Anyone hear Thiel CS1.6?

Zaik, You are correct about some of my posts about particular drivers. I spoke on assumptions. I just took a $2200 hit on a 3 way DIYer design, built by a Madisound member. So i'm learing the..hard way. You're an ol'audiophilie, and have "heard it all". I'm learning, and respect your reviews. I'll call Art Colley's in Baton Rouge to see if i can audition the 1.6's. Sorry about a tad of sarcasm in previous post. Cheers. Rbstehno, i'm not sure what's up with the Totem review?? What's your thought about this statement? So its got bass. Clean? Just as important is the upper bass response. It is the combination of bass+midbass in a woofer that makes the driver have the exceptional quality of Musicality. Which is rare and not easy to design. If you get a chance take a look at the Seas Excel series of mid/woofers.

FWIW, I've heard the Totem Arro on a couple of occasions and was pleasantly surprised by the bass response. In almost all respects, I remember it being better than the Thiel 1.6.

Totem's whole product line seems very impressive for the price. Lots of speakers use Dynaudio drivers, but I believe Totem is one of a few for whom Dynaudio makes custom drivers. They are also easy to drive and not finicky with room placement or associated equipment.

Don't get me wrong, Thiel also makes some nice speakers, but they seem a little more demanding about proper setup and amp matching.

Personally, I like less of an in-your-face type sound than either Thiel or Totem. If that is also your preference, then I would highly recommend checking out the Spendors. I have the S9, but I believe the S8 sells for near the same as the 1.6 and absolutely crushes it.

Crushes it how? You'll certainly get more warmth and more apparent bass from most Spendors, but you'll never get as much detail and resolution and image specificity as the 1.6 delivers. Nor will you ever hear a cymbal, for example, reproduced with as much fidelity as you will from the Thiel. IMHO.

Tweek - Haven't "heard it all"; haven't heard even a fraction of it. You're probably well on your way to being a much better audiophile than I'll ever be, because you aspire to it. Happy listening, Z.

Rbstenho, Labtec - I'll try to make a point of listening to a Totem speaker sometime when the opportunity presents itself. I confess I've been turned off paying attention to them in the past based almost entirely on some interviews I've read with their designer - he seemed pretty flakey to me - and the fact that they market those machined aluminum "beak" thingamajigs for $100 a pop, which is just plain silly at best and highly questionable at worst, from what I can see (no, I haven't 'heard' them either - there are already enough small miscellaneous objects around my listening room without me buying beaks and wooden disks and such; there are still some things I just will not do as long as I've got a brain remaining between my ears, sorry!). But it's true none of that means their speakers ain't good.

For clarification, they're not $2K...unless, of course, you're fond of painted black wood. The 1.6 is $2,400 and that puts them into the ranks of some VERY stiff competition.

I've heard them and they sounded fantastic. Very UN-Thiel-like inasmuch as there was not hint of brightness or grain. Definitely not "in-your-face".

That said, there are a LOT of great speakers in this price range and you really have to cut through the hyperbole and listen for yourself to see if they're for you. I should also say that I heard them with some VERY high-end associated equipment, so it's hard to say what they'd sound like in the real world. The system was ARC CD-3, ARC Reference 2, ARC VT-200s. Cabling was all Nordost Valhalla.

Finally, I have to agree with Zaikesman about the bass. It's definitely there, just not exaggerated and not very extended. What's there, however, is very tuneful and accurate. They can definitely boogie with no sign of compression or strain.