Thiel 2.3 vs 2.4 the real difference

2.3s started production in early '98 and the woofer was changed after about 400 units were built. The coax driver was changed (small tweaks to reduce resonances and a peak) sometime in 2000, along with a crossover modification to accomodate this. Both these changes are user-upgradeable, though many (most?) of the 2.3s out there came from the factory this way.

The 2.4 coax is quite a bit different than either the original or newer 2.3 coax (or PCS coax for that matter): more open basket due to a much smaller, more powerful magnet structure yielding more power handling and the more open-sounding mids. Apparently more attention paid to further reducing cone resonances, though it looks identical to the 2.3 from outside. Thiel won't allow any 2.4 coaxes to be installed in 2.3s, the 2.4 crossover is set up specifically for the 2.4's new drivers. Though one would think a 2.4 woofer, coax and crossover in a 2.3 would get you 90% of the way to a 2.4...

As I typed, I had both Thiels, side by side, in my room and the 2.3 is already 90% of a 2.4. Maybe 98%. Few people really do side by side listening. We all know how erratic sound memory can be when the element of time is involved.

Tim McTeague

Tim, care to tell us a little about the Linkwitz Orions?

Tim, from my original post with the 2.3 and 2.4 side-by-side for hours I suggested they *were* very close, with the 2.4 doing just a couple things a bit better. Depending on what's important to you and the subjective metric of "%", yeah, the 2.3 is 90+% of the 2.4.

My last post was saying that of the 2.4's ~10% improvement, you might be able to make up 90% of that 10% difference with 2.4 drivers and xover in a 2.3, the balance being their tweaks to the oval passive radiator tuning and enclosure (external & internal).

Like yourself though, I'll probably move to an entirely different speaker brand eventually when (if) I feel a need to replace the 2.3s...

In my own personal experience, side by side testing is sometimes not revealing of differences, unless you have first spent quite a bit of time listening to each of them on it's own. I don't know why. I assume it's because your ear somehow learns the character of each of the different speakers. It sounds like you have done that though.
Art