Wow - what a great little set of speakers. I downsized in price from a set of Gallo Reference 3.1's and was hoping to not be too disappointed (the Gallos were great). I was thinking that my Mcintosh Pre/Pro and amp would be a nice match although when I first played them with a run of the mill Onkyo cd player - they sounded mediocre...I was like "what the hell??" Then I remembered reading comments about the Thiels being revealing of crappy electronics. So - i ran a digital output from my dvd player to take advantage of the McIntosh internal DAC....WOW....a night and day difference. These puppies throw out a huge soundstage and sound just wonderful with my Mac equipment. Couldn't be happier...

Excellent value. Best I heard for <$2000 price range. Except for deep bass, almost indistinguishable from much more expensive speakers.

Lower bass range.

Balanced, effortless sound. Small footprint; no need to pay extra for accompanying speaker stands. I like the design. Solid, beautiful workmanship. Can listen for hours and hours without fatigue. I bought these shortly after they were introduced and have been totally delighted with my choice. Worth seeking out to evaluate prior to making a purchase!

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B & W Nautilas 805 an excellent alternative to also look at in this price range.

CLEAN, quick, open, revealing sound with pitch-black silences; small and very attractive sloped cabinet.

Still needs a good subwoofer, IMHO, to balance the top-end; like a mini-monitor with a built-in stand. Not for those who like a darker or lush (colored) sound!

This is definitely one of THE BEST loudspeakers available for under $4K. Paired with a good subwoofer, such as any of Rel's ST series, it offers sound reproduction approaching that of Thiel's own landmark CS2.4 (which I think is competitive with most any speaker south of $10K). If you like dark, lush sounding speakers, though, Thiels are NOT for you. They are extremely revealing with airy highs, lightning-quick transients, and pitch-black silences. Their main weakness is a total lack of low bass response (below 48-53Hz). I *loved* them with paired with a Rel Strata III (or Martin Logan) sub, yet I would not have even bought them without a sub (since I like a fair amount of bass in my floorstanders). In fact, even PSB's new Platinum M2 (and older Stratus Mini) *stand-mount* speakers offer more bass to my ears. However, what bass the Thiel CS1.6's DO have is excellent, and I really appreciated the fact that when asked to reproduce sound below 48Hz they simply seemed to ignore that part of the signal, in contrast to many speakers that can get very sloppy, boomy, or compressed sounding in such circumstances. I recently upgraded to Thiel's cS2.4, which is better in most every way (except for the much larger size), esp. in the bass (no sub required). But, honestly, for my purposes (double duty for both music and home theatre, with a sub on hand), the CS1.6's were a much better VALUE for money (with much higher WAF). There wasn't much to complain about, really; if I had originally ordered the nicer wood veneer (black was much cheaper then), I might not have upgraded (to cherry CS2.4's), honestly.

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Thiel CS2.4, PSB Stratus Bronze, PSB Platinum M2, PSB Stratus Mini, JM Lab Chorus 706, ...