Upgrade Thiel CS3.6 to CS6??


I am thinking about bidding on a pair of Thiel CS6 speakers in bird's-eye maple, and would like some input from those of you familiar with these speakers. I have owned a pair of CS3.6's for seven and a-half years and I've been generally very pleased with their sound. Can anyone out there tell me what I can expect to gain in terms of sound and performance by upgrading? Do the CS6's have bi-amping/wiring capabilities? My current amp is a Mark Levinson No. 23.5 which is what I plan on using should I get the CS6. I'd imagine that should be adequate as it is capable of delivering 400 WPC continuous into a 4 ohm load. I also have a Mark Levinson No. 27.5 that could be used in a bi-amp setup if the speaker is capable. My listening preferences are extremely diverse and include rock, folk, classical, jazz, "adult alternative".

My other concern would be room size and the restriction to a fairly near-field listening position. My room is somewhat odd in its layout. The dimensions are: 13 feet wide and 22 feet long. The caveat is that the room opens into a foyer and is interrupted by a staircase that cuts off about half of the back wall. In other words, half of the back wall is 14 feet from the front wall and ends at the stairs, while the other half of the back wall is 22 feet from the front wall and extends into the foyer. I hope that made sense. Because of the staircase and foyer, I must sit about 8 feet from the front plane of the speakers. I keep the back edge of my CS3.6's about 30 inches away from the front wall and the center axis of each speaker lies 40 inches from each side wall. The speakers are 75 inches apart when measeured from the center axis of each. Is my room too small to accomodate the CS6's? Please keep in mind that I will likely be moving into a different home in the next 1-2 years (with definite plans for a dedicated larger listening room), so I could live with the current suboptimally sized room temporarily.

Thanks to all and happy listening!!

Mark
mstram
It all boils down to your listening preference. My personal opinion and experience , because I have the CS 2.4, is that the price difference between the CS 2.4 and CS6 to me is not worth paying the extra 5k. However, I also have the CS 7.2 with Pass Labs X600 and it is definetely worth the difference in price as a few other Audiogoners have the same setup and can testify to how incredible this sounds.
Yes Irish, but how is your listening preference defined? What does it say when you prefer the 7.2? Are you willing to take the good with the bad? The reason I ask this is this is not in the context of making a decision about your system, but how do you relate it to others when making a recommendation.

With no common experience, same room, same time , same system it is impossible to bridge the gap and build meaningful discussion without some universal information. Because neither of will trust (rightfully so) that we had any where near the same experience.

You can look at the Thiel 7.2 measurement and know now if i'm going to like the 7.2 or not.
To add some fuel to the fire, I found that I actually preferred the sound of 3.6's to 2.4's. Yes, I can hear how from a transparency perspective, the 2.4's may be an improvement, but like many things, it is dependant upon your other gear and the interaction thereof. Attributes of the 3.6's which I prefer over the 2.4's mostly deal with conveying a sense of scale and weight. When I put on recordings of large orchestral pieces, the 2.4's did not do as good of a job as the 3.6's at convincing me there was a full-sized symphony orchestra spread out in front of me. The 3.6's also had much more low end, at least to my ears, but if you have a quality sub, this might not matter.

I'd stick with the 3.6's for now, and see if the 3.7's ever materialize.