Bluetone - I would like to add some perspective for your 3.5s.
As Ketchup alludes, the design is dated in the sense that each product builds on and improves the groundwork laid be its predecessor. Add the problems of replacement drivers, and there is a pretty big pickle. For this conversation I am going to assume that the 3.5s are your speakers which you would like to keep.
One of these days I will get access to a 3.5 midrange or two, perhaps I might borrow Oblgny's or similar to take measurements. Perhaps Thielrules and I with guidance from this community can zoom in on a best replacement. Rob needs one for just such circumstances. Perhaps between our resident DIYs and myself, we can tweak the XO well enough. If such a team were working on the problem, I suspect we could find a solution better than abandoning your 3.5s. There are probably still over 3000 pair out there which could benefit.
I also want to address Ketchup's assessment of "shouty and harsh". My experience with 3.5s in scores of rooms and shows and studios is that those adjectives do not apply when the system is right. Large excursions of the midrange do come with the first order territory; indeed Thiel midranges have always carried that load - still do in all models. Indeed they eventually fatigue. But within the past year, I have heard stories of people still 'blown away' by 3.5s even when compared with some highly regarded current speakers.
Perhaps you guys on this forum could take on various parts of the task and we might develop a pretty good 3.5 solution.
As Ketchup alludes, the design is dated in the sense that each product builds on and improves the groundwork laid be its predecessor. Add the problems of replacement drivers, and there is a pretty big pickle. For this conversation I am going to assume that the 3.5s are your speakers which you would like to keep.
One of these days I will get access to a 3.5 midrange or two, perhaps I might borrow Oblgny's or similar to take measurements. Perhaps Thielrules and I with guidance from this community can zoom in on a best replacement. Rob needs one for just such circumstances. Perhaps between our resident DIYs and myself, we can tweak the XO well enough. If such a team were working on the problem, I suspect we could find a solution better than abandoning your 3.5s. There are probably still over 3000 pair out there which could benefit.
I also want to address Ketchup's assessment of "shouty and harsh". My experience with 3.5s in scores of rooms and shows and studios is that those adjectives do not apply when the system is right. Large excursions of the midrange do come with the first order territory; indeed Thiel midranges have always carried that load - still do in all models. Indeed they eventually fatigue. But within the past year, I have heard stories of people still 'blown away' by 3.5s even when compared with some highly regarded current speakers.
Perhaps you guys on this forum could take on various parts of the task and we might develop a pretty good 3.5 solution.