I have had multiple pairs of Thiels including 2 pairs of CS5i's.
I have had a wealth of experience modding the Thiel and have found that the issue / reason that everyone wants a tube amp is the hardness that they exhibit. Knowing that the drivers in these are used by many other manufacturers without the hardness I decided to figure it out when I got my second set of CS5i's. Well it is NOT the drivers!
It is the styrene caps that they used everywhere. Styrene has good dielectric properties however they can sound hard and close to half of the 84 of the 1uf styrene's caps in the 5i's were loosely wound and spongy soft. Replacing then with the right flavor modern caps will transform ANY Thiel that is using the 1uf styrene caps that they used everywhere. I have my secret formula that several people are now using with raving results. I wound up buying hundreds of these so I could affordably recap all 4 of my 5i's and have a lot left.
PM me and i will give you a set and you can keep your SS amps. You can have your cake and eat it too.
On the thread subject there are only a few tube amps that will make the Thiels sing. I have a rare pair of MB Tube amps with 1 ohm taps that are incredible. I also have had the CAT JL2 monster and that does it as well.
I have had a wealth of experience modding the Thiel and have found that the issue / reason that everyone wants a tube amp is the hardness that they exhibit. Knowing that the drivers in these are used by many other manufacturers without the hardness I decided to figure it out when I got my second set of CS5i's. Well it is NOT the drivers!
It is the styrene caps that they used everywhere. Styrene has good dielectric properties however they can sound hard and close to half of the 84 of the 1uf styrene's caps in the 5i's were loosely wound and spongy soft. Replacing then with the right flavor modern caps will transform ANY Thiel that is using the 1uf styrene caps that they used everywhere. I have my secret formula that several people are now using with raving results. I wound up buying hundreds of these so I could affordably recap all 4 of my 5i's and have a lot left.
PM me and i will give you a set and you can keep your SS amps. You can have your cake and eat it too.
On the thread subject there are only a few tube amps that will make the Thiels sing. I have a rare pair of MB Tube amps with 1 ohm taps that are incredible. I also have had the CAT JL2 monster and that does it as well.