Thiel Owners

Thanks for the warm welcome and positive encouragement on the speaker shipping!

I'm figuring out how to set up my virtual system... but, it's basically a rag-tag group of vintage components that have somehow learned to play nice with each other and actually sound really great with my 3.5. My analog front end features a direct-drive JVC al-y7 turntable with an AT oc9ii cart. Digital source is a Pioneer Elite (upside-down) CD transport into a Schiit DAC. My preamp is an all tube VTL 5.5, and the amps are a pair of 1963 Sherwood a-5500 iv in bridged mono, feeding about 160w per channel into 4ohms. Interconnects are Monster Sigma retro golds and Speaker cables are Straightwire Serenades. As far as power I have everything hooked up to a 20amp Equitech son of Q, with several power cords from jps labs and Acoustic Zen. Like I said, strange group of components that actually sound quite musical together.. especially through THIELS ;)

Jon,
thanks for not holding a grudge. After all we're all fellow Thielistas! Also, thanks for the link. Some very interesting reading on JTs design philosophy. 

arniespin

It's sales like the one you got that will drive down the price of my 3.7s if I have to sell them!! ;-)

Lucky guy.

Sounds like you are well set up for the 3.7s.  I'll be really curious what you think.  I'm driving mine with 140W of conrad johnson tube power and they are controlled beautifully from top to bottom.  The 3.7s are a bit overdamped in the bass relative to a lot of other big speakers, which actually makes them easier to place in real rooms.  You can really modulate the sound via placement (like most speakers).  I tend to prefer a nearer placement (I'm about 6 to 7 feet from mine) and the 3.7s remain coherent close up (the coincident mid/tweeters and their wide bandwidth certainly help that). 

The 3.7s sound smooth either toed in or toed out - the more you toe in (again like many speakers) the brighter and more focused the sound.
I actually prefer the Thiels widely spaced, facing essentially straight ahead, with just about no toe in.  The sound becomes much bigger, more spacious, with more dimensionality and depth to the imaging, but also a warmer, richer tone. 

I'm curious what positioning will work best for you.