beetlemania

Responses from beetlemania

Thiel Owners
2024 is bringing some tangible fruition   @tomthiel Best wishes for 2024. I hope you are able to bring your sonic advances to a larger audience this year. I will testify to the notably improved sound quality via passive parts upgrades under you... 
Thiel Owners
 105 dB peaks (and quite a bit louder as well) are not all that uncommon during live performances (and I think that’s what we’re trying to replicate here).   I often bring earplugs to shows that I think will be loud. Makes my ears actually hurt... 
Thiel Owners
It’s super useful to know that unsound demands peaks of around 105 dB (think table saw volume). If you want to play many Thiel models that loudly, yes, you do need a moonrocket amp. You can also get there by using something like JBLs rather than T... 
Thiel Owners
Those 2.4s look to be in great shape, that’s a great price. But they also very likely have the FST-sourced crossovers. Would be good candidates for @tomthiel mods (Clarity caps, Mills MRA resistors, etc.).  
Thiel Owners
@jafant That Ayre uses Cardas wire so extensively is a clue that they source their copper from domestic sources, certainly not China. Charles Hansen was a huge fan of Cardas. And he posted at audioasylum regarding his experiences visiting speaker ... 
Thiel Owners
I used Cardas “chassis wire”. These are Litz stranded and ends *must* be tinned in a solder pot. Cardas can do this but they charge something like $5 per end - ouch! So, I bought a cheap solder pot. My entire project used Cardas solder (which is l... 
Thiel Owners
Can confirm that Cardas Audio has a pair of 3.7 although I don’t know if that’s the main speaker in their listening room. The person I spoke with was interested in my upgrade project and wants to be alerted to any upgrades that become available fo... 
Thiel Owners
I imagine Thiel having concentrated on hi fi product refinement rather than the tremendous investments and demands of addressing home theater. Not only would the state of the art have been stretched, but the internal workings of the company would... 
Thiel Owners
I share your bias @tomic601  If I win the lottery, probably go straight to Vandy 7 and MX-Rs. Until then, very happy with my modded 2.4s and AX-5. IME, gotta spend a lot of money to shore up the few weaknesses of my system. In fact, the most cost... 
Thiel Owners
The Wilson approach has certainly won the day   Could be argued their success is partly an artifact of their pricing. Here is Charles Hansen’s take on Fremer (and most of the audio press, by extension; from an audioasylum post): a) The more e... 
Thiel Owners
Re: Wilson Audio, IMO, their cabinets are some of the best out there although I’m not a fan of the drivers. I’ve heard MAXX, W/P 7 and 8, and Sasha. One thing they maybe do better than any any other I’ve heard is create a sense of hall space on li... 
Thiel Owners
1: Hang the crossover on the outside/back of the cabinet Interesting! That would have been useful when I was making all those comparisons. But I would still need binding posts for my Cardas spades. Oh, well, I ended my journey in a great place 🤗  
Is it good to upgrade the crossovers in your speakers?
I replaced *everything* in my Thiel CS2.4s except the cabinets and drivers. Sounds much better than original. But it was a lot of work and expense. And fraught with the possibility that I would screw it up. Important to match values of original pa... 
Thiel Owners
@improvedsound your revised inductor layout looks much better. Nice work. 
Thiel Owners
@improvedsound Wow, that outboard cabinet is really impressive! The attention to detail off the charts.  I see you put aluminum cooling fins on the bigger resistors. Tom had me try a similar cooling mechanism in my build. But it seemed to produce...