Thiel 2.7 VS 3.7???

While I have not heard either of these Thiel models, there are a lot of Thiel owners on the forums, so I'm sure they'll chime in. The one observation I'll make is some of this will depend on the size of your room; if it's smaller, the 3.7s might not sound their best--I found this to be the case between the Thiel CS2 and 3 models I auditioned years ago. You probably should give the dimensions of your listening room, as well as the amplification that you are using, to get a more informed answer.

Hi,

Thanks, my room is big enough I think @ 20x20x12 leading into an open kitchen/dining area. My amplification is the Peachtree Nova 220 & Nova pre. 400 W/PC into 4 ohm.Standard living room with no special treatments. Used for both music & 2 ch HT. The 2.7's are plenty as it is, but just wondering what I would gain with the 3.7's. My guess are they would be very close with just a bit more bass presence & power, but not much deeper.

I have not heard the 2.7's but I own the 3. 7's. IMHO, the only sub to consider with the Thiels is a Thiel smart sub. They are built to match your speaker.

There's simply *no* way to know, without experimentation in your room, whether a sub would be better or would even work well in your room. I've heard them make a great difference and frankly not much at all. Can you get a dealer to let you audition one?

One thing to consider is that the 3.7 will be phased out soon. The new company is going in a different direction. The new speakers are not time coherent. I predict used 3.7's will hold their current value for some time because they punch way above their weight class and have a relatively small footprint.FWIW.

Vhiner,

Thanks, that is what I am thinking as well. I have owned a lot of subs and can get most of them to work "ok" in my room but never seem totally satisfied. I have a buyer for my 2.7's now, but have cold feet considering the price jump I will have to make and just want to be sure (or as close as I can) that I will gain something to make it worthwhile. Now I know the 3.7's are rated at only 2Hz deeper than the 2.7's but it's more about the power of that bass than the depth.

I "love" the bass quality of the 2.7's and don't even need more for music or movies really, but would love a speaker that can get me even closer to not needing a sub at all ever. (I know they would still need one for true HT but!?)
And like you said, Thiel is changing direction, so want to make a decision soon.

To my ears, Thiel is the best sounding speaker I have owned so far (and that's a lot) and will stay with them for years to come be it the 3.7's or my 2.7's I have now.

Seems to me that you have both enough room and amplification for the 3.7s. I agree with Vhiner about the sub, the Thiel sub would be the way to go if you take that choice.

Since no one has mentioned it yet, again I'll venture a guess based on my past experience with the Thiel CS2 and CS 3.5 (as well, frankly, as in the cases of other speaker lines, like Dunlavy, when you went up the line to larger speakers), and see if anyone else can chime in. The big differences in the past between the two classes of speakers to my ears were both in bass quantity and quality and, more importantly, a better sense of ease in presentation from the bigger speaker and an overall bigger sound. The drivers moved more air, weren't working as hard and overall had a more relaxed and open sound, less strained. I know the 2.7 is really light years ahead of the CS2 and is probably one of the best Thiel speakers, but the 3.7 is a good deal better than the original CS 3.5, much as I liked that speaker, and is very highly regarded. I would think that ease, particularly in loud and complex musical passages, would be noticeable--it certainly was to me. If you listen more to smaller scale ensembles and music and at moderate volume levels, it may not be as important a difference. Just a guess based on past experience--I'm hoping someone who owns or has compared the actual speakers will add their two cents.