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Taming bright Thiels

I have been attempting for months to find a way to tame the brightness on my 2.2's. Ended up with a crudely simple short-term solution after much tube and cable rolling and equipment fussing (System is Theta separates, ARC LS2b preamp, Rowland 1 amp, Harmonic Tech cables).
I experimented with taping thin material suspended in front of the midrange driver to produce roughly a couple decibels acoustical attenuation in the 1Khertz to 3khertz region from each channel. (I experimented with 1- and 2- ply tissue, cotton cloth, etc.)
What a magical difference. My wife immediately asked for a listening evening, something she hadn't done in over a year.
So I wrote to Thiel (many times) and asked if a low-value resistor wired in series with the midrange driver would have the same effect with less likelihood of side effects.
While they responded to every query promptly, they absolutely would not give any information on any possible modification of the speaker to attenuate its overly bright character.

Anyone attempted such a modification? Results? Caveats?
hug
pops
2,272 posts
 
Wow Hug, sounds like you've tried almost everything. I have 3.6's and they are bright only when the recording is. I'm using fairly warm electronics; Meridian digital, cj 14 with mullard tubes (warm and full), and classe amp - but using all silver ic's (kimber) and goertz (copper) speaker cables. My listening room is also on the damped side. I know Thiels need alot of room behind and to the sides and no toe in will also disperse the stage some and tame some brightness ... thiel recomends no toe in. Good luck...
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
WOW Pops, guess a young punk like myself can learn something new everyday :) I was unaware that it was possible to make Theils sound good ;)

~Tim
islandflyfisher
94 posts
 
Hug:

I've owned 22's for almost five years and did find them on the bright side until I changed my front end. Currently using the CAL Alpha/Delta with Mullard tubes. My preamp is a Jeff Rowland, with old Parasound Amps. I'm using Straightwire Maestro's interconnects and speaker cables. I've used MIT in the past and both kept my highs smooth and warm with no hint of brightness unless the recording was terrible. Also, have you isolated your DAC? If not, by doing so can make a world of difference.
phil123
54 posts
 
Why try and make a piece of equipment something it is not? I do not care for Thiels myself, there are others who do. From your description it sounds like you do not like the basic sound of the speaker. Blocking out part of the sound to make it tolerable certainly doesn't seem like the way to go. Why would you want a piece of equipment you can't enjoy no matter what other virtues it seems to have? To me it would make more sense to write off the speakers as a mistake for your listening tastes. Sell them and get something more enjoyable to you. Don't try and use your whole system as a tone control for speakers you probably won't enjoy anyway.
jameswei
883 posts
 
I have a pair of 3.6's and they sound fine. I have auditioned the 2.2's and agree that they sound much brighter. At the risk of tarnishing the signal path, I would suggest getting an equalizer. Purists would eschew this, but a good quality equalizer can keep the tone components out of the circuit when the controls are set to flat. Only the bands you need to modify will be in the circuit. Unfortunately, you can't avoid having an extra set of interconnections. Audio Control is an established name with a range of equalizer products. I have a Rane ME60 in one of my systems -- it's got good build quality and more, narrower frequency adjustment bands.
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