Thiel Owners

I just managed to swap the listening position to allow for a longer distance from the speaker to the listening position as recommended from the user manual. Initially was about 4.5 feet and now to about 6 feet. But distance from the back wall is now about 1 feet from about 4 feet. The speakers sounded different now, the brightness that I experience earlier was totally gone. The bass is much reinforced. However the soundstage height and depth seems to have suffered as the speakers are closer to the rear wall. I am not sure why the soundstage height is shorter now. I suspect that the distance between the listening position and the speakers affected it.

It really is a very interesting speaker.

The CS1.5 spent its whole life on Stereophile’s Class A (limited bass) list. But its design constraints are real - a seated listener at least 100" away. Also, the only baked-in timbral balance assumption is that it is on a floor. The anechoic (no floor) frequency balance is shelved down 2dB below 200 Hz such that floor placement makes it flat.) Placement relative to walls, including the wall behind it, greatly affects amplitude and quality of bass. Your stage height observation is due to spectral interference from lobing of the individual drivers. Those propagation patterns integrate beyond about 8’ listening distance. I suspect you can get it close to right by careful attention to ear height and cabinet tilt. You gain some positional flexibility by listening up to 25° off axis (which would be straight-ahead at 10'.) If you have placed your speakers along the room’s diagonal axis, then the side wall reflection will be greatly reduced. If not, the Thiel wide-dispersion characteristic works against you in that small room.

@gryphon1972 , The CS 1.5's are a honey of a little speaker, and FWIW the first 1 series that I genunely liked. With that said, I think your room (and amplification) is too small for them. Something like the Thiel MCS or SCS would work much better for your circumstances. They are by design more suited for the placements you have available to you. Even then, with  impedance loads dropping to around 3 Ohms you'll need more power from your amplification. As most amps aren't typically spec'd to 3 Ohms, you'll probably have to find the still hard to find 2 Ohm spec'd amps that are actually spec'd to provide at least 200 Watts into 2 Ohms. Don't be fooled be specs that suggest that the amp is "stable" into such loads, as that is not at all the same.

tomthiel

Thank You for addressing the CS 1.5 speakers for gryphon1972.

PM sent.

Happy Listening!

unsound

Thank You for chiming in to address gryphon1972 's 1.5 speaker query.

Happy Listening!