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Looking for new speakers

I'm looking to upgrade my Thiel CS3.6s -- I never thought I'd say this, but I think they are not good enough for the rest of my system. 

Within the last two years, I've upgraded my amplification to a Luxman L-509x integrated amp, and upgraded my turntable to a Luxman 171a. Overall my system sounds pretty good --- MUCH better than before the upgrade. However, there are some recordings on which there is definite distortion, particularly especially well-mastered 45s. For example, Diana Krall's Look of Love has so much distortion it's almost unlistenable. Even in the 33s, I can now hear a low-level distortion.

My theory is that when the Thiels were manufactured, the electronics were not quite as good as they are now, and definitely the recordings were not mastered as expertly, so these weaknesses did not show up. They were great speakers in their day, but, alas, I think maybe that day has passed, at least in my system.

I'm looking for something in the $10K - $15K range. Not sure if there's anything in that range that would be enough of an improvement, but I'd love some suggestions. It's been many years since I've looked at speakers, so I'm not really up on what's available at that price point.
theo714

Showing 2 responses by twoleftears

twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,320 posts
 
1. ignore first respondee.
2. as others have suggested, address audible distortion issue first.  If the Thiels and everything else are performing to spec, you shouldn't hear this.  Try and isolate it by swopping/swopping over components.
3. There are lots of 10-15K speaker threads on here already.  There's a LOT of product out there.  You can run the gamut from Harbeth to Wilson.  
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,320 posts
 
I don't know if this is relevant, but...

Decades ago I owned 3.6's for a while.  Driving them with Muse 175 monoblocks.  There was one passage on one CD of piano music (Martinu) that excited some kind of ugly resonance/distortion in one of the Thiel's tweeters.  It was a metallic kind of sound.  I was never able to determine definitively if it was a fault in the amp or the speaker or the interaction between the two.  But in the long run I found the 3.6's fatiguing, so they left the building.

Finding a recording that consistently excites the problem is the first step, followed by listening to the system on headphones.  Can you say which of the drivers you hear the problem in?  I imagine you can still get tweeters etc. for the Thiels (Thiel owners thread); a lot cheaper to install those yourself than shipping the speakers.
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