Thiel Owners

boutique signal-path caps

This strikes me as denigrating language, BTW. At best, it implies stylish or luxurious, having nothing to do with SQ. Probably I'm nit-picking but wouldn't it be more sensible to call them "audiophile-grade" or "high performance" instead?

bou·tiquebo͞oˈtēk/noun

1. a business that serves a sophisticated or specialized clientele.

beetlemania-

not at all. You may want to reach out and touch Dave Garretson
dgarretson here. He is our resident Clarity Cap OEM expert and can further advance the differences between OEM, SA and ESA film caps.

Happy Listening!

Yes, I’m just nit-picking.
Merriam-Webster:

1 a : a small shop dealing in fashionable clothing or accessories b : a small shop within a large department store
2 : a small company that offers highly specialized services or products

IMO, different word choice would have made it clear that Thiel thought the Clarity Caps improved SQ rather than imply a mere esoteric nod to neurotic audiophiles. Jim Thiel’s words in the UltraAudio interview were plenty clear regarding improved SQ but "boutique capacitor" as a bullet in a promotional brochure? Not so much. YMMV.

Regardless, I’m thoroughly enjoying my CS2.4SEs, boutique or not! I will contact Rob Gillum or Dave Garretson at some point and see about boutiquing them even more ;^)

a response from Rob Gillum to a question i had asked him

The CS3.7 cabinet is pressurized from the woofer and it is true that if there is an air leak between the main cabinet and the coax chamber, it will cause unwanted pressure to the coax midrange. This can cause the midrange driver excursion to be greater, which in turn will cause the midrange to fail. To check for the leak, you can gently push in on the woofer and Passive diaphragms at the same time. This will pressurize the cabinet, and no movement should come from the coax midrange. The midrange diaphragm is connected to the coil former via 25 points of a special adhesive. If the CS3.7 is driven hard, then it is possible for the glue joints to break. If only a few break, then the end result is distortion. If many of the glue joints break, then the excursion will become great enough for the lead wires to the mid to break. This will render a dead mid.

When sealing the coax chamber, use a caulk containing silicone. Door and window. There are two pieces of tubing which carry the wires into the chamber. Make sure that the wire tubing is not leaking as well. At the factory, we injected some hotmelt into the tubes to seal the wires. Also make sure that the tubing is not leaking around the holes in the divider.