got it for the right price on ebay [a few hundred $$$] and as soon as I unpacked 'em and hooked 'em up, was GOBSMACKED by their HUGE spacious airy detailed TALL soundstage which on the right recordings was wall-to-wall, utter lack of grain, no harshness, no shoutiness even up close, surprisingly extended bass [in-room, down to the upper 20s at lower volumes*], relatively amp-friendly impedance curve [more or less 4 ohm from top to bottom, rather like a Magnapan], at least compared to its big and much more expensive and power-hungry brothers. very neutral/revealing [but it never beats you over the head with all that detail], to the point of being able to evaluate microphones used in recordings, amplifiers, CD players et al. I heard subtle things I had not heard before, in MANY recordings I played through these speakers. more sensitive than its 87 db rating would indicate, i'd say 3 db more. a 50 watt/channel amplifier [high current design, high damping factor] is sufficient to drive these to room-filling [1000-2000 sq/ft] near live levels. cheap Asian-made mid-fi amps will work with these speakers but they WILL run hotter than with regular 8-ohm impedance loudspeakers, and the bass will not be as well controlled. but unlike its big Thiel brothers which would sound somewhat hard and brittle through cheap amps, this speaker kept its sweet disposition even when driven by a 3-decade old JVC amp. very wide and uniform dispersion of trebles, passed the "sit-down/stand-up test." these 31" tall very slender towers were designed to work in small "everyman" rooms such as in apartments/condos. these are the most un-fatiguing speakers I've heard outside of Ohms [Walsh]. how they can be simultaneously mellow AND detailed is a real achievement of its designer. a BARGAIN.

these NEED a high-damping factor amp to control that floppy [bass reflex enclosure] 6.5" woofer, and/or a subsonic filter cutting in sharply below 25-30 cycles. when I played [at a typical room-filling volume] a pipe organ recording featuring 16 cycle pedal tones, it rapidly overloaded [much doppler distortion] with no warning and I had to leap for the volume control. it tried to reproduce those tones but couldn't. it survived this treatment, god bless its tough little heart. sweet spot of average size, about one person wide. banana plug connectors HIGHLY recommended.

imaging, soundstage, ability to distinguigh instruments, detail, mids and highs, tight bass. live sound. overall sound is natural, authentic like nothing I have ever heard. this is music the way it is supposed to be heard - the way it was recorded, not the way it reverbs and echoes into itself.

bass can sometimes be weaker than expected, but seems like a function of the recording. exposes weaknesses in poor source material (I agree with others who have made that statement).

Love the Thiels! These speakers give a very natural sound with superior detail, each instrument occupying its own space and sounding like a live concert. Imaging and soundstage are super. Highs and mids are superior and authentic sounding. Bass is tight and usually very strong, but, as many have said before, don''t buy these speakers if you want thumping bass -- these are for the listener that wants 10th row sound, natural tight bass. That being said, I am happy with the bass. It is very present, just not hypnotic, artificially amplified and overreaching like the mass produced products. The only complaint is that for some tunes the bass sometimes is weaker than I expected, but it varies from disk to disk (and note my speakers are in the final phase of breaking in). I think it depends somewhat on the recording and training my ears to the new sound [I suspect when they are fully broken in and I am used to the sound [i.e., I lose the Fisher/Sony artificial sound in my head], I will give these speakers a 5 rating]. Perfect for rock, jazz, classical. Did not try rap, but would think not good for that. Finally, at this price range, some sacrifice is going to be made, and on balance, these are terrific speakers. We paid an additional $127 for the dark cherry stain and they look great. I listened to B&W 602/3, NHTs, Paradigm Ref 20s and some others in the price range and below. The detail and soundstage and authenticity of sound jumped out at me. The B&Ws were rounded and fuller, but the bass was too thumping. NHT was too tight. Paradigm sound was thin. Thiels blew me away. You have to train your ear to listen to music all over again because the Thiels really bring out the true music that you are not used to hearing. Once you get used to and accept that real music isn''t thumping bass, it is one of the most satisfying listening you''ll have at this price. Used with: Rotel RA-1060 integrated amp Rotel RCD-1070 CD Pro Audio Soundlink speaker wire Custom House Piranha interconnect [with these speakers make sure to avoid using interconnect that amplifies the brightness--get one that is neutral]

Similar Products Used:

None

Soundstaging, low distortion, beautiful sound, very good tonal balance

Price. Very deep basses response is too weak

These loudspeakers are very well designed and made.
The sound is very clear and the image surpringsly real.
Soundstaging is excellent.
Distortion is very low.
Spectral balance is very good, only very low basses could be more deep.
In my opinion Thiel CS .5 are one of the best purchase in their class.

Similar Products Used:

B&W

Great soundstaging, balanced sound. Fairly detailed. Very emotionally involving.

Bass stinks

I returned these after a very solid week of breakin then listening. For the money ($1450 list) these are not bad. Very well-balanced and solid for their size. Right out of the box, the imaging and soundstaging were astonishing. They are INCREDIBLY transparent and add a beautiful airiniess to jazz vocals. Diana Krall & Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme" really blew me away on these. B&W CDM 7 SEs are a little more accurate and detailed (for $3-400 more) and have more bass, but they sound fairly institutional and dry compared to these. Among the speakers I demoed, none were as wholly emotionally involving with acoustic music, except for the Paradigm Studio 80s (same price), which, while not quite as airy, have a much fuller, natural and gorgeous sound.

Unfortunately, the bass response on these is flimsy at best. You can not enjoy rap, funk or techno. This lack of versatility, for me, is a major flaw. The CS 1.5 is much better (but @ $2250 list), but again, you really buy Thiels for the soundstage and what they do to acoustic instruments and vocals. (Then again, since when do nascent "audiophiles" only listen to jazz/classical/vocals?!?!)

Make sure you have great components. Rotels seem an excellent match.

I would recommend these for the audiophile on a budget who listens 95% to well-recorded opera/classical/jazz/vocals. If you’re looking at these, you MUST demo the Paradigm Studio 80s as well. They're a better deal and I recommend them without hesitation, for all types of music.

System:
Rotel RB981
Rotel RC972
Rotel RCD950
NAD 515
Audioquest Jade IC
Tara Labs Prism 2+2

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Studio 60 & 80. Kef Reference 2. Polk RT 2000. Dynaudio. B&W CDM 7SE.

I owned the Thiel CS.5 for about half a year. Although it is a small speaker, it does not work well in small rooms like mine. Why? You need to listen from a distance, in order for the soundstaging and imaging to gel. In a small room, that is not possible. Furthermore, as the previous review stated, the CS.5 is a little warm and fat sounding. And at 89dB/watt/meter, the CS.5 is way too sensitive for small and medium rooms.
I traded up to the Thiel CS1.5, and all of the above criticisms were pretty much answered. Indeed, I recommend that you save your money and go for the likes of Thiel's CS1.5, Martin Logan's Aerius i, Totem's Model One Signature, and ProAc's Response One SC.

Wide and deep soundstage
very quick

lacks low bass

With a budget of $1500(I was willing to spend +$1000) for speakers, I had about 4 serious contenders. None of which were CS.5's. I came really close to getting the Harlech's (they excelled with classical) My dealer at the last minute recommended I check the CS.5's out, so I did.

WOW!! I was completely blown away. Super fast, perfect in mids and treble, and not bad in the bass department. I had to get these speakers. So I take them home and set them up and what do you know, they present an extremely wide and deep sound stage. No there not great for rap and techno, Yet funk does pretty good unless you like exaggerated flabby bass. I admit I was initially turned off by the quoted 55-20khz rating but bass really is not bad. No it's not rattle your nose hairs bass but for jazz, classic/prog rock, and most classical pieces the bass is perfect.
Well i'm babbling, just do yourself a favor and give these guys a listen. You might be as surprised as I was

system
Arcam Alpha 9 integrated amp
Arcam Alpha 7 cd player
Marantz ST-59 tuner
Straight Wire SymphonyII Interconnects
Nordost Flatline Gold MkII speaker wires
Rpg Level one room treatment

Similar Products Used:

Castle Harlech,SevernII
Naim Credo
Magnepan MG1.6
NHT 2.5
Totem Acoustic arrow

lower midrange, naturalness of music presentation

ir and openess in the highs

Having audiotioned these speakers extensively, I feel I should write some things to clear up confusion with their low ratings. First off, these speakers are phenominal. I would have picked then up if I hadn't made the decision to get a pair of martin logans.
Highs: the highs are very good, however they do lack some involvement that the rest of the ranges seem to have done really well. THere is somewhat of a lack of detail, and spaciousness about it all. THe highs are presented well though, and this concern is very irrelavent with such strengths in the mid and lower mids for a speaker in this price range.
Mids: amazing describes it all. I sat one of my friends down to listen to these, his only comment was, My god, am I at the concert?
Lows: good, they are not going to stop your heart when the hit, but what can one expect out of a small speaker. For a small speaker they do come across very well tough

All in all, this is a speaker that will involve one in the music. There will be no regrets after purchasing a pair of .5's I assure you. They have all of the characteristics of the larger models, simply on a smaller scale.

soundstage,natural sound, construction, value for money

height; require high level electronics for the real performance.

i'm satisfied of this product; it give me the sense of the music.

Similar Products Used:

linn keilidh

I stand amazed at the people who like this speaker. It really amazes me. Then I look at the equipment used by these people and I fall out of my chair. Krell and Thiel used together? Wow what a concept. I've actually heard this particular combination. What a screeetching beast. The tweeters could certainly peel paint with this combo. My guess is that my ears must be defective because we have a number of people here who really like this speaker with a variety of source and amp combinations. I could understand one or two people in the world liking this speaker but we have more than that here.....so clearly, my ears must be defective.

Awesome resolution, class leading dynamics, MUSICALITY

Lack truly deep bass but depends on your music choices

Listened to a heap of speakers and never heard anything truly outstanding, until now. I was really skeptical as the cabinets are minute but within the first few seconds I knew these speakers were different to the norm. These are the first speakers that sound anything like real life, dynamic. Out of tens of speakers these really stood out, they made me want to listen to "just one more song"! OK they lack deep bass but are nigh on perfect in every other respect.
Also listened to CS1.5 and these had the bass I was craving.

Similar Products Used:

B&W (603,604,CDM NT7) Monitor Audio (Silver 5i,8i,9i & Gold 10i,20i), Mirage FRX-7, Image (404, 403) & lots more