Thiel Owners

Pieter - Higher voltage acts more like film-foil and sounds better. But the upper frequencies have far less power than bass, so difference is negligible. Also the 28uF is in the final station where voltage has been previously shunted to ground. Al in - take what you can get.

@pieper1973
The 250 V is not a “problem”. The OEM caps are only 100 V. But as @tomthiel explained, the higher voltage caps have thicker film which is desirable. So, a 250 V PUR would almost certainly sound way better than the OEM 100 V Solens or CYCs. But even better performance is possible with 400 V and 630 V versions. I heard an improvement with 250 V over 160 V CSAs on the woofer boards, and those are shunts, not direct feeds. It wasn’t a huge difference, and I told Tom I could understand a manufacturer going with the 160 V to meet a price point, but I was willing to pay for the improvement.

In my communications with Rob Gillum, he seemed lukewarm around my upgrade project. I suspect his stock is limited to SA at 630 V (I might be wrong!). One clue is that Thiel only built ~200 out of a planned 300 pairs of CS2.4 SE. Those SAs will certainly improve the sonics of the original CS2.4, even more so if you have boards sourced from FST with the CYC polyester caps. But a DIYer can do even better in 2022.

@tomthiel ,@beetlemania

Thank you.. 

tomthiel,

Excuse me if this has been asked as there are too many post in this discussion to read everyone. 

Regarding the CS2.7 are there any cap upgrades? If so what values?

Duramax - the 2.7 has been talked about informally. As the last of the True Thiel designs it is very mature and, unlike other products including the 1.6 and 3.7, XO manufacturer didn't go to China. Thiel made those in-house with traditional Thiel parts best-of-form parts. There are a couple of upgrade opportunities.

1: The midrange has a single 400uF electrolytic feed cap, which Jim would never have done. That cap can be replaced with by 4 @ 100uF high grade electrolytics. Or, I have designed a 100uF CSA 160 volt which will clarify the midrange but take more room than this layout will handle.

2: The tweeter feed has a 15uF + 1uF PP which can be replaced by a CSA or Purity 16uF to good advantage. That by itself would be the largest upgrade and lowest hanging fruit. There are also shunts to common in the tweeter circuit that would benefit in a small way. The 68uF electrolytic up to a CSA and the 1.5uF PP to a PUR.

However, the 2.7 is extremely refined for what it is, so it's way down the list for upgrading. I could get these components with my next CC R&D order, as well as the 2.4 caps that Pieter is asking about.