Thiel 3.7 Placement

Stevecham is very right in emphasizing the distance from the front wall with Thiels. My Thiels work best 6 feet out from the front wall. Moving them back to 3 feet reduces the soundstage significantly. Minimum is four feet for them to work well at all.

They are not that sensitive to distance from side walls - in fact, they may work better closer to the side walls and farther apart. The closer you get to the sidewalls, the more you will need to toe them in to avoid first-reflection point issues. Mine work best about 9 feet apart and 10 feet from my listening position, toed in such that the tweeters intersect 18" behind my listening position, so your description of your current position is good except for the depth.

These speakers are far too expensive to compromise them by putting them 2 feet out. Go back to the dealer and have him move them 2 feet out and you will see what I mean. I know this is not what you wanted to hear.

Unsound, I had my Thiels positioned well away from the sidewalls (5 feet) with 1/4" toe-in for years. Recently, I took measurements of bass response that showed, in my room, the bass curve was flatter with the speakers closer to the side walls (still 3 feet away as your recommend but far less than the 5 feet that the manual recommends for large room placement). Perhaps this is because of the large distance from the front wall necessary for best soundstaging.

As you say, I had to toe them in, but I was surprised at the small difference this made in the 'brightness' of the sound. Just as surprising, the soundstaging actually improved with them farther apart even with the toe-in, with no holes in the middle whatsoever. It was the right trade-off in my situation. BTW - my room is almost the perfect Golden Ratio so it is not the room.

Thiel has always had the same placement recommendations in their manuals all the way back to the 1990's when I bought my first Thiel CS5i's. I don't know why - every dealer I have visited with the larger Thiels has them way out from the front wall and so do the manufacturers using Thiels at shows.

Your advice about a generous return policy is excellent. I would think that a dealer would provide in-home setup for the price of these speakers and allow Stvrvn to return them after a reasonable time if not satisfied.

Right on Pops. Good post!