I've been gifted a pair of Thiel CS2s

One needs to sit at least 8' from the speakers. The speakers need to be at least 1' from the walls and at least 3' from the corners.
The room has to be able to accommodate greater than 40 Hz bass extension.
IME, the Thiel CS 2's ported bass is a bit looser than most other Thiels, the high end can sound hard if they're toed in towards the listener. This room appears as though it could exaggerate those bass issues, and the nearness of the side walls practically demand toe in to avoid the early reflections that the Thiels wide sound-stage is likely going to aggravate otherwise.
Being nearly a cube, and being so small this room is going to be problematic with most speakers, but CS 2's will most likely highlight these issues.
On the other hand the Theil CS 2's with their 6 Ohm nominal, 5 Ohm minimum impedance, and 87 dB sensitivity are perhaps Thiels easies amplifier load (though IME the CS 2's sonic signature does require careful amplifier selection), and are reputed to be Thiel's most durable product ever.

You know, this was one of the best Thiel CS2.4 setups I have listened to in the past, and it broke all of Thiel's positioning rules :)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3315/3490701425_db2565b92d.jpg?v=0

It was less than 8 feet apart.

The guy was working in a Thiel dealership but this room doubled up as a workshop for his hifi DIY projects as well.

I dunno how much the CS2 is similar to the 2.4 but it's quite amazing what could be done with a bit of know how.

Thanks for reminding me, yes, the Thiels should to be at least 8' apart from each other as well. Ideally they would be 10' apart from each other, 10' from the listener, >5' from the side walls and >3' from the wall behind the speakers.

Thiel's own SCSs are a much better fit for this room.

You guys don't get it, do you?

He's not BUYING the CS2s.

He's been gifted the speakers.

It's not like he could ask to swap them for SCSs :)

Funny thing, Doggiehowser, I think most here do recognize that he was gifted speakers, but some of us here deal with the unvarnished truth as opposed to peddling unsupported allusions to what is possible. It would be more helpful to tell the OP what he can actually do to get him there than just to say you heard it done once by an audiophile and felt he was successful.

Here is something that is possible, not necessarily an answer. But it is what I would do if I had the problem. It is without regard to any possible intruding problems, doors, windows, necessary furniture, etc.

Place the speakers on the short wall. Place them within a foot of the side wall and a couple of feet from the back wall.

Place the listening chair so your head is about 7 feet back from the plane of the speakers.

Toe the speakers in so the axis crosses well in front of the listening chair (probably at about a 20 to 25 degree angle from the wall).

Place sound deadening materiels on the side walls that will seriously reduce FR above 1000hz (I'm arbitrary about that). Place some diffusing materiels on both the rear and front walls.

Be prepared to stuff the ports on the speakers to reduce the bass output to compensate for speaker placement (too close to walls/corners). Consider purchasing a sub woofer to place in the center of the speakers plane and cross over over killing the main speakers bass response at 200 hz +/-.

Because you are going to be sitting too close to the speakers make sure you have electronics on the warm side of neutral, especially in the mid's and highs, which will be fatiguing if not compensentated for.

A good starting point? Perhaps. Cheap? No. Easy? Definitely not! Worthwhile? Unlikely.

Now if I had to live in that room, music wise, what would I do? I'd get some monitor speakers desdigned to be used in small spaces (like the old Rogers LS3/5a) and set them up in the nearfield (4 to 6ft) treat room surfaces appropriately and enjoy. That would be, probably as good as it is going to ever get (in that room that is).

You shouldn't be so critical of those who recommended other stuff. Consider that they might just feel that the cost of using different speakers might just be less, and with better response, than using the gifted ones, especially after the money from the sale of the gifted speakers is subtracted.

Now Doggiehowser it is time to put your 'money' where your mouth is! What would you actually reccomend? :-(