Help: Thiel CS6 vs CS 2.3

Will a 10 year old Thiel 2 2 sound significantly different than it did after it was broken in 9 years ago?

In other words does speaker performance degrade over time?

(No visible deterioration of the cone or the surrounds).

I'm looking 2 channel speakers, rather than HT. I currently have a stock McCormack DNA-1, BAT VK-3i (tube pre), and Audio Alchemy front end (DDS-Pro, DTI-Pro and DDEv3).

I just took a ten-year old pair of Thiel 2 2's into a dealer who had B&W Nautilus 804s and N801 on a pretty good display using Krell FPB 600, an $8k Wadia CD/pre and kilobuck wires.

In comparison, I found the 2 2's to have a good image/stage, and a better depth (even than N801's). Where the Martin Logans have an image that is forward or rather "in your face", the Nautilus seem to be all in the same plane as the speaker, and the Thiel image is behind the speaker in better 3D (hence a need to place them out in the room).

Although a brief prior exposure to the Thiel 1.6 was astonishingly different - they were against a wall and the image was in the other room!

The N801 had an image that was "larger than life" (per my wife). She felt we didn't need that much presence in our living room (but she really liked it on a Chesky recording of Beethoven's 9th).

I felt the Thiel 2 2 had a lot more bass than the N804s, but was also a little bit brighter on sibilants (e.g. Holly Cole-Tennessee Waltz).

I also felt there was more grain to the Thiel 2 2, and the N80x had better detail.

I've heard that the 2.3 has better detail, and a smoother top end, but other than a brief listen to them in a showroom during a business trip, I don't have access to them to put them through their paces.

I also briefly heard the CS6 on the same trip, but the 2.3 and 6 were in different rooms, on different electronics. At that time I decided the 2.3 wasn't good enough. But hearing the 2 2 on solid electronics makes me think I undervalued the 2.3 (as I did the 2 2).

Can anybody else compare/contrast the CS6 and CS2.3?

Thanks

foreverhifi2000:

Yes, I suppose you are correct. Unfortunately, the "AK" in Akaddict is Alaska, and we just don't have many listening choices up here. I've been trying to triangulate by comparing elements that I do know. Also, it'll cost as much as $500 to get a big speaker up here - I'd rather buy music instead of minor performance changes. So I gather as many data points as I can from nice thoughtful people like the Inmates, then leap blindly into a new solution.