Thiel Owners

Oh Boy!

I did not mean to create any controversy about speaker wire or transports! Let me try to explain my last couple of posts.

My Thiel CS5's fell into my lap as a good local deal and started an exploration of how good the CS5's could sound. First, there was a two year process to get to an amp that I felt could power the CS5's without breaking my bank/space. Then I worked on room acoustics but could not tame a shrillness in the treble.

At that point I received some good advice from another CS5 owner regarding ladder DACs. I found a Theta ProBasic III, which eliminated the shrillness and sounded more organic to me.

I was still aiming for that live, nuanced presence so I tried upgrading to a PS Audio PerfectWave transport and was amazed at how the increased detail improved the "aliveness" of the sound.

At the same time, another thread suggested I try higher gauge speaker wire that yielded more detail and an improvement as corroborated by recent postings on this thread. 

My transport post was simply trying to elicit advice on how to maximize the sound of the CS5's. I am thinking CS 6 and 7 owners might have cool stuff to share.

The suggestions from bray eagle about Belden Iconoclast cables and vair68robert about Cardas 9.5 stranded litz are both news to me and appreciated!

Thanks for listening,

Dsper

Hi Dsper,


Playing with speaker position and room acoustic will yield differences that swamp what you’d get switching around digital sources.(And btw, I’m not in the camp that says every digital source sounds the same).



You should be able to alter the brightness, image focus, soundstage depth, all sorts of things, by playing with positioning (or perhaps adding some acoustic absorption panels or a diffuser at a problematic reflection point).My left speaker is right near a very reflective tiled fireplace.  It can cause some shrill high end so I made a thick velvet cover that I place over that area (on hooks) for listening.  Works perfectly to balance the sound.


Are you sure you have done all you can with speaker position/listening position/acoustics to dial in your speakers before chasing other solutions? (Of course if you really want to try those other things, go for it).

Cheers.

Let me add my impressions to the comparison of the 7.0 and 7.2. we listened to some Michael Jackson songs from thriller album. Rob has all Bryston, the latest CD, pre amp and 28 B3 amps. Not sure about cables. As the room is an office, perhaps 14 x 16 ft without any room treatment, it is fairly alive. Listening to both the 7 sand 7.2, at 85 to 95 dB the immediate impression is the excellent bottom and bass response. Hard to pick a winner as both were astounding. The mid and high is where we there is a difference. The 7.2 is more resolving and given the acoustics more intrusive in the highs whereas the 7 was more balanced all around. When I came home and compared the same music on my 3.5 and 3.7 I would say that the 3.5 has the same character of the 7 but can't compete at the higher spl. The 3.7 can't match the 7 or 7.2 in the bass but easily makes up for it in the mid and highs where the resolution, clarity and balance is unmatched. If anything, how all of these speakers have a great soundstage and draw you into the music makes you forget that the are these differences. I would say love the speakers you have and make them work the best with what you have as far as room and other components.

Thanks for the report thielrules!
As I've said so many times, I think the Thiel 3.7s will remain near-SOTA anywhere around their price-point for a long time.
I haven't heard the 7s for ages, but have no doubt they are competitive with (and better than) many of today's excellent speakers.