I wasn't even sure if I was going to make my feelings on these power requirement known until I played Peter Richard Conte's MAGIC! At the Wannamaker Grand Court Organ [Dorian XCD 90308] but I figured that if the Thiels didn't flinch at this full-sized pipe organ extravaganza, it was worth a mention. And they didn't – flinch. They say that once a subwoofer is correctly set up, you don't even know it's on until it's called upon to produce truly stygian and powerful bass. Well, you don't get very far into this CD before you know whether the sub is in the system or not. The Wanamaker Grand produces bass fundamentals down to 16Hz and the SS2 had my room and backside energized in full sympathetic syncopation! The bass was deep and powerful but more importantly, it was distinct and brimming with tonality and that tactile energy where you can almost count the bass cycles. The Thiels conjured up a venue that was deep and relatively narrow and placed the organ deeply to the rear of that hall. In the absence of bass theatrics, the sound seemingly emanated from that great instrument way down at the end of the hall. But when the lowest registers engaged, the entire hall became animated as the Wanamaker reached forward as though to grab me by the collar - it seemed absolutely alive. And when it retreated again, it was like going from a 52" plasma fed by an HDTV signal to the 13' black and white TV in the kitchen - the one not even hooked up to cable! The Wanamaker now having been as skillfully reproduced in my room as I'd ever experienced, I moved on to more pedestrian fare.

The title track from Supertramp's Even In The Quietest Moments [A&M 493 348] was a perfect demo for the added dimensionality afforded by the SS2. With the PCS running sans SS2, the soundstage was wide, with the crystalline 12-string guitars occupying opposing ends of my room. They clearly hung in space but seemingly upon a darkened stage with little perceived dimensionality, little height or readily discernable depth. Well, that was as compared to the soundstaging with the SS2 activated. Once the SS2 was introduced, someone turned up the stage lighting. No longer were the guitars on either side of my room but on opposing ends of a virtual soundstage. No longer suspended in isolated space, they now occupied a distinct location between floor and ceiling while the hall containing them had easily perceived height and

width. "Downstream" did a superb job of moving the music's focus back to center stage as the large and semi-diffuse piano rang with superb clarity, balance, tonality and depth from between the speakers and, where imaging was concerned, was bisected by the highly delineated vocals of Rick Davies. By the time "Babaji" was in high gear, the blunt-edged and powerful bass line punctuated that piano.
But before you blame that blunted bass quality on the Thiels, cue up "You Win, I Loose" from Supertramp's Some Things Never Change [Oxegen/Silvercab 63245-90002-2] for some of the thumpiest, most rhythmically delineated bass ever recorded on a Pop/Rock CD. From my chair, I could see the PCS woofers chugging along and the puffs of air from the bass ports could cool one off on a hot summer's day. But the music itself showed absolutely no strain, stress or chuffing whatsoever - and this with the Carissa's meager 16 watts doing the honors. If I didn't know better, I'd think that bassist Cliff Hugo did the engineering on this CD because the entire CD spotlights the electronic bass (I do know better because the liner notes tell me otherwise). The bass is recorded forward in the mix but recorded well. Lots of bass energy and detail makes
it seem as though the instrument belonged in the rhythm section. Try "Sooner Or Later" and see what I mean. Of course, this cut also represents the rhythm section every bit as well and captures it with just the right balance of weighty energy and transient edge. The keyboards just hover above it all in smoothly flowing contrast. Just fabulous. In short, anybody who thinks that Thiels can't boogie needs to hear this CD and this system.

In terms of power and efficiency, I often found myself turning down the music when it got loud but well before the Thiels showed any signs of stress. I don't normally listen all that loud but on one such occasion, I turned down "Humpty Dumpty" from Aimee Mann's Lost In Space [Super Ego Records SE-007] until it was peaking at just under 90dB. The Thiels brought me as close to her voice as I've ever been or would ever want to get (and that's pretty close, believe me). "Lost In Space" is another fairly bass-heavy cut aptly served by the Thiel system, with the bass bellowing throughout the room without ever infringing on that midrange clarity. Unlike some other super-detailed speakers, the Thiels get me as intimate with the music as I want to be without pushing me to the point where I begin to hear things that take away from the moment - extraneous things

that have absolutely nothing to do with musicality. This is one of the aspects I like most about this system. It's almost as if I can hear absolutely everything worth hearing on my CDs but nothing more. Part of my amazement stems from the fact that these small Thiels sound every bit as detailed and nuanced as the JMlab Mini Utopias I owned at one time but quickly tired of because they brought to the surface the most non-musical of artifacts from my CDs.
The PCS speakers seem to stop well short of that point and I credit, at least to some extent, not only their excellent tweeter but its implementation. Yes, I know that Focal (manufacturer of the JMlabs) makes one of the finest tweeters extant but in my experience, it calls attention to itself and does not sound musically natural. Maybe it's a fine tweeter indeed and the problem resides with its implementation - I've heard the same with the excellent Dynaudio Esotar. In some speakers it hides while producing excellent treble. In others it can't help but to draw undue attention to itself. Give me excellent treble but don't let me hear the tweeter. In the case of the Thiel and for whatever reason, we have a fine treble that's extended, detailed and very musical.

During the final note-taking session, I turned to Eric Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops for some Big Band music. Nice'nEasy [Telarc SACD 60532] filled the air with Nelson Riddle's arrangements of Sinatra standards. Of course the music's vivid clarity was what struck me at first while at the same time, all that polished brass and percussion lacked any sharp edges. As always but particularly with this orchestral piece, instrumental timbers seemed spot-on and true. Soundstaging once again was well dimensioned and deep. Image specificity completely pleased this imaging freak but in the end, I was just so thrilled by how the Thiels were swingin' in my room.


Conclusion & Tribute to Joey Chadwell
If you own any current Thiel speakers and would like to investigate the addition of one of the SmartSubs, I can only give you my highest recommendation. At $4900, the SS2 is hardly inexpensive but it's a civilized brute. Based on how the SS2 so effortlessly met my needs, I also suggest the less expensive SS1 as a possibility. Augmenting other speaker makes will require either an amazing amount of luck or Thiel's more expensive SmartSub crossover/controller, which won't add to their affordability. But considering the level to which the SS2 elevated the PCS monitors, I can only say that the SmartSub doesn't merely add bass but effectively upgrades the performance of the entire system. Seen in that light, the addition of a SmartSub is an excellent investment.
Only those who've skipped over the main review to read the conclusion first won't know that I find myself quite enamored with the PCS monitors. They represent an excellent-sounding stand-mount with a wide-open and spacious presentation and crisp imaging. Their midrange clarity, transparency and musical detail are hard to beat especially at this price - but with the Thiel SmartSubs, they incorporate a clear upgrade path that truly results in a sum greater than either of the parts. As always, both the PCS monitors and SS2 SmartSub showcase absolutely first-rate craftsmanship. In that context, I'd like to publicly acknowledge the fine work of Thiel's Joey Chadwell who personally assembled and tested my review pair of PCS monitors. Excellent work, Mr. Chadwell! How do I know that Joey built my speakers? Because a
badge personally signed by Joey at the bottom of each PCS monitor tells me so.


So, who has assembled your current speakers? If you don't know (or even if you do), go and give a listen to the PCS/SS2 SmartSub combo. It's not only a great but foolproof system. It's got both the muscle and finesse to work well in any room but particularly if you have a small to medium-sized room in which uncompromised full-range sound has eluded you thus far, I don't know how to best this three-piece speaker system at anywhere near its price -- if at all.
Manufacturer's website