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In Reply to: RE: Thiel 3.7 my first impressions posted by PriyaW on November 25, 2007 at 11:39:32
I was very interested to read your impressions of the CS 3.7. I am every bit as interested in your take on the CS 3.6. I just purchased a used pair of CS 3.6 on audiogon and will be picking them up next weekend. I am anticipating getting them home and giving them a listen, but I must say it is with mixed feelings. I heard the CS 2.4s and liked them, but I hear so much negative commentary about the high frequencies of the CS 3.6, that I am worried they will be too hot for me. I guess Thiels had/have a reputation for shrill, hot, aggressive top ends, but the CS 3.6 was supposed to be better than earlier Thiels in this regard. Nevertheless, every reviewer I read noted they will reveal everything in the top end of recordings and that that is not always pleasant.
I'd be interested in your or anyone else's thoughts on this issue. Of course, I will have to listen and judge for myself when I'm listening to them in my room.
What electronics have you tried for your CS 3.6s?
George
Follow Ups:
Competitors lable Theil speakers as harsh, bright, etc. It is very difficult to design speaker drivers for first-order crossover networks since one driver must well behave into the range of the adjacent driver. So the tweeters of Thiel speakers need to handlde "leakage" from the midrange. This can be somewhat problamatic.
If you pair your 3.6s with right gear, they should give you hours of pure entertainment. Mind you, recording quality has lot more to do with Theils sounding harsh/bright than anything else. Next are the elctronics. I have paired my 3.6s with Audio Research 100.2 with excellent results. In the past I have driven those with PS Audio 200CX also with very good results. I have heard these with tube gear with limited sound quality at the bottom, but extremly fogiving at the top.
Perhaps for you, a tube pre-amp and a SS amp can work very well. DOn't worry about 3.6s being too hot. They are one of the best speakers around and can compete with speakers that cost twice as much. Once you fall in love with tonal accuracy, imaging, soundstage, layering, etc., which are Theil trademarks, it won't be easy to turn your back.
Priya
Priya,
Thanks for the review. Do you know if your dealer had broken in the CS3.7? I heard that it takes up to 300 hours to break in. Just wondering if that would have anything to do with the thin bass and lack of top end air.
Thanks!
It so happens that I have ARC electronics--an SP-8 preamp and VT-100 Mk1 power amp both of which give me really good sound. I currently use them to drive a pair of PSB Stratus Golds and those electronics made them sound far better than anything else I have heard.
I'm really glad to hear that you had satisfactory results on your CS 3.6s with these tube electronics. I read so much about needing high current high powered amps for these Thiels, I assumed my ARCs would have to go.
The other thing I read a lot about is having a "big enough room". My room is about 14 x 22' and the speakers need to go along the 14 foot end, but I can get several feet behind them and off of the side walls. Ceilings are ca. 7 1/2 feet.
Have you experimented with any particular speaker cables with your Thiels? I have never gotten on the exotic speaker cable wagon, just use 12 gauge stranded copper. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
George
I have some CS3's that initially sounded harsh in the extreme. I tried out some Cardas Cross speaker cables and eventually traded up to some Golden Cross cables. The Cardas cables, and to lesser extent interconnects, went a long way to make the Thiels sound really good. My CD player, a Wadia, also shares some of Thiel's characteristics--revealing and a bit in your face. Power cords made a big difference here. On the amplifier and on the CD player, I found that Electraglides made a really big difference, though I've heard that the newer Epiphany X.3 cords are cheaply made and not in the same class as their predecessors.
The Thiels pretty much forced me to look into tweaks in order to make them listenable, but I've been able to tune in my system so that even poorly recorded discs now sound acceptable. It took a lot of experimenting to get my system where it is today, but the Thiels revealed all of the changes that I made quite clearly.
Any cable with teflon as the dielectric medium would do for you. I use a Kimber 8C speaker cables (I think they are about $300) and Wireworld Equinox interconects. I don't want to get into details why you shouldn't spend excessive amount of money on cables, but just take my word for it. I am an electrical engineer and that's all you need to know (LOL).
Priya
I was at first a non-believer and used simple lamp-cord for a long time until I bought the ARC VT200, LS25 and CD2. Everything changed when the dealer loaned me a pair of cables. When compared to my thick, thought to be decent, Monster cables, there was no comparison. I then tried to go cheaper by trying others and none could beat this set of cables. I hesitate to name them, forgive me.
If you are using very good front end such as those by ARC, it is worth looking for a very good set of interconnects and speaker cables to let all the music through. Especially those that can handle XLR ends. ARC gear sounds its best using XLR.
If you are fortunate enough to have a dealer willing to loan you cables from lower end to higher end, please take them home and run them through your ARC or other gear and then buy the ones that sound the best.
Happy Listening!
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