Thiel Owners

Hi Tom,

The other part of the equation with respect to the CS2.3 vs. CS2.4 is evaluating with our listening test.  Personally, I don't know if the difference as reported is due to the baffle "edge".  The difference could may as well be the xovers, bass driver and so on ...

Fellow Thiel-ers.  RE: 3.5's and amplifiers.  Just a post for whatever it means to you.  I've replaced a series of SS amps with a pristine used VTL ST-85 (paired with a Counterpoint SA-1000 preamp and a Counterpoint SA-2 headamp.  Magic!

This amp is much better than the Audio Research D90b I used to use with these speakers (before the SS's.)  The 85 is optimized for 5 ohms, exactly what the 3.5 needs (impedance 4 ohms to 6 ohms over most of its range.)  The amp is rated and delivers 85wpc at that impedance, and has an absolutely flat power response down to 20hz according to the QC chart that came with mine.  Bass of course is not equal to the SS's, being less controlling and tight.  But oh my, the naturalness and 3D of these pieces even with less than optimum speaker environment is superb.  And the power is sufficient to have normal listening levels in the next room when I am working at my computer.

BTW, the VTL also sounds superb with my 2 2's which are even more transparent, but I was expecting that.  It is with the supposedly power hungry and "veiled" 3.5's that the surprise happened.   As I sa id, make of it what you will.

Absolute phase (polarity) more noticeable through Thiel speakers. Thoughts??

My VTL preamp has a “phase” switch on the remote. I never heard much of a difference with previous speakers, but on my 3.7s the difference can be quite striking...

I've never been certain how the 2.4 steel frame grille plate affects the diffraction 'problem' as it tightly surrounds the coax with 3 cuts at about 20 degrees, 0 (vertical), and 30 deg.  But the steel still presents as an edge, a discontinuity, for the coax wavefront.  It is just closer to the coax than the baffle edge when the grilles are off.  If you removed the grille cloth off the steel frame, it would more-clearly visibly *appear* to be problematic wrt 90 degree discontinuities closely around the coax.

I'm happy to entertain the soundstaging differences are from something unrelated to the baffle differences, which appear to be such an obvious contributor.  I've had my 2.3 coaxes in my 2.4s for extended periods waiting for replacement 2.4 coaxes, but beyond an interesting change of frequency balance, couldn't discern any soundstaging differences...