Thoughts on Thiel SS2 Sub


Thinking about buying a Thiel SS2 sub. I've never had a chance to listen to one. Please share your thoughts on the SS2 Sub. My main speakers are Thiel CS 6. Thanks in advance!

chiefsteward1

@chiefsteward1 sorry for not responding to your DMs. I don't have that option enabled. SO I can't text people privately so I will send my thoughts hear. For that cost, yes you can get the Thiel sub and subwoofers sounding boomy have mostly the room to blame as you can't escape room mode peaks and nulls. that is just physics

One of the big things you're getting with Thiel is excellent drivers if Thiel made them in-house.  I bought a pair of viewpoints that got destroyed in shipping.  I tried to fix them but their was something wrong with the crossover in one.  I had the coaxial driver out and it had a very powerful neodymium magnet that kept trying to snatch the wrench away from me.  I'm guessing their are very few manufacturers that have that powerful of a motor.  I'd be tempted to buy the Thiel sub even knowing the electronics are probably nearing end of life.  DSP and watts are so cheap now, when the electronics go you can probably hook a class-D amp and MiniDSP or similar up and come close to the original sound.  

chiefsteward1

How big is your room? The reason I ask, I have the Thiel CS6's as well as a pair of the Thiel SS2 and a Thiel SI 1 Integrator. I tried using the SS2's with the CS6's and ended up with an excessive amount of upper to midbass energy. This was of course using the SI 1 in Augment mode where none of the bass signal was being cut from the main speakers. When I connected the SI 1 for Crossover mode I had to adjust the cut off frequency up to around 75hz just to tame all that energy.

Keep in mind that these were placed in a haphazardly way and no where near optimized for the room but you knew just a soon as you heard it that something was not right, might be awesome for home theater guys.

But I can say with them in the same location and a pair of Thiel PCS in crossover mode they sound awesome. I have the PCS's placed right beside the CS6's and I actually had to take the cut-off frequency to below the low frequency limit of the PCS's to get them to sound correct, like down to 50hz. Yes I know that's essentially Augment mode but I already had it connected in Crossover mode and didn't want to rewire everything. 

If you happen to live around the DC area we could work out a time frame for a listening secession and I could bring a sub or two for a sampling.