Thiel Owners

I have been lurking for a few years now, but willing to be more visible now. I live in Lexington, KY just around the corner from Rob G. Started my audiophile interest with Kef 104 Reference speakers, purchased in 1974 from my first summer job. Believed that I had great speakers, until I met my girl friend, who had the Thiel 02 bookshelf speakers, that had less bass but better and clearer upper range sound. Since being together, we have had the cs 3.5 for about 15 years, and recently I purchased another set, since I have become so attached to them. Easy to drive, I have Bryston 3B-ST for a large listening space, 30 by 30 with sloped ceiling up to 18 ft. My source is now primarily streaming through Bluesound Node 2, listening to Tidal. So convenient and nothing beats the selection. Skipped a pre-amp and directly connected to the power amp. My second set of Thiel speakers are located at a smaller space, primarily listening at night. Amp is Transcendent Sound, single ended OTR, only 4 Watt, but perfectly adequate. As I value my hearing, never listen louder than 80 db, often 60-70 db. Lost my ability to hear higher tones, above 12K Hz, but still can easily discern lower tones, down to 20 Hz. My musical interest ranges and includes blues, folk, bluegrass, classic, jazz and some rock. The Thiel cs 3.5 are well suited for my taste. Had to have both equalizers repaired and that made a big difference to have the equalizers back in the chain. Got to know Rob better, and had many temptations to upgrade, seeing all his museum pieces. Figured I would wait to find out what his update plans involved, but now understand from Tom's response, that may not be the case? Anyway, this can serve as my intro. Great threat.

Welcome! thielrulesThank You for the intro regarding your Audio journey. We all have a story to share. I think that you will find several owners of the 3.5 model here. This speaker still has quite a following. I am looking forward in reading more posts from you.Happy Listening!

Just for clarity, I think the CS3.5 is in many ways Jim's pure vision, especially the bass equalizer. I believe it to be a strong contender for an update / upgrade and I would be interested in addressing the crossover. However, I lack the chops and time to upgrade the equalizer, which would be required for system synergy, since in terms of sonic transparency, the EQ is already a performance limit. So many good ideas, so little time.

upgrade the equalizer, which would be required for system synergy

I might not even be able to *spell* "equalizer" . . . Is there potential harm to the balance by simply upgrading the caps and resistors on the XOs, keeping the layout as is? Keeping the same layout might preclude replacing the electrolytics with film caps but I imagine 30 year old 'lytics should be replaced if only with another 'lytic. I guess I'm wondering if there is a "partial" upgrade route for 3.5 owners that would replace aging caps and increase SQ at least a bit but without risking the balance with the bass equalizer.

Guys i  e-mailed Rob Gillum about the CS 3.7 crossovers and he told me it is still possible to order from him the latest crossovers if you want to upgrade first generation of CS 3.7s.