Thiel 3.5 equalizer advice

Like Unsound said, be careful with midranges. I owned a pair of 3.5s and probably went through 4 midranges. The problem is that they use a first order crossover, that while yielding excellent phase linearity, burdens the midrange with having to deal with significant mid/upper bass energy due to the shallow slopes. Thiel was extremely helpful with providing replacement units, even after the speaker was out of warranty.

Keep in mind that the same cross-over philoshpy hasn't seemed to burden Thiel's other lines of speakers the same way. My 3.5's have only had their midrange drivers rebuilt once and they're over twenty years old. This was just a few years ago, Thiel did it gratis despite being well out of their ten year warranty. Kudos, Thiel!

I'm not sure if any of the drivers have been replaced, but it's good to know that Thiel stands behind the speakers so well. I will try the EQ this Spring and I like the option of putting the EQ in the tape loop. Thanks Unsound.

Using the Thiels without the EQ is like buying a Maserati simply to drive to and from the supermarket - you may enjoy the ride but you'll be missing out on what the overall intent was in designing it. I am currently "driving" my 3.5's with a Macintosh Mc275 tube amp which, for some people, may appear to be too little power for what are legendarily "power hungry" speakers. I listened with and without the EQ in line and I can testify that the EQ is necessary. It could be my ears alone which detected better imaging with the EQ in, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I love these speakers.

Another deliriously happy 3.5 owner here. I’m also a huge advocate of the equalizer. Interestingly, I used to own KEF Reference 107/2’s and pretty much hated what the KUBE equalizer did to them, essentially sitting on the sound terribly. The 107/2’s, not in the same class as the 3.5s in my view, sounded far better sans KUBE. It’s quite the reverse with the 3.5s.

The Thiel equalizer doesn’t interfere with the sonic character of the 3.5s and merely allows them to accurately plunge the Stygian depths, but only when recordings dip to 20HZ territory. The 107/2s sounded very colored in the low end, to these ears at least.