The complaint that the reviewers had about the 3.5s was that the equalizer compromised the sound overall by robbing the speaker of naturalness in the mid and upper frequencies; they felt the speaker deserved a better equalizer. There were a number of companies, including JPS, that modified the equalizer to make it more transparent and more up to the level of the speaker otherwise. I used the equalizer with my CS3 and heard it in and out of the 3.5 at my dealer. Given that I like deep bass and listen to a lot of music with it, I was willing to accept the tradeoff, and I really didn't feel that the equalizer did as much harm as the reviewers might have led you to believe. I also felt that the equalizer made the speaker slightly more spacious sounding, even in the upper frequencies (perhaps that was upper frequency "hash" that the reviewers didn't like?).
Thiel 3.5 equalizer advice
I am using Thiel 3.5 speakers without the equalizer. Does anyone have any insights (or firsthand experience) on the overall difference in sound that results if I bought and added one to my system. Does it just impact bass response or will it impact other sound qualities? Does Thiel still make the equalizers? Thanks for any insights.