I have been looking for loudspeakers in the $2000 price range to match with my Rotel RC 981 BX amp, 970 pre, and RCD971 HDCD player.The Thiel 1.5 souunded better than every other speaker I auditioned
{ML aerius i,PSB Bronze, B+W CDM7 etc}. I still feel maybe I should spend
more and get the 2.3s to get more bass. I feel that I may be just suffering
from this obsesive Audiophile compulsion to always want more than I have.
Any input will be welcome.

Ick. I had heard good things about these speakers and was eager to listen to them; after doing so, I no longer have any interest in Thiel at all.
I listened to two CDs on them: The "Glory" soundtrack, and Loreena McKennitt's "Book of Secrets." When listening to "Glory", I thought the speakers were okay. They weren't as good as the PSB Stratus Golds, which were selling for the same price, but they weren't bad at all. But when I put on the McKennitt CD, I was disgusted. Her voice had lost all palpability and warmth, and sounded like someone breathing through a cardboard tube. Now, for all I know, this is a more "accurate" reproduction of the sound, but accurate or no, I know that I could not be happy with this sound.

To give you an idea of how much I disliked these speakers, if someone offered to trade me these even up for my $300 Paradigm Mini-Monitors, I'd refuse. I'm not terribly fond of the Paradigms, but I'd take their excessive warmth over the icy coldness of the Thiels any time.

This is a nice speaker. Very dynamic, very detailed, amazingly large sound from such a small speaker.They are definitely on the bright side, like all Thiels. I don't think I would be happy with their brightness. Also they are expensive; JM Labs or NHT ofers more speaker for the money.

I auditioned these speakers after first becoming interested in either the Linn 5140 and the Vienna Mozart. I was looking for not only good sound quality, but an attractive cabinet with lots of natural wood showing. All three of these speakers have acceptable appearance and are of similar price ($2100/$2600).
The Thiel 1.5 was much more harsh and "brilliant" than I had expected from reading the mostly favorable reviews here. I don't know how these speakers get such good reviews. I ended up buying the Linns which have a much more natural and open sound (in my opinion).

Thanks for this forum. It is very educational.

I spent the last three months auditioning speakers. During that time I auditioned B&W (Matrix & Nautilas lines), Vendersteen and JM Lab Cobalts. All of the speakers in this price range had exceptional imaging and soundstage depth. The Vandersteens were a bit too subdued in the mid to high ranges. My previous speakers were old Thiel monitors so my listening is biased toward speakers with monitor qualities.
The B&W's were a bit "warmer" and the JM Labs had great soundstage qualities, but I decided to go with the Thiels based on previous experience. Initial reactions out of the box were that these are quite harsh with not much depth. However after listening for over a week, these speakers began to "break in" with the harshness being DRASTICALLY reduced. This should continue to improve with time.

I am using an Audio Refinement intgrated amp and a Denon 820 CD player (this will be the next upgrade). A couple of comments on these speakers. When auditioning ensure the store is using the floor spikes (these make a HUGE difference to the soundstage). Based on my experience these really do require about 100 hours to break in as advertised. This break in period does make these speakers sound significantly "warmer".

This is a great speaker!

This speaker is everything people say it is. It is imperative that one feeds the CS1.5 with top-notch electronics. With poorer quality electronics, you may blame the speakers, instead of the electronics. I also think that the CS1.5 sounds best when listening at least ten feet away. In our small, square, 16' x 16' room, the bass is too boomy, and there's not enough space between the instruments. Some visitors have remarked that the best seat in the house is not the sweet spot. Rather, our Thiel CS1.5 sounds best from the toilet! Conclusion: you will not hear what the Thiels CS1.5 is capable of, unless you feed it a quality signal, and give it room to breathe.
System:
Theta Jade
Theta DSPro Basic IIIa
Fanfare FM FT-1
Rega Planar 3/Grado Platinum
Krell KPE Standard
Mark Levinson No. 380
Classe' CA-100
Illuminati D-60; Kimber KS-1030, KCAG, KS-3033

I owned a pair of CS1.5s for a year and I was regularly amazed at the sound these little speakers produced. They have their limitations, like limited bass and limited SPLs, but they do a fabulous job of reproducing music. While the bass is limited, it is very tight and tuneful. The midrange is marvelous and the spectral balance is very flat. As long as your room is modestly sized, these speakers can provide almost endless listening enjoyment. I listened to a pair again recently and I continue to believe the CS1.5s are one of the finest bargains in the high end.

Had a pair of CS1.5 for two months a year ago. They are good speakers in general, smooth, not bright, excellent midrange. However, I had problems with them too. The soundstage is large but rather low, I tried to lift the speakers about 10", then the soundstage height was about right. Very strange, even the sound was dark, but I was still easy got fatigue.

The CS 1.5 is a well rounded performer. This speaker can sound bright, but I am not certain that the speaker is at fault. Differences in recordings are readily apparent, and one is able to hear deep into the mix. This speaker favors detail and transient speed above grunt and soundstaging. Nevertheless,the speaker sounds satisfying across a broad range of music. With the right amplification and source,the CS 1.5 sounds convincing on instruments such as the tenor sax, and plucked string instruments and piano sound convincing also. With the CAP 80, this speaker rocks on hip-hop tunes that display funky, rythmically complex grooves. More than anything, this speaker permits one to hear what musicians and acousticians were doing on and with the recording. With that in mind, certain elements of songs that had once seemed obscure, now make musical sense, and ensembles now seem more connected in time and space than had otherwise been the case. This speaker does not provide the kind of etched outlines and imaging of say a B&W 302 or similar mini-monitor. This at first sounds like a shortcoming. However, over time, the way that the Thiels throw a soundstage becomes convincing, with different venues providing the stage, rather than the speaker itself crafting it. There are some excellent speakers in this price and class. Others that I admire include the B&W Nautilus series. The Thiels mate exceptionally well with my electronics (Classe cdp.3 and CAP 80). the Thiels have some kind of funky synergy with Classe equipment. The CS.5 sounds wonderful (detailed and bloomy) on the Classe stuff as well.
The more I listen to this setup the more I like the Thiels. This is the kind of speaker that proves that A/B comparisons do not tell the whole story. Set this speaker up, back it with good electronics, move it around to find a balance that appeals to you, and then listen for a while. It's a winner. Overall a four star performer. Still, it is ultimately more satisfying than many of the monitor speakers and small floorstanders with which it will be compared. Five stars in its class.

I like smaller, typically 2-way speakers. I value coherence, imaging, and harmonic integrity, and I do not value high SPLs or deep or excessive bass. I have, however, listened to many kinds of the speakers of the type that I tend to prefer over a period of many years, from the old B&W DM7's to the Celestion SL700s, and I'm listening to more all the time. Given my tastes and what I value in speakers, the Thiel 1.5s are one of the very best speakers I know of. J. Wells hit the nail on the head when naming their one weakness, which is limited soundstage height and size. Listen to Thiel's own 3.6 after listening to the 1.5s makes this clear. The 3.6s have their own weakness, though, a midbass emphasis that's not really disagreeable but calls attention to itself. Plus, it demands an awful lot in a partnering amplifier. This is another "weakness" of the 1.5--or is it really a strength? For the 1.5 is among the few speakers I know of that actually seems to change its own character with different amps. It does the same with different recordings. Listen to a sreechy, metallic '70s rock-pop recording, and you will think the speakers are sceechy and metallic; listen to a mellow, tube-mastered recording like the VTL jazz releases and you will think the Thiel is smooth and mellow. This is a very desirable quality in a speaker, I think.
An advantage of the 1.5 as a purchase is that there is very strong market name recognition and such an obvious upgrade path that used ones are common. Also, the unit holds its value exceptionally well. It is easy to find year-old 1.5s in perfect condition for $1100-1700 and you will not lose too much even off the cost of new ones if you decide to upgrade after a while. This is a big flaw of some lesser-known speakers, which hold their own in terms of technical sound quality but then sock you with a huge penalty when you try to get rid of them, because nobody's heard of them and thus, nobody wants them.
In the right sized room (say 14x18 feet is a practical maximum) and perhaps raised about 4 inches with a stand (this sounds macabre, but a headstone maker can cut 4-inch-high squares of marble for you which, with cones places underneath them, would work well as stands for the 1.5), the Thiel 1.5 has a purity and coherence that is difficult to find at any price. Sometimes, when you pay much more, you pay for the size of the virtual soundstage and for the very low bass (a much overrated quality in a speaker IMHO given the room interaction troubles it raises in most applications), but you still won't get the musical virtues of the small Thiels.
Anyone considering the Thiel 1.5s based purely on sound quality should also audition the Joseph Audio RM7si Signatures, Joseph Audio RM22si's, and the Gallo Nucleus Solo (but good luck finding a Gallo dealer). I know that on this database, 5 stars merely means "I approve of them," but here is a speaker that, within its already mentioned limitations, truly deserves 5 stars.