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Solving the THIEL CS 5i's - vs- CS 7.2 Debate

Well I have been a huge THIEL fan for years. I have owned the CS 7.2's for 4 plus years and the CS 5i's for 3 years. In that time I have been begging for the correct room / source / amplification setup to host an ultimate drag out and shoot out. The stars aligned post new year and I had the extra help to move these monsters around and begin the process to initiate a formal showdown of these extraordinary components and literal masterpieces of speaker construction and design.

To address the weary on what I leveraged to orchestrate this debate, the amplification stage was handled by twin KRELL FPB 650m's, piped through the KRELL KCT, AudioQuest interconnects and woeful Denon CD section. All other things being equal the downside on the CD and speaker cabling should balance the field between the two.

I ran a battery of CD,s and moved the speakers forward and backward, toe in and straight up and I now have what is my ultimate conclusion. At this point I am looking for supporting evidence from the community or welcome an additional party to sit and listen to the setup.

At some point in this thread I can discuss the nuances between the two speakers, however, I will come out and say that the CS 7.2's are pure illustrated magic and profoundly demonstrated a by far greater representation of what I would expect from the original source.

At the end of the day they were the better sounding speakers to my ears in that room, given this setup.

Were the CS 5i's able to bring tears to my eyes? = yes.

Did the CS 7.2's do a better job of handling the soundstage? = yes

I would love to hear feedback if folks have any regarding a direct speaker to speaker comparison.

I will also state that by themselves the CS 5i's sound brilliant.

Thank you,
David
davidstingray
kacz
177 posts
 
Always nice to see someone do a showdown like this. I've always loved Thiel speakers. Had a few of the smaller ones and was always curious of the larger guys.

Out of curiosity if you had to guess how do you think the CS 6 would fall into place with these other two?
unsound
7,313 posts
 
I had the opportunity to do almost the exact same comparison in very large room at a dealers years ago, and on different occasions with different electronics; Krell and Levinson. I think the cables were MIT.
Interestingly enough, I came to the complete opposite opinion. Though with lower power the 7's might have had the advantage. I much preferred the Krell gear, but some others preferred the Levinson. To each his own. Thanks for sharing!
unsound
7,313 posts
 
Kacz, IMHO not too well, other than dynamic range the 6's were a very expensive upgrade over the 3 series. Again, IMHO one of Thiel's worst values.
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