Thiel Owners

^Thiel measured their speakers from a distance of 3 meters (approximately 10’), and a minimum of 8’ is required for driver integration and time alignment, aimed straight ahead. If I recall correctly, the 3 meter distance would have a convergence of 22 degrees behind the listener. As space allowed, close to an equilateral triangle for placement was recommended. So, in a room with available side wall space (at least 3’ and preferably 5’ or more) closer to 10’ apart center to center. As you have more than 5’ to side walls, closer to 10’ might work and provide for a bigger soundstage. The distance to listener is another variable to consider. If placed 10’ apart (center to center) and you have less than 10’ between listener and speaker, a bit of toe in might be needed. Toe in can be tricky, just a little bit goes a long way. Too much toe in, and you can shrink soundstage and perhaps even worse, introduce brightness. Another consideration would be the distance of woofer centers to front, rear and sidewalls, and though obviously less controllable, floor and ceiling. The ratios of which can be important for smoothing bass frequency. Simply put; it might be best not to have even multiples or divisibles of any of those distances.

FWIW, as I set up my Thiels, my room affords similar wide space between speakers and sidewalls, but regrettably doesn’t offer quite the ideal distance of listener to speaker. So, I set up mine 10’ apart (center to center), 7.5’ from center to sidewalls, cabinet backs 3’ from nearest wall, and a speaker to listener distance of 8.5’. with 2.5 degrees of toe in. If your room is similar to mine in that the back wall is close to the listener, I can’t emphasize how important some absorptive room treatment behind the listener can be!

Every room is different. Use the figures as a starting point and customize as necessary.

thieliste

8 feet apart and 10 feet to you , 

if I recall that is what Tom said this is the spacing he used for testing his mods . 

2.7 manual is 8ft apart and 8 to 10ft to listener , min 3 feet speaker center from side walls and 2 1/2 from front wall to rear of cabinet

toe in should be used only if you can't meet the min. to side wall spacing ,

I can't be 10 feet from the speakers , so I used the triangle formula of 8 x 10 x 10 this gave me an angle of just less than 48 degrees to the listener , my speakers are 84 inches apart and 104 inches to listening position , 37 inches to side walls and only 28.5 to the front wall .

So if you can sit further than 10 feet from the speakers  you can experiment with moving the speakers more than 8 feet apart keeping the same angle to the listener

Positioning The Speakers - Thiel CS3.7 Owner's Information [Page 4] | ManualsLib

Positioning The Speakers - Thiel Coherent Source CS2.7 Owner's Information [Page 4] | ManualsLib

@unsound Yes seems that we have similar rooms, my system is long wall placement and i'm sitting close to the back wall about 9 feet from tweeters.

My room has very good acoustics as i have wooden floor, thick carpet under the system and thick curtains.

I use my dad's paintings as absorbers on the walls and furniture.

I'm lucky to have a wife that let's me use the living room almost like a dedicated listening room lol

I will try 9 feet apart and see how that goes.

@Thieliste, Same here, long wall. I personally prefer long wall placement. I find imaging and bass response often improves with such a layout. But again, absorption directly behind the listener is required to avoid comb filtering. Even if it's just a temporary item used only during listening sessions. Also, pulling the speakers well out (>3') from the wall behind them will help with clarity. 

If using spikes, I suggest removing them while experimenting. Replace them when ideal positioning is established.

9' could be ideal, but don't be afraid to try wider. Especially with such available space from side walls. Just a slight tick of just a couple of degrees of toe in could easily compensate for the foreshortened distance of listener from loudspeakers. It might really open up the soundstage. Keep in mind the center of the woofer's relationships to the various boundaries. Experiment! Test recordings can speed up the process.

Good luck!