severe limiting factor

While components and cabling can drastically alter soundstage and imaging, a large percentage of what you'll hear will be attributed to how the speakers load into the room and where your listening position is in regards to those loading characteristics / nodes.

Having said that, from what i can remember of them, Thiel's are not "wide sweet spot" speakers. While they can image and produce a solid soundstage, you have limited seating options with them. On top of that, they tend to be somewhat bright up top if you are sitting in the sweet spot and have them toe'd in. As such, you've got your work cut out for you choosing between improved imaging / soundstage and even tonal balance. Sean
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Newbee: After reading your response, it looks like we are pretty much on the same page. Thanks for re-affirming my faith in your good judgment : )

Other than that, i don't know what Kevin has done to try and work through this. He hasn't mentioned anything about checking polarity, etc... He may be frustrated and taking a break, i don't know. Sean
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Kevin emailed me with some specifics, so i'm responding here in hopes that this may help others and / or encourage further commentary that may benefit his situation.

Your speakers are WAY too close together and you're sitting too far back from them at that speaker spacing distance. I agree that you should get them further apart and toe them in a bit to minimize side-wall reflections. For temporary results, you might want to try hanging some wool blankets at the primary reflection points.

You'll also have to experiment with the distance from the front wall to balance out the increased bass reinforcement from the proximity of the side walls. You really need to get them on the long wall if possible.

Other than that, i've never worked with Jon's cross-connected 89259 speaker cabling. I'm not really a fan of heavily stranded conductors as a general rule, especially bare wire braids where the signal can jump from conductor to conductor at random. This type of geometry typically results in smeared treble response and vague placement within the soundstage.

I also agree that the Magnavox may be hurting you, but you should at least have some semblance of imaging / soundstage. This is true even with a "digital fossil" for a front end : ) Sean
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Newbee: I agree with the majority of what you are saying here. I do have to bring up one point. I would not consider sitting 9' from speakers that are spaced 6' apart as being "too far into the nearfield". While i know that such variables as toe-in or running the speakers flat-faced can make a huge difference, the fact that he's sitting 50% beyond an equilateral triangle pretty much negates any nearfield effects. Sean
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