Thiel Owners

Latest eBay update-
I spied a pair of 3.5 and 3.6 loudspeakers. Additionally, there are (2) pairs of CS 2.4 speakers for sale as well.

I will post here as soon as I discover the next pair of CS 3.7 model.
Happy Listening!

oblgny-

have you switched out all of the Transparent cabling for Goertz Alpha?
There are many audiophiles out there who use this brand.

Happy Listening!

Good to read  that your CS 3.7 speakers arrived safe and sound-arniespin
Now the fun begins!

Happy Listening!

arniespin,

Congrats on the 3.7s!

"These guys just vanish in an almost spooky way."

Yep, it's really something isn't it?  Pretty much every review remarks on that quality of the Thiels.  And the fact they "disappear" through the entire spectrum, bass being just as holographic as the rest.

Arniespin...

I reside in the 'boibs, out on the island in Lake Grove - a town with neither a lake nor a grove in site. What makes up for the lack of namesake is a good little store right around the corner from me, Audio Den. 

It was opportunity that made me jump on the ones from Chicago. I felt they could be the last pair at a fair price - $1300 plus $300 palletized - that I would find "close" to me. Prior I had let a couple of New York ones elude me.  Just hadda pull the trigger. 

I was/remain so damn fond of the 3.5's that appreciating the 3.6's has taken some 'sperimenting.  Today I think I attained bringing out their DNA by swapping a few cables. (Posted a few minutes ago) Mind you, I dug the 3.6's right offa the pallet and outta the box, but there was still SOMETHING not coming forth. 

Methinks it's the Goertz cables mostly. Two feet shorter than the Transparent cables were. 

Damn. Now I'm gonna start pining for a pair of 3.7's...

vair68robert...

Feh - I've learned to forgive what my room doesn't and just get back to listening to music. 

I dug through my magic bag of speaker cables today and found - to my glee - a 6 foot pair of Goertz Alpha Core Veracity cables that I bought I don't know how long ago. I've had this irking feeling that SOMETHING wasn't coming through with my 3.6's now...something.  Out went the Transparent cables...

I also swapped out the rca ic's I was using with my Sony HAP server, returning to balanced XLR. 

Methinks me hit on a good tweak. 

Arniespin...

Big congrats on receiving the 3.7's safely!  I received my 3.6's from Chicago on a pallet and I was literally watching the weather from start to finish. Cool that you could compare the differences side by side between the 3.5/3.7 too. Enjoy!

Hi Oblgny-

What part of NYC are you in? Your welcome to come by sometime and check out these 3.7s. I’d also be curious to hear your 3.6s with that nice BAT of yours.. I know what you mean by the NASA liftoff sequence getting a little tiring, would be nice to simplify things a bit in terms of the front end gear. 

Wow oblgny
You have one of the toughest roughest rooms to set up
that can be imagined .
At 12 feet distance I can see ( imagine hearing ) why you don't have any toe-in.
My current room is the first I've ever had that is a rectangle
measuring 13'2" wide and 17'2" long with 8 foot ceilings
It would be a perfect size  if my listen chair wasn't up against the foot of my king size bed , that I turned 90 degrees to gain 4" of listening space.
At least I don't have to worry about rear wall reflections.

I agree with you about the air , I could never listen to headphones.

You brought up the Temptations " Ball of Confusion ",
it's been a long time since I've heard that one, 
I've just bought a german copy of   "Psychedelic Shack ".
Something else I've learned with upgrading my system
is the my old records while looking good are worn out,
so I've been buying multiple copies from different countries and pressings of my favorites and play them in rotation.

Rob
 
 

Hello fellow Thielistas,

Just wanted to report that my lovely 3.7s arrived unscathed and are currently hooked up and playing sweet music in my pad. I was pretty nervous about shipping these beasts from halfway across the country and especially about having the wooden pallet they came on, "dropped off" on the curb in front of my NYC apartment building! But everything went smoothly. 

I'm still waiting for my outriggers to arrive from Soundocity, which will certainly help with stability and bass coupling on my uneven hardwood floors.

So first impressions... After playing some of my "standards" on the 3.5 for about an hour I hooked up the 3.7s and was absolutely floored by the difference!.. so much more information, detail and dynamic range. One of the largest differences I noticed was in terms of the soundstage- while the 3.5s create a very natural and believable stage that I've enjoyed so much, the 3.7s just go wider, taller and deeper in every direction... These guys just vanish in an almost spooky way.

It's love at firs listen for me. And I haven't even begun to tweek them as far as positioning goes. Also, apparently these particular speakers were never played extensively, and I believe might even need some time to completely break-in.

Some tracks I enjoy playing with new gear are:
Patricia Barber, Postmodern Blues
Jon Iverson, Alternesia (track 3 & 4)
Springsteen, All I'm thinkin' About
Paul Simon, Homeless
Ramsey Lewis Trio, In the Crowd (Tennessee Waltz)

vair68robert...

I sit approximately 12 feet away when listening in a very tough room acoustically - the left speaker is about 5 feet from a sidewall, the right about 13 feet from a sidewall. At its apex from left to right the ceiling is 17 feet high. Hard floor, hard walls, very little furniture - quite a bright space, which is fine with me. I like "bright" over bass any day of the week. I " forgive" a great deal from my setup because having tried other configurations over the years, where it's placed now is both aesthetically and sonically acceptable. 

I've tried going along the longest wall but found I didn't like sitting to so close to the speakers which was about 6-8 feet doing that. That also had my setup directly in front of the baseboard heater, a large window, where the Christmas tree goes every year...the Thiels are just too damn heavy to monkey around even once or twice a year.  The 3.5's were 70 pounds apiece,
the 3.6's are 108 pounds apiece. It's a pain in the ass to swap out cables on them as the connects are on the bottom. My sixty year old bones are becoming less tolerant of the labor involved. 

I hold an altogether unscientific and unwarranted theory that music needs "air" to sound right, or good, or whatever.  I was never a headphone guy. Within my limited scope of speakers that make the "air" concept right, it's been Thiel and Magnepan that impress me or, at the very least, meet my unscientific/unwarranted theory's parameters. I don't know a mosfet from a misfit, but I know what sounds good to me. And what looks good in my living space. In a different house, with a dedicated room, things might be different. For now and the foreseeable future, nuh uh. 

Besides, with the 17 foot high ceiling and the pretty open space I have,  the "other room" theory has been proven true.  (Walk into another room and see how things sound)  I cook a lot on weekends so I'm off in the kitchen listening for hours on end. Things sound so good from there that I often walk back into the living room to better appreciate a tune or two. Only Thiel and Magnepan have managed to do that well for me. So well in fact that I've burned a few recipes over the years returning to the living room. 

I also subscribe to the theory that short cable runs are better. I currently use 8 foot Transparent cables on the 3.6's which have a lot of slack. I previously had MF monoblocks with very short runs and I liked that. Just makes sense, methinks.  I'm so bored today that I'm going to measure what I need and get a custom pair of cables made to eradicate the spaghetti strands behind my rack. Drives me batsh*t. 

PS:  The REL T7 sub I bought a while back is getting less and less use now that the BAT integrated is shaking hands with the 3.6's. At very low volume I continue to employ it just to "round" things out. 

Works for me. 

Prof

I found Everything But the Girl ( on allmusic.com ) ,  Amplified Heart ?
Since you like EBTG then I think you would enjoy
Tuck and Patti , I have their greats hits CD, 
their Guitar work and vocals are FANTASTIC, husband and wife team.
I have a CD player only because some music is not available on vinyl,
Cd's are less than 5% of my listening.

Between learning from nkonor and Absolute Sound and getting to a point where the system is good enough the hear the differences 
I've discovered room acoustics are just as important and any component, from the AC power to your equipment , from the cartridge
( or CD player ) to the speakers.

Hi nkonor , jafant

Happy Friday
Audiophile On

Rob

Thanks! for sharing- prof and vair68robert
very good advice and measurements for room placement.
Happy Listening!

Looking forward to your contributions- arniespin
Happy Listening!

Happy Friday- All

prof,

Full Size, Full Range. Really no substitute. 

Best to you

What Song, Album or Genre do you use to set up your speakers ?

Well I truly love all types of music so I'll go through quite a variety, from electronica, disco, rock, funk, jazz, classical, folk, world...you name it.  If I'm auditioning a speaker I put it through all those genres.

But for setting up my speakers I have some go-to tracks I've been using since the 90's simply because I know them so well and they have to sound right or I'm not going to like the speaker.  One album I use is Everything But The Girl Atomic Heart, the first track.  It has acoustic guitar (that has to sound right - clear, golden, sparkly - stand up bass -has to sound woody, deep but not flubby - vocals, percussion.   It's also not a perfect recording, with just a slight bit of sibilant emphasis and even a slight bit of distortion.  It really helps me know how a speaker handles that kind of thing - is it going to tear my head off and make it electronic and unlistenable?  Will it disguise the flaws?  Best is when I can hear the flaws, but it's not aggressive and the essential beauty of the recording comes through.  That's what the Thiels do.  I know where everything should be in the soundstage as well.

BTW, although I go on about how great the Thiels are in this thread especially, I found out long ago that it's very unlikely I would stick with one speaker.  As we know there's no perfect speaker and I can get restless.  Even just hooking up my older Hales T1 monitors to my 2 channel system, as I did recently, reminded me of what those speakers do so magically, that even the Thiels don't quite do.  The Hales have a Harbeth-like magic with vocals and a way of producing a rainbow of instrumental timbre that even the Thiels don't match IMO.  If I had the space, I'd probably choose to own the old Hales T8 speakers over the Thiels, and almost bought a used pair before going with the Thiels.  But the Hales are even more massive and I'm trying to downsize.

I'm sure I'll end up with other speakers at some point in my aim to downsize, though in this case I doubt I'll actually get rid of both Thiels.  I'll have to keep one of them.

oblgny
How far is your listen position ?

The back of my speakers are 21 inches from the front wall,
with the center of the base being 31.5 inches from the side walls,
toe-iin focuses my center stage , it might also be the side wall reflections that have a lot to do with it.

My 3.6's are roughly eight feet apart and 18" from the back wall.  I've yet to find that any toe-in delivers any better sonics, so they ain't toed-in. 

Topic

What Song, Album or Genre do you use to set up your speakers ?

I had moved my speakers back just one inch and had to re-angle them.
I tried to have them with as little angle as possible to get the widest soundstage possible, after several toe-ins I thought I had it until 
Classical Sunday , it just didn't come together , I had to angle it in 
1/2 more to get the Orchestra sounding like you are sitting 
ten rows back center.

In a conversation with Prof I learned that he has his speakers 
8 feet apart and listing position 6.5 to 7 feet away with little toe-in.
I have 8 feet apart and 8 feet from listing position ,
I had guessed a toe-in of 10 degrees but after measurements and mathematics it turned out to be 16.5 degrees toe-in .
Using the front of the speaker being the only straight side .

I guess that the difference is in the music that you listen to
as to setting the speakers position.
I listen to 70% rock 60's & early 70's , 10% folk 60's & 70's .
10% jazz 50's & 60"s and 10% classical 50's , 60's & 70's .
 
Something for all Thiel owners to talk about.

Rob

P.S.  I had mentioned 2 songs that exhibit strong bass
        I would like to add an album  
        Jefferson Airplane   Crown Of Creation

arniespin,

Before I had any Meadowlark speakers in my home I was well acquainted with the popular Shearwaters. I ended up with the Blue Heron speakers for a while, and also owned the stand mounted Meadowlarks Swallow.

What I loved about the Meadowlark sound, especially the bigger Herons, is that they pulled off that very rare combination: rich and lush and warm, but without being dark and sleepy in tonality. They were very open sounding and disappeared like few other speakers. They had, to my ear, a sort of "woody" tonality that really benefited acoustic instruments and voices, vs the more steely or electronic tone of many speakers. The Herons were smoother sounding than the more forward Shearwaters (which were such a fun, exciting speaker, while still not fatiguing).

Though I really enjoyed the Herons lushness and soundstaging, I did find they bloomed a bit much in the bass for me, and although their coloration was very consonant with acoustic instruments, I ultimately found myself a bit too aware of their voice. I think it was actually either the Hales Transcendence 5s or the Thiel CS6s that replaced them.

I'm still a bit sad that I sold the smaller Swallow speakers.  They had little bass to speak of but my god did they sound open, quick and "invisible" with a gorgeous warm tone.  I had too many speakers though and my wife had put her foot down.  It was a token "sell."  :-)

Prof

Thank you for your wonderfully eloquent description of the sonic qualities you appreciate in Thiels. I too owned Meadowlark speakers in the past.. Kestral Hot-Rods and still have a pair of Swallows in my bedroom system. Apart from being truly beautiful speakers, they have a very effortless and believable sound that i think led to my current love affair with a Thiels. Another speaker that I really enjoyed in my system was a pair of KEFs with their Uni-Q drivers. They were far from perfect, but there was definitely something special to how music sounded with  their coaxial drivers... now full circle to the 3.7s which will hopefully combine the best aspects of the KEFs in a much more resolved and speaker. 

What Meadowlarks did you have?

hi jafant,
i believe the sherwoods feed more current to the Thiels then the F5. They definitely reach down lower in the bass. I'm curious to see how they perform with the 3.7s which arrive tomorrow!

Many Thanks! for the follow-up arniespin

The pre-amp, as intended by design,  is the heart of any system. A VTL 5.5 is still highly regarded all of the way up to current model. It is good to read that a sonic match w/ Pass Labs is doable. Does the F5 or Sherwoods provide more current? I look forward in reading more about you and your system.

Happy Listening!

It all looks very nice and appealing- oblgny
Happy Listening!

Hey jafant,
I've been building my system for the the past few years and the VTL 5.5 preamp was my first real "high-end" acquisition. It quickly became the heart of my rig! I think this is one of those rare tube preamps that offers the musicality and sweetness of tubes with the total sonic control of a great solid state unit. It also packs enough gain and current to feed the least sensitive amps. I recently had it running my Pass Labs F5 (with all of its 25 class A Watts) and my Thiel 3.5s actually sounded quite wonderful. Ended up going back to my two bridged Sherwoods because they gave me just a little more in the bass department. 

jafant...

Just about anything that supports or is near something electronic in my humble abode rests atop, in, or on a Salamander rack. The piece in the virtual systems photo is the only one not from its Synergy series which I've had for years. 

I appreciate the clean lines, understated design, and the heft of their construction - one of the foremost reasons I had from the outset was in providing as much isolation as possible. The block of maple under the BAT may be somewhat superfluous at this point, but what the hell. I don't need another cutting board in my kitchen. 

I've been reading about one member's questioning a move from his 3.6's to the 6, whether or not such an investment is sonically worth it. From my experience, limited as it has been with 2.2, 2.3, 3.5, and now 3.6, I can state with some degree of accuracy that the differences between the first three models is, by comparison, modest in terms of anything relevatory. The difference in "moving up" from the 3.5 to 3.6 is remarkable. They are VERY different loudspeakers which, given my journey thus far, could have me pining for a 5 in short order. There again, I would assume that the 5 is VERY different from the 3.6. 

I hasten to to add that,  IMHO, the 3.6's are more detailed, perhaps even more focused on the mids than were/are the 3.5's - and all to an impressive degree. I don't believe I was missing anything with the 3.5's in that respect, but the 3.6's just deliver more - especially at the conservative level I listen at.  I always had the 3.5 eq employed because I had no reason to question Thiel's engineering. The sacrifice in low end hertz with the 3.6's is hardly anything to kvetch about. (3.5's 20hz-20khz, 3.6's 27hz-20khz.)  Sheesh, vot's a few hoitz between friends, anyway.   

Since we now no longer have the opportunity to audition the legacy models, I guess I'm saying that moving up yields risk to some degree, but seeing how the speaker models evolve is a gas. 

Salamander makes excellent products- oblgny

The better racks are made of various Maple wood(s), very dense and provides support well. Keeps down vibrations too.  I just ran across a pair of CS 3.6 at $1599 in south Florida (eBay). Hopefully, the pair will find a good home via you owners who sing its praises. That is why we are all here!

Some Thiel owners use products by Sound Anchor.  I am fortunate that the CS 2.4SE automatically comes w/ outriggers. This particular model was designed specifically w/ outriggers in mind per Mr. Thiel.  Better performance, focus and imaging are delivered in spades. I have read about using marble or granite as bases as well.

I will check out "Ball of Confusion". I enjoyed Summer and ready for Fall.

Happy Listening!

Jafant...

That's a block of maple I had left over from when my previous Salamander rack was about a foot lower. I purchased the block here on the site, they come up from time to time and they're well made - somewhere in the $100 range if I ain't mistaken. I think I still have another block somewhere in the house.  

That Salamander rack in the photo cost me $150. Just before Stereo Exchange in NYC vacated their long time location they were selling off everything, even stuff that was nailed down. (They are still searching for a new location at the moment.)  Dave will email me when they re-open.  (The REL sub I mentioned in an earlier post was bought from their eBay site which is up and running.) I picked it up at his apartment. Sheesh. 

Even though the Salamander rack isn't "gear" per sè, it has to represent one of the best purchases I've invested - that's easily a $1500 piece o' furniture.  Nary a scratch on it. While not in the photos, there are two other Salamander cabinets in the room which hold my manuals, tools, cables, etc., all of the other associated flotsam and jetsam that we accrue in the hobby. 

At 107 pounds apiece them 3.6's aren't about to be fiddled with much. It was fun unpacking them.  Not!  The boys at Saturday Audio made sure they'd arrive in good shape. Hell, they could have been dragged to my house with no worse the wear. 

Last night we was bbq'ing at my gf's house, listening to a Motown playlist on my Peachtree Audio Deepblue2 in the back yard.  (iPod through its aux jack, the Bluetooth option stinks.) I also set the bass level at its lowest position - this thing doesn't need it. 

"Ball Of Confusion" by the Temptations came on and everybody just stopped. Man, what a busy little tune. Top 40 radio in 1970. So difficult to imagine now what commercial radio was back then. It's just an amazing piece of music for any time.  It's the first thing I'm throwing at my Thiels later this afternoon when I get home. If it sounded so damn good on a portable speaker it out to be glorious through the 3.6's. 

Rob,

Yes, about that close to either the 3.7 or 2.7.  I tend to listen to one pair for a couple weeks, then swap them for the other pair.

Angling varies depending on how wide I've placed them or if I desire more lively sound.  I only ever use the tiniest angling in when I do, but usually no angle - facing straight ahead.  I still get excellent center-fill, even from the wide spacing and not angled in. 

Thank You Robinbarbour
I knew I should test that to see if the pop moves to the other speaker,
but moving the 56 lbs off the shelf was a last choice, I thought I'd ask others first.

You want to hear Bass !
Try Sandy Denny's 3:10 to Yuma    or
David Crosby's Cowboy Movie.

Prof
do you sit that close with both sets ( are you moving them in and out
of position ? if so my back hurts thinking about it ) ,
how much do you angle inwards ?
I have just about the perfect 8 foot triangle ( hard to be perfect with sloped speakers ) with about a 10 degree angle inwards .

Rob

oblgny, You can't beat Jaco and his fretless bass!

Joni Mitchell. 

Paprika Plains. The last 3 or 4 minutes when Weather Report closes the song. 

Now that's a test for Thiel bass reproduction. 

Natural. Taut. Hit the replay button. Can't stop. 

Ginger Baker. Cyril Davis. Is he in my room?

Thiels astound. 

Rob,

No pops either with my 2.7 or 3.7s.  I have CJ amps and pre-amp.

Yes I'm still going back and forth between the 3.7s and 2.7s. 
3.7s for the more relaxed (and slightly more resolved, I think) sound, effortless scale and soundstaging, 2.7s for the smaller, denser, more focused and punchy sound (and seemingly a bit more lively dynamics, which is interesting given the higher sensitivity of the 3.7s).

arniespin,

If only it were that easy. The whole reason I’d considered selling them is that they are large enough to present an ergonomic/aesthetic problem in my rather idiosyncratic set up where they share space with a full surround home theater system as well. Hence I’ve been auditioning everything under the sun (smaller). In fact I was so set on selling the 3.7s that I actually took them to a local furniture restorer guy to have them looked over, to freshen them up for selling (very minor signs of wear on them). As I was loading those beasts in to my car to get them to the furniture guy, I said "that does it, these things are just too big, good riddance..."

But then while they were in the shop I continued to audition speakers and nothing grabbed me. When the 3.7s came back they looked gorgeous, like new, fresh out of the factory. Continuing to audition stuff has only made it sink in how special the Thiels are so I figured I would keep them and still consider a smaller speaker (like the Joseph Audio Perspectives), essentially having the peace of mind of not having let the Thiels slip through my fingers. The fact the 3.7s have become so rare on the used market is also a major factor.

Now I have the 2.7s as well, figured I’d choose between them and the 3.7s, but the fact they sound different, both great in their own way, and the fact I found the 2.7s in my most coveted, rare ebony finish, makes THEM hard to part with as well. This is why I always end up with too many speakers.

BTW, my 3.7s are currently set up 8 feet apart, 6 1/2 feet from the listening position (7 feet if I recline on the sofa), facing almost straight ahead.

I’ve just been re-visiting the tech literature and interviews with Jim Thiel about all the ideas, advances and work that went in to his speakers, especially the 3.7. It really helps explain why I can audition newer speaker models of other manufacturers, even really highly lauded ones, and still come home to be all the more impressed by the Thiels: there was just so much original thinking by Jim, such a persistent dedication towards refining a specific goal for 30 years - the special design of the woofer system for lower distortion, the new rippled-but-flat midrange unit, the bent wood design of the cabinet etc. Virtually everything designed and made by Thiel. No wonder you don’t get what the Thiels do from other manufacturers, and there’s every reason to expect the novel design of the Thiels to remain competitive if not advanced for many years to come.

The mid-bass on down in particular blows my mind because it separates itself from the crowd so distinctly. At least in my room, I get the most pitch perfect, holographic, non-speaker-like bass I have ever heard by a long shot. I frankly would not have believed that level of bass transparency and control was even possible before hearing these things, given it’s such a problem with most other speakers.

I also think Jim just finally nailed the coaxial mid/tweeter design in the 3.7. The idea of coaxially mounting the drivers is great in terms of having the signal arrive at the right time no matter where you sit.
I’d listened to other phase/time coherent speakers - Dunlavy - and owned Meadowark speakers which were first order crossover/time coherent as well. But those designs, especially the Meadowlark, did suffer from the traditional problems of lobing/interference - a weird suckout in the first order crossover design that made for a phasey sensation when moving my head especially vertically.

In previous Thiel speakers - e.g. the CS6s I had and others - though better, they still had this residual coloration, a bit of a hollowness in the upper midrange sometimes, especially depending on seating height.

The 3.7s, I’m supposing because of finally being able to mount the tweeter within a flat mid driver, seems to have totally banished that issue.
The midrange is so pure, and so coherent right through into the treble, with no noticeable dips or tells, over a wide seating area.

It’s hard to shake the Thiels once you are used to them; other speakers will tend to be revealed as more colored. I even remember when I first heard the 3.6s at a dealer. Aside from the better than normal image specificity and density and transient believably, there was a distinct impression that everything was lined up as it should be, without emphasis, producing an overwhelming impression: "this is what the original recording actually sounds like." Similar to the first time I heard the Quad ESLs (within their range).

Anyway, it’s good to have a Thiel owner thread where we can rave about Thiel - sort of like having close family who will listen to you talk about your kids :-)

Rob,

No pop here with the 2.7 - sounds more like an amp issue. My cj amp had a similar issue on powering down no matter the speaker and investigation showed a lot of users with similar issue. Didn't harm anything, but annoying.
I drove six hours as I recall to get my pair of 2.7's...each way. No regrets!

Good Evening All

Prof , it seems like your listening to your 3.7s now ,
are you still going back and forth with the 2.7s ?

Question to all 2.7 and 3.7 owners
Do you hear a pop when turning your amp off ?
This pop sounds like either the tweeter popping back 
or a capacitor in the crossover discharging quickly ,
and it only happens on one speaker.

Reading about the freight cost and willingness to travel long distances to get a pair of speakers was interesting to see how far audiophiles will go
to  acquire a pair of original Thiels .
I was going to rent a van and drive 110 miles to Portland to buy a pair of 3.6s but by the time I decided to do it they were sold,
lucky me because new 2.7s became available less than a1/2 year later,
and the price included delivery !

Just got a new Grado Reference Master 1 cartridge ,
nice upgrade from a Grado Reference Sonata .
Took a long time to adjust everything ,
getting the anti-skating down was time consuming
and couldn't have been done without
the Cardas  frequency sweep & burnin  LP.
Had to set it at 159 grams to keep it neutral in both of the groove-less tracks that are used to test anti-skating .

Rob

I updated my virtual systems page to show the BAT integrated in place. 

The speakers are approximately 8 feet apart and about 18" from the back wall. (I actually have a stick marked in increments of six inches.)  Like my 3.5's, the 3.6's seem to like 18 inches from the rear wall.  I sit around 12 feet away which, at low volumes, can be something that leaves things to be desired.  Since the 3.6's arrived I've been listening at slightly higher volume levels which appears to be what these speakers just...love.  Period.  I am constantly reminded how excellent Thiel speakers are - all of the models I've enjoyed. They just absolutely do it for me. 

Funny, there is a pair of WHITE 3.5's up on eBay now. I've never seen 3.5's in white before. 
Kinda cool but...sheesh!  Not my cuppa tea. 

Carry on, folks. This is hands down a great thread. 

jafant
Thank you for keeping this thread going! I always look forward to hearing about everyone's experiences with their Thiels. 

Happy Friday and Happy listening!

prof

Easy solution, just never sell the 3.7s! ;)

Very interesting setup! I can sort of imagine the effect you're getting is almost like listening through a set of headphones, in that sitting close and having no toe-in, you basically cancel out most of each speaker's sound from reaching your opposite ear. I actually have my 3.5s pretty wide with just a bit of toe-in and frequently find myself rolling my chair forward till I'm just a few feet behind them.. totally enveloping soundstage- an immersive musical experience. I can only imaging, with their coaxial drivers the 3.7 will take this experience to a different level. 

Curious.. how big is your room and how far apart do you have the speakers?