I forget whom the fellow member here is that prefaces his ads with the phrase, "Get ready for hi-fi fun!", but since joining this community and more specifically this thread, I have indeed been having hi-fi fun.
Thanks, folks.
