Hello Jafant and company,
Reading through this entire thread, I feel as if I know you all well by now!
My introduction to Thiels came via a beautiful pair of CS 3.5s that I quickly fell in love with. Since then I've had my eye on someday owning the elusive 3.7s. Well that chance finally came a few days ago when I bit the bullet on that black pair (Sorry, Jonandfamily... Hope you get the next pair!)
Was originally going to do a road trip from NYC to pick them up in Tulsa, but ended up having them shipped.. Yikes!.. Fingers crossed that they make the trip safely. Will report back when they arrive.
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Thanks for the warm welcome and positive encouragement on the speaker shipping!
I'm figuring out how to set up my virtual system... but, it's basically a rag-tag group of vintage components that have somehow learned to play nice with each other and actually sound really great with my 3.5. My analog front end features a direct-drive JVC al-y7 turntable with an AT oc9ii cart. Digital source is a Pioneer Elite (upside-down) CD transport into a Schiit DAC. My preamp is an all tube VTL 5.5, and the amps are a pair of 1963 Sherwood a-5500 iv in bridged mono, feeding about 160w per channel into 4ohms. Interconnects are Monster Sigma retro golds and Speaker cables are Straightwire Serenades. As far as power I have everything hooked up to a 20amp Equitech son of Q, with several power cords from jps labs and Acoustic Zen. Like I said, strange group of components that actually sound quite musical together.. especially through THIELS ;)
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Jon,
thanks for not holding a grudge. After all we're all fellow Thielistas! Also, thanks for the link. Some very interesting reading on JTs design philosophy. |
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?
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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! |
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. |
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!
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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?
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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)
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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.
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Happy Friday jafant!
Hope everyone is enjoying great tunes on sweet sounding Thiels!
I myself am liking these 3.7s so much that I’m getting ready to list my lovely 3.5s :) only one set of Thiels at a time for me in my NYC apartment!
Also, came to the realization that my old reliable Sherwood’s weren’t quite up to the task of powering the 3.7s. I’m currently running them with a loaner Rogue Audio Medusa hybrid tube/class-D amp that feeds them about 350w into 4 ohms. Incredibly wide soundstage, spacious detailed top-end and slamming precise bass. Missing perhaps a little of the luscious mids that tubes do so nicely. I do really like how well the Rogue “sound” complements the Thiels. Might try something like their Stereo-100 sometime down the line.
Any suggestions/opinions on Rogue with Thiels?.. |
Vair68robert..
I believe the 3.7 came with cones and the outriggers were an add-on. The original owner of my 3.7s lost the outriggers, so I went with replacements from Soundocity, which are great.. beautifully built, solid as a rock, and allow easy leveling adjustments via a knob on the top. |
oblgny...
Yes, the Cronus Magnum was a great little integrated. With its beefy transformers and power supply it could definitely drive some pretty demanding speakers. The Stereo-100 has an even more massive power supply and with its cuad of kt120s, might be a nice match with the 3.7s.
What’s funny is that the 3.5s sounded great with my Sherwood’s at 80wpc. I did keep the EQ in the 40hz-20khz setting to tame the low basss.. |
Would love to hear any other recommendations for tube power amps in the 100-200 wpc range that could be had for under 2k on the used market? Anything that might be a nice match for Thiels... |
Also, if you’re considering going the integrated route, a Cronus Magnum might be something to look at. There’s one on the bay right now with KT120s that could be a great deal. The Cronus is basically my amp with a preamp and phono stage in one.. |
Hi Arvin and fellow Thieliacks,
Just wanted to offer another option for your 3.5s.. I have found Rogue amps to be a great match with my Thiels. I have a Rogue Atlas Magnum (KT120s, 100wpc) that I use with my 3.7s. I find that it offers excellent (solid-state like) detail and bass control in additions to that luscious tube midrange. With its oversized transformers it has plenty of power and control... loudest I’ll usually go in my 15x20 listening space is about 11’oclock on my preamp dial.
I recently sold my 3.5s (my first Thiel loves) and hooked them up for a few days to say my goodbyes and demo them for the buyer. I was so impressed with how good they sounded with the Rogue that I almost didn’t want to let them go! Compared to the 3.7s they weren’t quite as incredibly resolved and sounded a tad more compressed but they just had this extremely musical and “reach out and touch you” quality that in some ways even surpassed it’s newer siblings!
Enjoy those 3.5s!!
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Hi Ronkent, I have 3.7s and am also using a Rel subwoofer. Mine is an older REL Storm III. I like the fact that it takes a high level signal from my power amp and seems to mate very well with the Thiels. I have the Gain at about 1/4 power and the crossover set at a low 23dB to just add that foundational Bass under the frequencies that the 3.7 can produce on its own. Curious as to how you have your REL setup.. crossover, gain, placement? Thanks |
Hi ronkent, thanks! I’m still tweaking the RELs settings myself but find that when I go too high on the crossover I start to “step-on” the 3.7s low frequencies, and that’s the last thing I want to do. That S5 is a beautiful looking sub, enjoy!
BTW, how are your 3.7s sounding? I purchased mine “used” but they really started to open up after a few months of enthusiastic play! The previous owner complained about them being “bass shy and lacking dynamics”.. I don’t think he actually gave them a chance to break-in. These speakers really do need a good amount of play to reach their full potential. |
Hi Ron, I had a pair of REL Storm III’s and was never able to really seamlessly integrate them with the Thiels. They certainly went LOW, but always felt they blurred a bit of the bottom end detail... Perhaps because they are a ported design. Also, at 14x16 my space is small enough that the 3.7s on their own really pressurize the room well. |
Congrats bighempin! The 3.7s are truly amazing! After having many different speakers in my room, these are here to stay. I did try them with a few cables and settled on a nice beefy Straitwire. I was also running a pair of REL subs with them for a little bit, and ended up deciding I liked them better without the subs. Depending on your amp, the 3.7s can produce some really deep and dynamic and nimble bass.
Also, when I first got mine they had very few hours on them and I was not entirely happy with their sound. They actually took several hundred hours of play till they reached their full sonic potential! 🙌 So, my advice is to be patient and give them ample time to fully “burn-in”, before making other major system changes. |
Tom- I’ve been using Strait Wire Serenade speaker cables in my system since before I had Thiels. I actually first used them with a pair of Meadowlark Kestrels. When I got my 3.5s I noticed how much larger and more dynamic they were over the smaller Meadowlarks but still retained a certain familiarity and naturalness to my ears. I attribute this in part to both manufacturers design philosophy of time & phase alignment. Later when I acquired my 3.7s and to this day I continue to listen through my SW Serenade speaker cables. I like the fact that these cables have been with me so long and have always allowed me to hear the sometimes subtle differences when making changes to my system. It makes perfect sense now that I know the history between Thiel and SW, that these speaker cables have been such a synergistic match with my Thiels.
Cheers!
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Absolute phase (polarity) more noticeable through Thiel speakers. Thoughts??
My VTL preamp has a “phase” switch on the remote. I never heard much of a difference with previous speakers, but on my 3.7s the difference can be quite striking... |
