Cables for Thiel CS6

I have been listening to my CS6 speaker for about a year and I tested it with the cables as follows:

Harmonic Technology Magic Tweeter/Woofer and Pro 9
Transparent Reference wXL
Gryphon Guideline PSC Gold
Siltech Ribbon
Siltech LS 288 Gold
Kimber KS 3038
Nordost Valhalla

For interconnects I tried (all balanced XLR)

Harmonic Technology Magic Link One
Transparent Reference MM
Siltech SQ88B Gold
Kimber KS 1130
Nordost Valhalla, Valkyrja, QuattroFil

My power cords are Elrod EPS 2 Signature for the CDP and Siltech SPX 30 Classic G5 with Mark Levinson No. 39 driving a No. 333 and occasionally a Pass X250.

In this setup my final choice was Siltech for all cables (except for the CDP). It is dynamic, harmonically correct, open, airy and does everything right in this setup. The runner up was the Valhalla it sounded magical too. The Harmonic Tech Magic Tweeter was the best cable in terms of price vs. performance. The Kimber 3038 was a great cable but too warm for my taste and the KS1130 interconnect, which was my secret tip, finally was a major disappointment because of lack of dynamics and resolution compared to the Valkyrja and the Siltech SQ88B Gold. The only Transparent cable I liked was the new Reference MM. the others were rolled off in the treble.

This of course only represemts my taste: I like fast, dynamic, lively open sound without colorations and I do not like the artificial added warmth which is somtimes referred to as being "musical". If someone's taste is the opposite of mine I would recommend the Kimber. It is important to note however, that the interconnect and speaker cable I use are very very hard to find on the used market, I waited for almost a year until I was able to buy them. I hope this helped a bit.

when I was at Thiel last year,they were using alpha-core cables.

Lez,
thanks for your very detailed history that help more than a bit.
As a CS6 expert what are the amlifiers you tried out? I have been told from many sources that Thiel are avid of power.. I'm looking for the right cable but I do not have the feeling that the 100W of my ARC Vt100 are not working. In the opposite way in my room, that is small, I have very very good resolution at low levels I'm not sure I would get from a SS amplifier. Very interested to know your feeling on that one. In one week from now I will have other cables to try out and will post my impression.

Marco,

Thiel speakers are very power hungry. The sensitivity is given as 86 dB but for 2.83V/1m, (2,83 is the square root of 8, normally manufacturers use this if the speaker's impedance is 8 Ohms.). Because of the fact that the CS6 has a 4 Ohm impedance, the actual sensitivity of the speaker is 3 db less: only 83 dB. This is a really low value and if we add that the minimum impedance is near 2 Ohms then there is no question anymore: we need lots of power. The actual need of power of course depends on the room size and our listening habits too, however my experience is that 200W/8, 400W/4 Ohms is the minimum these speakers neeed in ANY room setup. I had a Mark Levinson No. 331 before and it has almost ran out of its reserve and was not capable of driving the speaker to its full potential. I am not talking of not being loud enough, of course I could not pump up the volume to the max. even with the 331, but at that the same volume level the bigger amps were much more relaxed and had better control and did not lose anything from their imaging.

I tried the No. 331, No. 333, Pass Labs X350, X250. The best were the 333 and the X350. The X250 is hardly enough, sometimes I feel that the 331 may has better control, but the X250 has the power and never collapses.

As far as tubes are concerned, Thiel recommends approximately the double of the SS power when you use tubed gear. The VT 100 is a great amp and sounds good, however I doubt that its control is enough, no matter how small the room is. Of course this is only my interpretation... The only tubed amp that I listened to and offered tremendous power was the VTL MB 1250 Wotan and the VTL Siegfried. The latter was the best tubed amp I ever listened to, faster and more dynamic than most SS amps. In your search for the right cables you might as well give a try to the Pass X350, it definitely worths considering.

I am using a McCormack DNA-2 Dlx (300 8ohm, 600 4ohm) with good results. Bought it used for $3000. I'm not saying its the end-all beat-all but it mates well.