Thiel Owners

@tomthiel: Thanks for your replies to my questions back on 8-24. Sorry for this delayed follow-up, life is keeping my busy these days.

I’m by no means an expert on analog delay, having only read an article you can find by searching for ‘boss talk: I love analog delay’. The article describes the history and workings of analog guitar delay pedals based on bucket brigade device (BBD) integrated circuits. One currently available example is the Boss DM-2W which can manage adjustable delays up to 800 ms and can be had for a not overly-dear price of $150. 

However, analog delay pedals are prized for the distortion they add to the delayed signal, even after filtering mostly high-frequency noise, and that might seem to disqualify them for high-end audio applications. But clean filtering might be easier to attain for SBIR compensation because that involves isolating and delaying narrow-band, low-frequency signals –– not wide-band guitar tones. Maybe Jim worked out a design along these lines.

Worth repeating: This is unsupported speculation from a true non-expert.

Good to see you- ish_mail
Hope Tom can answer/provide assistance w/ your query.  Happy Listening!

ish - I would be speculating as well. I have heard that the SSs stay out of the digital domain, therefore accomplishing their requirements in analog, and probably doing it such as you suggest. I can offer no real insight. However, I am still looking to develop a qualified repair station for SmartSubs. I welcome any input from all of you.

Silvanik - Rob at Coherent Source Service does have a CS3.6 XO schematic which I developed from layouts. Rob determines how he shares that proprietary information. We are developing upgrades to address issues such as you mention. Electrolytic caps do drift and fail over time, and there are more sophisticated solutions available today, especially capacitors. I have bought a pair of 3.6s to put in queue behind the PP, 2 2 and 2.4 presently under development.

We have determined to replace all resistors with Mills MRA-12s at unity value for a stand-alone, cost-effective upgrade. However, further changes to layouts, foil coils and lower ESR caps may require tweaking those resistances at the time of further upgrade. The 3.6 work is scheduled in 2019.

tomthiel
Thank You for addressing ish_mail and silvanik's queries.
Hope you had a fun Labor Day Weekend.  

Happy Listening!

Guys I need a bit of unbiased advice. That may be a stretch here;)

Im considering upgrading my caps to SE spec on my CS2.4's. 

im sure the SE guys will jump in and say do it but before I do I'd like to hear your thoughts since there is a bit of risk doing this myself and I'm not sure what the benefits will be. 

First off I've never listened and thought - I need more clarity. I have thought need more mid bass. My understanding is frequency response doesn't change but clarity does. 

Ive never heard the SE's either. 

I can can get the parts for $400 bucks, assuming I do the work myself is this upgrade worth it?   Mind you I'm no expert with soldering and will need to YouTube how to solder to bring my skills up to speed.  I can solder two cables together or to a binding post, but I've never soldered to a board.