Thiel Owners
Thanks for the feedback everybody. I really do appreciate it. I think that I’ll attempt to further isolate the problem by swapping the tweeters first and then the midrange drivers if the problem doesn’t move with the tweeters. I’ll share my results with everybody. Tomthiel’s response is encouraging. I actually think that I stumbled onto something rather unique with respect to the CS3s and my small acoustically treated room. I was actually able to tame the bass by not using the bass equalizer and adding another set of 4’ x 2’ absorption panels (1 on each side of the room) between the corner trap and the first sidewall absorption panel. After doing that, I was blown away. It’s sad but at least I got to re-realize how special Thiel speakers really are. To make matters worse, newer Thiel models don’t have a bass equalizer that I can remove and the impedance curve drops to 3 ohms on some of them, which might present additional problems for my tube amps. I believe that the CS3s are 88dB efficient and the impedance only drops to 4 ohms. Good luck tomthiel. I know that Thiel owners of the world are rooting for you. |
I think it not improper to point out that JA seems to hear what his measurements tell him. At 50" there is a midrange suck-out and some spikes. Notice that he wonders in print if that is what he is hearing.
Supposedly, Stereophile’s reviewers do not see the measurements until after their subjective evaluation but easy to imagine that JA might deviate from that when he does the evaluation *and* measurements. He does acknowledge, in this case, that the measured suckout is specific to his axis and distance. That said, it seems possible that JA *was* hearing with his measurements. Soundstage measures at 2 m. The CS2.4 has the flattest “listening window” of any speaker in their database (+/-2 dB from 33-20k). http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/measurements/thiel_cs24/ It’s plainly obvious that JA’s 50" distance is inadequate to characterize the frequency response of a Thiel. I suspect the waterfall plot would also be cleaner if taken at 2 m (it's already quite good, especially in the midrange where other, larger drivers continue to have energy after the music has stopped) https://www.stereophile.com/content/thiel-cs24-loudspeaker-measurements |
Thanks for the link, holco. I quite like the subjective reviews at hifi-advice. They do an exceptional job of comparing the DUT not only to competing products but also describe how the sound changes with different speakers, even cables. Here is their review of the VX-5 (the amp section of my AX-5 is a less powerful version of the VX-5). https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/review/analog-reviews/amplifier-reviews/ayre-vx-5-twenty/ |
Utrak, Check out all the absorption I have to use to tame the bass on my CS3.6s....panels and tubetraps. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6163 Jon |
