R
eality check—$2,390
is a lot of money. This
may not seem so in
the rarefied world of
high-end audio, but
to most folks on the street, $2,390 for
a pair of loudspeakers represents a
monumental investment for a “luxu-
ry” item.
Within that context,
what should we make of
the new $2,390 Thiel
CS1.6 loudspeaker? The
answer is as simple as it is
profound—Thiel has
established a new bench-
mark in speaker perform-
ance that substantially
reduces the entry price to
ne plus ultra
performance.
It’s worth $2,390, even to
music-lovers not looking
for that last scintilla of
performance.
As a replacement to
the venerable CS1.5,
which was a market
favorite during its nine-
year run, the CS1.6 is not
just an update. Designer
Jim Thiel has redefined
what is possible for
roughly two grand.
Before the CS1.6, I
found the “elbow”
where increasing price
in loudspeakers bought
only small improvements was
somewhere in the $4,000-$5,000
range. That is, you could pay more
than $5,000, but the improvements
came in rapidly diminishing propor-
tions; a great $5,000 speaker (think
Aerial 10T) achieves most of what a
$60,000 design does (incremental
improvements are, of course, musi-
cally significant and financially justi-
fiable—but this is the point that sep-
arates the average music lover from
the hardcore enthusiast).
The Thiel CS1.6 reduces the
p r i c e - p e r f o r m a n c e
elbow to,
well, $2,390. Excluding the bottom
octave, which it will
not
do, this new
Thiel possesses tonal, dynamic, spa-
tial, and transient resolution compa-
rable in most ways to the world’s best
speakers. And the critter is wicked
sexy looking, sort of a Mini-Me ver-
sion of Thiel’s flagship CS7.2.
Once upon an audio adventure, I
named the CS1.5 the Best Value in
audio. Thus, when Thiel’s press
release heralded the CS1.6, my
interest was piqued and my expecta-
tions were raised. Most notable was
the sensitivity specification: 90dB @
2.8V/1m. Jim Thiel’s designs have
almost always been of a lower sensi-
tivity (the CS1.5 was an 86dB
design), partly owing to his first-
order crossover designs.
This review is a first look because
we got the speakers two weeks
beyond the normal deadline, barely
in time (though Thiel had logged 50
hours of break-in on them before
shipping) for some meaningful listen-
ing. As with any of the great prod-
ucts, it took no time whatsoever to
recognize that this new Thiel was
extraordinary. And while I am confi-
dent in my observations, further lis-
tening with a wider range of associ-
ated equipment will reveal more of
the speaker’s character.
T h e N e w D e s i g n
Thiel’s primary technical
objective here was to over-
come the sensitivity limitation
inherent in first-order cross-
overs without abandoning his well-
established crossover approach. One
Thiel CS1.6 Loudspeaker
A New Benchmark in High-End Performance
Tom Miiller
e q u i p m e n t
r e v i e w
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