Thiel Owners


Guys-

I just scored a sweet pair of CS 2.4SE loudspeakers. Anyone else currently or previously owned this model?
Owners of the CS 2.4 or CS 2.7 are free to chime in as well. Thiel are excellent w/ both tubed or solid-state gear!

Keep me posted & Happy Listening!
128x128jafant
I've tried my 2.7s  without and then with the outriggers.They're located three feet from the wall on a carpet with a floor mat.  I played a variety of music, including several CDs with substantial bass with near-instantaneous bass impact, as well as with sustained bass.  I couldn't tell any difference between using the outriggers and just leaving the speakers on the carpet. 

Just my experience, YMMV.


I'd like to share my thoughts regarding spikes; I performed the investigations way-back which led to our incorporation of spikes in the CS3 in 1983. As Sandy said, the chief problem is recoil. The effects, however, depend greatly on the floor system and are generally more evident in odd ways.
On carpeted floors the speakers sway and those motion effects become quite significant at high frequencies. A firm carpet may exhibit little to no symptoms, but a foam pad or bouncy carpet may allow considerable movement. On the other hand, coupling to a bouncy / resonant floor may introduce greater problems than allowing the speaker to float on the carpet. Some floor systems can be stimulated into resonant modes by spike-coupled speakers. Those vibrations can often be felt via bare feet in the listening position, offering clues to what's going on.

The sonic effects seem to congregate around image stability. The subtle spatial cues that convey image specificity can be scrambled by a moving speaker. Vague imaging, especially front-to-back depth, can be caused by unstable speakers.
Early Thiel spikes , (up to at least 3.6) were 3-point, non adjustable - explicitly defining a plane of contact. Those spikes had 3 lengths for various tilt strategies to arrive at 3' launch point aimed at your seated ears. Later models adopted 4-corner adjustable spikes. Caution: if those 4 spikes are not very carefully adjusted, problems could result from the insecure foundation.

This afternoon I tested my 2.2s under development. My floor is glued 5/8 + 5/8 plywood on 2x12 joists on 16" centers. That's stiffer than many domestic floors. My covering is commercial (old ski-lodge) tight, hard rubber backed carpet squares. My spiked speakers transmitted a little more vibration to my bare feet. I sum to mono in my preamp and pan left or right speaker for comparison using self-recorded material - in this case Dana Cunningham's Dancing at the Gate - with lots of detail. The spiked speaker produced more subtlety, nuance, detail, complexity. Highest single notes sounded more dimensional and more ambience was apparent across the range, with bass decay remaining more musical for longer times.

The improvements could be reliably noted in my setup. These are the kinds of performance particulars which I hope to increase with upgrades. However, I must note that this incisive precision is not always appreciated. Many manufacturers purposely make cap bundles to spread out such transient information; and I suspect that many listeners would find the added detail to be a negative, especially with recordings that lack the spatial and ambient clues that add enjoyment when present.

To batmanfan's original question: outriggers will do more than plain spikes. And I don't know the configuration of the bottoms of his speakers. If they are flat like the 1.6s, then some kind of feet are almost certainly an advantage. (I have seen marbles set into the corner sockets.) Threaded feet allow more precise bearing. And if your floor is resonant, then some kind of isolator pad might help decouple from those resonances.

Have fun.Tom

warjarrett


I enjoyed reading your posts over on the SH forums site. Very informative thought sharing and writings. Hopefully, we can capture those Thiel owners on this thread. On the subject of coupling/decoupling our loudspeakers, Sound Anchors, are another option in addition to the excellent suggestions mentioned.


Happy Listening!

Thank you Warren, ronkent, jafant, brayeagle, prof and especially Warren and Tom for your thoughts. The insights here on this site coming from the forum members is incredible, and I always learn more than I ever think possible. I knew stability was one improvement from the feet but just reading about how that translates to sonic changes helps me understand the subtleties beyond what I believe my ears can discern.

Regarding the bottom of the 2.7s, they are indeed flat but my tile floor is not, so the right speaker is a little wobbly but the left speaker is fine. I put on the feet (atop isolation pucks) which has improved stability but because the sides of the speaker curve inward to the back, the rear feet are close together so the stability of the speaker is a concern of mine, especially since I live in earthquake-prone California! In fact, I was doing some dusting when I lost my balance and nearly knocked one of them over--which triggered a chain of thoughts about the sonic impact from changes to speaker stability and elevation. At this point, I think I might try to obtain a pair of outriggers to see how it impacts what I hear. If anything, it would improve the physical stability of the speakers--and that alone would be worth it to me.

By the way, I really enjoyed reading all the articles that members have forwarded here about the demise of Thiel Audio. Very interesting!

batmanfan


My pleasure to offer a possible solution to your initial query. The Panel is here for you anytime. Further, fans and owners of the CS 2.7 are experts on this loudspeaker's form/function.  This thread is an excellent read plus contains a plethora of information to take your system to the next performance level.


Happy Listening!