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Solving the THIEL CS 5i's - vs- CS 7.2 Debate

Well I have been a huge THIEL fan for years. I have owned the CS 7.2's for 4 plus years and the CS 5i's for 3 years. In that time I have been begging for the correct room / source / amplification setup to host an ultimate drag out and shoot out. The stars aligned post new year and I had the extra help to move these monsters around and begin the process to initiate a formal showdown of these extraordinary components and literal masterpieces of speaker construction and design.

To address the weary on what I leveraged to orchestrate this debate, the amplification stage was handled by twin KRELL FPB 650m's, piped through the KRELL KCT, AudioQuest interconnects and woeful Denon CD section. All other things being equal the downside on the CD and speaker cabling should balance the field between the two.

I ran a battery of CD,s and moved the speakers forward and backward, toe in and straight up and I now have what is my ultimate conclusion. At this point I am looking for supporting evidence from the community or welcome an additional party to sit and listen to the setup.

At some point in this thread I can discuss the nuances between the two speakers, however, I will come out and say that the CS 7.2's are pure illustrated magic and profoundly demonstrated a by far greater representation of what I would expect from the original source.

At the end of the day they were the better sounding speakers to my ears in that room, given this setup.

Were the CS 5i's able to bring tears to my eyes? = yes.

Did the CS 7.2's do a better job of handling the soundstage? = yes

I would love to hear feedback if folks have any regarding a direct speaker to speaker comparison.

I will also state that by themselves the CS 5i's sound brilliant.

Thank you,
David
davidstingray

Showing 1 response by tonywinsc

tonywinsc
583 posts
 
I have had the Thiel CS6's for almost 7 years now. I love the sound of them. I moved up from the CS3.6's and found it to be a significant upgrade all other things being equal. I use a Pass Labs amp with MIT cables. I got no complaints about the sound. I am certainly used to them; but from time to time they still give me goosebumps.

I have mine spaced 10ft apart center to center with 5+ feet clearance to the side walls. They are almost 3 ft away from the front wall. My listening position is 10ft from the front plane of the speakers. The back wall is another 12ft away and I have a 13ft high ceiling. I get a large soundstage well beyond the speakers with records and even with a few CDs. It took me a good year to get the set-up like I wanted it. I tried 8-9ft and up to 12ft; but I didn't want my couch protruding into the room that far to make the correct triangle.
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