Thiel Owners

I loved hearing more detail on specifics of upgrades Tom and others? have been working on, very interesting, made me want to pull off one the passive radiators my self and have a look.

Wow Prof those 2.7's in birds eye maple are a fantastic deal,  I have a question. what others thought of cs6 and where they may differ from the 2.7 & 3.7 that I have and plan to keep forever. I found a pair on ebay link is below. or am I better off grabbing the 2.7 and run them with tube gear which will be different than how I have my existing 2.7 set up.

Thank you for your input.  Dan

https://www.ebay.com/itm/THIEL-CS6-Coherent-Source-3-Way-Speaker-in-Birds-Eye-Maple-Local-Pickup-Onl...

If you do not want to wait for the auction to end, the Thiel 2.7s are also listed on US Audiomart for $3495.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649470737-thiel-audio-cs-27-birdseye-maple-10k-msrp/

Has anyone compared between these two?  What would be the difference in sound between the CS2.4 and CS2.7?  They seem to have similar bass driver, but the mid and tweeter are completely different.

Dan, I don't have a buy recommendation, but I might add some perspective. The 2.7 is the newest design and shares the wavy plate coax with the 3.7 - which is Jim's world-class, swan-song breakthrough. A company could be built on that driver. That said, the 2.7 will move perhaps half the air of the 6 (anyone could do the math, I have not. Calculate comparative driver areas including the passive radiators). The 2.7 also shares the curved plywood walls of the 3.7.  It operates closer to the 3 more-so than previous model 2s.

The CS6 is larger and fills a larger space. I was told at the factory that Jim considered the 6 a better speaker in some ways than the 3.7. Thiel discontinued it for a leaner product line as they struggled to contain costs. The CS6 has fewer electrolytic caps and none in the signal path, and is on our upgrade radar before the 3.7 or 2.7. Rob Gillum would know if the particular serial numbers are the original 6 or the 6.1, and what changes were made. (And you could tell us those details.)

Happy Hunting.

dancastagna,

I'm a bit unclear about your post.  Do you mean you already have the 3.7s and 2.7s, and yet are contemplating buying yet another pair of 2.7s...or the CS6?   Do you mean you are running your current 2.7s with solid state and want to try Thiels with tubes, but in another system?

I've had the CS6 and the 2.7s (and 3.7s) so here is my perspective:

The CS6s are the larger speaker, and sound it.  They go deeper and are more weighty in the bass than the 2.7s and even the 3.7s.  And the bass is amazing on the CS6s - no other speaker had such weighty, dense yet controlled bass in my room, and only the 2.7s and 3.7s compared (the 3.7s being the most tonally controlled in the bass, but a bit lighter and less dense/punchy in the bass than my memory of the CS6).

The CS6 cast a very big and really well focused soundstage, with that particular image density that stuck in my mind for many years after, and it's one reason why I went back to Thiel.  

Though I'd say the 3.7s cast an even more impressive soundstage, and the 2.7s somewhat comparable to the CS6.   In terms of bass, the "center of gravity" moves upward somewhat in the 2.7 vs the CS6, similar to how it does compared to the 3.7s - more about mid-bass punch than low bass slam.

When certain orchestral climaxes occurred, or in songs with great bass dynamics, the CS6 could produce that "rolling bass under your feet" sensation more than the 2.7s can.

Tonally, the CS6s were ravishing on my CJ 140W/side tube amps, with excellent bass control.

My one real caveat with the CS6s is, as I've mentioned before in this thread, in ultimate terms they sounded a tad reductive, instruments sometimes not quite as big/full/rich sounding as can be had through other speakers. It would play out especially when, say, sax or oboe would play in to the higher registers.  Or far-mic'd instruments in an orchestra could be a bit more tiny and thin sounding.   

It sometimes felt I could perceive a slight suck-out in upper midrange, especially one that altered slightly with listening position, and it seems this was mentioned in John Atkinson's review and measurements as well, in Stereophile.

What I hear with the last coax design in the 3.7s/2.7s is a more refined midrange in terms of sheer coherency and richness.  I don't get any of that reductive quality and they sound perfectly coherent and even top to bottom. 

Still, if we are talking comparison of the 2.7 with the CS6, there are certainly things to be said in favour of the CS6.  The scale, depth and power of the sound for instance.  

If you already have the 2.7s and want more Thiel...it seems to me the CS6 could be a nice adventure to try something a little different.