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Thiel death do we part . . .

OK, stupid title, I know...but so is my question, probably. So in spite of years of owning lots of different gear - speakers (Maggies, B&W), preamps (Bottlehead,AR), amps (C&J, Bryston) and so on, I've never quite got "the magic" I often hear about. I sort of went the path of least resistance and settled on a small setup - Theil(1.6s) & Bryston(B60) with Rega front ends (analog & digital).

The other night, however, I set it up in a near field format for the first time. After playing with speaker placement a bit, everything suddenly snapped into place, and it all sounds amazing. Magic. I found myself digging into my record collection (maybe 4000 deep) for the 1st in years and now there's not enough hours in the day to listen to it all.

One thing I've noticed is that the system is just brutal with poorly recorded media. While well produced material (Patricia Barber, Cowboy Junkies, some Rickie Lee Jones, Stan Getz and so on) can be just stunning, detailed, spacious and even deep, lots of others just aren't pleasant to listen to. Things I used to enjoy can now sound lame and muffled. I understand this may be a Thiel "take no prisoners" issue. So, just as an experiment, I swapped out the Thiels for a pair of old B&W 802s that are passing thru on the way to eBay and was surprised that while good material sounds adequate, bad material doesn't sound too bad...at least not embarrassing.

So the question is, without swapping nice speakers for not as nice on a regular basis, is there something that I can do to get the set up to be more "forgiving", at times? I listen mostly to what you might call intimate music, small groups and individual singers, often in live recordings.

Listening area is 12x18 with a low ceiling (open joists) off a corridor.

So maybe alternate cables (Zu Julian now) or a subwoofer or an equalizer? Thanks for your patience.
dancub
dancub OP
82 posts
 
Onhwy61 - The Rega 3 has a Blue Point Special in it. Tried several in the same cost range and liked that one best. As far as my "new" near-field set up - the one where I suddenly "got it" - it's really close. The Thiels are about 7' apart and my head position is (currently) about 6' on the diagonal. Still tuning that since I've read I may be a bit too close . . . but you know, with the right recordings, it's really sweet. Thanks, DD
unsound
7,332 posts
 
You are too close. You need to be at least 8' (preferably more, 3 meters is about ideal) from the speakers for proper driver integration.
dancub OP
82 posts
 
Unsound - you know, I've heard that and I'll try that as soon as I get the system back together (building a custom "near field table" for it).

However, it was when I brought the Thiels in close that it clicked in place. I know this can be a game of inches so am looking for to tweaking it. Thanks.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
I owned the 1.6s for a while and actually bought them to get that extra detail I felt was missing. The Thiels supplied the missing detail but for me it became too much. Or as you are finding, poorly recorded music was difficult to listen to.
Far too much good music is recorded poorly so I had to sell my Thiels. Not suggesting that, just relaying my experience.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,252 posts
 
It might help if you listed a few recordings that don't sound so good with the new setup.

Here's a thread about someone contemplating upgrading a Rega 3/Bluepoint combo.
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