I am still impressed with the Thiel CS.5 and I gives me a sense of longing for newer, larger, more sophisticated Thiel speakers. Of all the speakers I've owned none have produced such an immersive soundstage let alone the accuracy.
Things that sounded bloated on many prior speakers sound neutral and belong with the rest of what I'm listening to rather than overwhelm and detract from the overal experience. They wrap around you with sound with the proper material. Anyone that has ever said Thiel is for classical music only must only have classical and any other material they posses must be of the lowest quality possible. Any well recorded and mastered material will be reproduced excellently with these, even rock (rap sounds like crap no matter what you listen to it through
).
So a passer by doesn't think this is just a silly person ranting about the first "good" speakers they've owned, let me assure you by making a list of prior speakers. I'll try to put the best/most comparable first and trickle down.
Vandersteen 2Ce (great soundstage, full range performance is second to none, requires a large space like the CS.5 to perform it's best. Not quite as involving and envoleping as the CS.5)
Paradigm Studio 100 (first generation, great dynamics, requires large space. Low end performance isn't quite as good as Vandersteen 2Ce. Soundstaging is difficult and they tend to be bright)
Bowers & Wilkins DM602 S3 (exceptionally smooth sounding speaker with slightly bloated bass with the port unplugged, soundstage is pretty good as well)
Paradigm Studio 20 (first generation, very similar to the Studio 100 with a little less mid range definition and obviously a lot missing from the low end)
AR Classic 18 (very narrow sweetspot and difficult to place. Excellent full range performance for a less statuesqe speaker. MTMW array is likely the cause of small sweet spot and tricky placement. One of the most inert cabinets I've ever ecountered)
Miller & Kreisel S-100B (probably deserves to be higher on the list but never had the chance to utitlize these fairly. Excellent on and off axis response. They require very clean power in order to function correctly otherwise the tweeters exibit some rather nasty distortions. Soundstage is excellent)
Miller & Kreisel Bookshelf-75 (amazingly flexible speaker for size and class. It's a rather basic looking speaker but uses the same tweeter found in M&K's higher model speakers along with a 5.25" midbass and a front mounted port that offers the option to plug the port with a supplied foam cylinder. They sound congested when plugged so these sound better unplugged. Soundstage is excellent, strong sweetspot. They are a tad bright and struggle with higher output.)
Infinity Interlude 10 (this is my now and again speaker I've had for 10 years. They were a gift and I can't find a single reason to ever get rid of them. They're a full bodied bookshelf speaker thanks to their larger size they soundstage well [first speaker I owned that I got to do it]. They have some resonance issues with the binding posts and some humps in the response due to cabinet resonance.
ERA D4 (amazing tiny speaker, limited dynamic capability, small sweetspot and not a overly involving soundspace. They achieved good sound in a WAF package but really they're not going to work for a serious music listening system.)
Klipsch RF-52 (dynamic speaker, not terribly accurate or a strong soundstage performer)
