Thiel Owners

Unsound

Thank you for the advise but at the moment I would keep as vintage as possible. I'll read anyway previous post on this issue. 

Tomthiel

To recap, you and Rob are diggin' in to find a solution for both tweeter and midrange. Great! I am staying still patiently waiting for any news here!!! 
You are right, I played loud (very much loud) in clip mode for some seconds, my Accuphase maybe does not like going that low (ohms)....
Has anybody ever had issue with the woofer, you know yesterday looking at the speakers I though it was a shame that a so well maintained pair of speakers was not working, there is letterally no scratch, no dent, nothing... but looking better with no grille... the midrange (both), It was like they just came from a "desert storm" campaign, they look like they are very, very used, but also looking at the ads on ebay or so they are the like, just do not fit with the other speakers and the beautiful wooden/black speaker. 
My woofer instead is really, I believe, like it was in the 90's, shining, the foam intact... just thinking out loud 
I love these speakers and I do not want to think to move on something different... I listen to a lot of speaker weekly, and the only decent one I would pick are Kharma, Martin Logan, B&W (not many...) Sonus Faber.... whose price is 100 times more the 3.5..... 

Dino - you may know that I had axed the 3.5 from my original short list upgrade program because of driver availability problems. However, through this thread and other investigations, I sense that the 3.5, along with the 2.4 are the strongest candidates for an AfterLife. So, they are now on our (Rob and my) radar. Eventually we will have a complete solution for them. Crossover tweaking must wait for replacement drivers, since upgrading crossovers for unavailable drivers is a futile exercise. I suggest that you try to limp along for now and that we will have more good news later.

@tomthiel, updates for the 3.5’s is outstanding news. Bravo!

Tom thiel,
this is really great news for all this community forum, I will be happy to limp as long as it takes and yes crossover tweek after.
Question: do you plan then to get rid of the 3.5 bass eq or will it be part of the equation?

The 3.5 EQ will stay, since it is a vital part of that product. The sealed bass drops off about 100 Hz at 12dB / octave. That would blend very well with a subwoofer, but by itself is pretty bass-shy. The two position EQ extends to 40Hz and 20Hz, which is extraordinary - albeit amplitude must be reduced to avoid bottoming the woofer, which is why the EQ's bass was abandoned as digital sound-tracks came into vogue. In due time I will be addressing the sound quality of the EQ unit. It's a good circuit but could benefit from better signal path components. There is also interest in a fully balanced pair.

I have settled on an order of go. In order to hone my chops, develop hardware and software solutions and walk before running, I have decided to address oldest products first. Their end-of-life is more immenent, and there is generally greater room for improvement than in newer, more advanced Thiel products. So, I am beginning with my prototype 02s. One version will use existing drivers and another will replace the drivers, which are obsolete. There will be cabinet and component upgrades. The 02 pre-dated any knowledge or availability of high purity wire or film capacitors. I will replace all XO components with appropriate best-of-form, keeping the 2nd order XO topology and port, but everything else being fair game. This project should come easier and faster than the more complex models. I hope some folks here will like this - I know I will like doing it. 1976 revisited.

Next will be the CS3/3.5. Since all the drivers need updating, it is likely that we can refit both CS3 (1983) and CS3.5 (1988) with identical drivers and very similar XOs. I'll skip the CS5 and take on the CS2.2 (1991) next. Those products should provide a good foundation for further models. 

There has been suggestions to call these updated models -R for Reissue or Resurrection, or -AL for AfterLife, or who knows what.

-cheers