Thiel Owners

I’m worried you guys might be chasing something that doesn’t exist (a replacement 3.5 mid). Thiel told me that those drivers were no longer available years ago, so I had to have mine rebuilt by them. You might be better off looking into rebuilding the original drivers and forgetting about finding a replacement. Even if you find something close, it won’t be right. Even better would be to move to a different model. The 3.5, in my experience, did not sound good in the mids and highs anyway. The 3.5 is very old, and I would like to think that the later Thiel models have surpassed the 3.5 (that’s just a guess as I have only heard the 3.5s.).

The original 3.5’s mids had paper surrounds.

That is very interesting.  I remember my 3.5 mids having a really thin, flimsy surround that definitely did not appear to be rubber.  They seemed to have permanent krinkles in them.  That does not seem like a very good material for a surround, but what do I know.

@thosb thanks - I greatly enjoy this thread and the joyful spirit of music lovers helping each other get the most of of the various systems w Thiel speakers often as the centerpiece.

the most excellent and forthcoming person u got the 2.3 from assured me they had the upgraded double magnet drivers and crossover changes - he knew all about it.
that will be one thing I check IF I break them open....

having fun ...

@thosb. I will add some updated pictures of the vintage room... like most speakers that reside there, some tweaks and changes required to get best of them...
so far the Thiel require more toe in than the Apogee Stage, Vandersteen 1ci or the Quad ESL. The Nakagoka 110 can be a bit tipped up so I swapped in a Grado Ref Platinum last eve... that fixed that... finally my heavily modified Audionics CC2 solid state amp does a better job on the low end....

all fun

more photos later...

the Thiel require more toe in than the Apogee Stage, Vandersteen 1ci or the Quad ESL.

My Vandersteen Sig IIs sounded best with a bit of toe-in but I like the sound of my CS2.4s without any toe-in. I have them just under 8’ apart and sit ~9’ away.