Thiel PCS - An Affirmation Thread

[Seth=L]

Thread title says it all.

I got lucky and found a pair of Thiel PCS monitors in very good condition for a reasonable price and so far I'm pretty excited.

Once I got them home and hooked up and playing for all of about 2 minutes I was beside myself. These don't sound like any speaker I've ever owned before, including the Thiel CS.5 floor standers I had a couple years back. I can't recall ever hearing a speaker that sounded like these do. The mid to high mid range was very "present". I also noticed they sounded much larger than their size suggests, and they're not small. Each speaker weighs 30 pounds and stands almost 20" tall. Just for comparison, the popular CS1.6 floor standing speaker weighs 38 pounds at 3ft in height and they still have 1" side walls and 2" thick front baffle.

I've had the opportunity to listen to them further over the last couple days and here's what I've experienced. They are highly detailed. I've sampled a large quantity of different speakers and very rarely did any other speaker I own pick up little details I simply never noticed before, the Thiel PCS definitely picks out details I've never noticed before. I believe the Thiels also have a stronger center stage than any speaker I've owned before.

The bass that the Thiels produce sounds strong and assertive but does not go "low". A subwoofer is necessary to get the most out of these. I'm still experimenting with crossover point and whether to use the receiver's bass management or to run the Thiels full range and use the subwoofer's crossover. The PCS monitors don't behave the same way most other speakers do in respect to using the bass management on the receiver it seems. I'm doing my adjustments by ear, I don't have a mic for Audyssey or an SPL meter.

Right now I'm using the Marantz NR-1504 as a preamplifier with the Niles SI-275 power amplifier. Stereophile's measurements portion of their review says a 2 ohm stable amplifier is recommended for the best results and the Niles specifies their amplifier is stable at 2.33 ohms, I figure that's close enough.

 

[rojo]

cheap calibrated measurement mic -- $17
3.5mm TRRS 20' extension cable -- $9.50-ish
TRRS female -> 2x TRS male splitter -- $2.50-ish

There's you a calibrated measurement mic for < $30. Plug the mic into the extension cable, the extension cable into the splitter, and the pink plug on the splitter into the mic jack on your sound card. Leave the green plug unplugged. Plug a 3.5mm -> RCA Y cable into the Line In jack on your PC, and another in the Line Out jack. Connect one channel of the Line In to the Line Out to use as a loopback for timing reference, and the other channel of your Line Out to your AVR / amplifier so your PC can play sweeps. (That's one way to connect the mic, but not the only way.) As an added benefit, the Line In <-> Line Out loopback allows you to measure in the time domain, which I don't think REW can handle with a USB mic -- or at least it couldn't the last time I checked, which was a couple of years ago.

The mic seems nearly identical to my Dayton iMM-6, which measures just as well as the UMIK-1. See this Dayton iMM-6 example measurement alongside a UMIK-1 (as well as the built-in mic in my phone, which you can ignore).

If you can spare another $5 (or watch for a price change), you can get the same Dayton iMM-6 as I have, with which you might feel more confident in your ability to re-download the calibration file as needed years into the future.

 

[Alex2507]

It's very brave of you to admit that you don't have an SPL meter. There must be a support group out there called Ear Pride or something for people like you.

 

[Seth=L]

It's very brave of you to admit that you don't have an SPL meter. There must be a support group out there called Ear Pride or something for people like you.

Nah, I just have really heavy ears. And when they catch the sun just right...

 

[Seth=L]

I decided on corner placement to avoid early reflections. Thiel speakers don't behave well when close to walls. As an added benefit the subwoofer gets to be both in the corner and in between the stereo speakers, making it near impossible to localize.

 

[Alex2507]

Nah, I just have really heavy ears. And when they catch the sun just right...

Golden ears.

Hey, the new thing is pointing your sub into the corner.

With as much audio experience as you have you should be able to count on your ears and understanding to dial a system in. It's cool that the Thiels image well enough to do the center channel well. Nice set up.

 

[Seth=L]

Golden ears.

You saw through my clever ruse.

Hey, the new thing is pointing your sub into the corner.

Definitely augments output. I get a little extra oomph on the bottom end. Both in the corner and my seat.

With as much audio experience as you have you should be able to count on your ears and understanding to dial a system in. It's cool that the Thiels image well enough to do the center channel well. Nice set up.

It's a music system first. It just so happens I'd rather listen to the stereo for movies than the TV speakers.

 

[Goodband]

Really nice find. I love the look of the PCS.

Always good when you can please your ears and your eyes at the same time!

Enjoy!

Envoyé de mon SGH-I337M en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[everettT]

Nah, I just have really heavy ears. And when they catch the sun just right...

 

[everettT]

I've always thought their bookshelf speakers sounded well. Enjoy the new toys

Thread title says it all.

I got lucky and found a pair of Thiel PCS monitors in very good condition for a reasonable price and so far I'm pretty excited.

Once I got them home and hooked up and playing for all of about 2 minutes I was beside myself. These don't sound like any speaker I've ever owned before, including the Thiel CS.5 floor standers I had a couple years back. I can't recall ever hearing a speaker that sounded like these do. The mid to high mid range was very "present". I also noticed they sounded much larger than their size suggests, and they're not small. Each speaker weighs 30 pounds and stands almost 20" tall. Just for comparison, the popular CS1.6 floor standing speaker weighs 38 pounds at 3ft in height and they still have 1" side walls and 2" thick front baffle.

I've had the opportunity to listen to them further over the last couple days and here's what I've experienced. They are highly detailed. I've sampled a large quantity of different speakers and very rarely did any other speaker I own pick up little details I simply never noticed before, the Thiel PCS definitely picks out details I've never noticed before. I believe the Thiels also have a stronger center stage than any speaker I've owned before.

The bass that the Thiels produce sounds strong and assertive but does not go "low". A subwoofer is necessary to get the most out of these. I'm still experimenting with crossover point and whether to use the receiver's bass management or to run the Thiels full range and use the subwoofer's crossover. The PCS monitors don't behave the same way most other speakers do in respect to using the bass management on the receiver it seems. I'm doing my adjustments by ear, I don't have a mic for Audyssey or an SPL meter.

Right now I'm using the Marantz NR-1504 as a preamplifier with the Niles SI-275 power amplifier. Stereophile's measurements portion of their review says a 2 ohm stable amplifier is recommended for the best results and the Niles specifies their amplifier is stable at 2.33 ohms, I figure that's close enough.