Thiel Owners

Hi Everybody,

About a year ago, I posted about a problem I was having with my Thiel CS 3.0s that had not been used for many years. The soundstage was off and it seemed to follow the speaker. It wasn’t obvious whether it was the crossover, midrange, or tweeter. Well, after a lot of help from Rob Gillum at Coherent Source Service, I was able to determine that it was the tweeter. I also verified that the 36-year-old crossover was in great shape and all of the caps were in spec.

The rest of my system now consists of a PS Audio PWD II w/bridge, Dodd battery tube preamp, and a Pass X150.8 amp, which replaced a pair of ASL Hurricane tube monoblocks. My acoustically treated room is small (11’ x 16’ x 10’) so I’m not using the bass equalizer. I also use REW room correction software. After installing the tweeter that Rob sent, I think that my CS3.0s sound amazing, especially considering the fact that they are 36 years old and 5 of the 6 drivers and the crossovers are original.

I also wanted to thank whoever brought up the OCOS speaker cables earlier. I have a 30-year-old triple run pair that I wouldn’t have considered using had it not been for this thread. I installed them and they are definitely better than the off-brand cables I was using. I guess that I’ll have to throw in the Magnan Vi interconnects next 😊

I was trying to find a pair of 2.4s but the 3.0s sound good enough for me for now.

Thanks again everybody,

utrak

utrak

glad to hear that your  3.0s are now back to full life, as they deserve.
I guess that Rob Gillum at Coherent Source Service is the only one that can provide the right spare parts nowadays. I purchased a full set of spare driver for my 3.6s because my intention is to keep these speakers lifetime, no other Jim Thiel in the view for the moment, he was not one among others, he was a unique talented engineer that we miss, a lot.
Luckily we still have Tom, his brother as part of living history of this amazing brand, thanks Tom being so active here, thanks Tom being so active here, your competence is great as your humility. Even if I gonna to buy another pair of top speakers in the next future, something based on trasmission line with 18" woofer Thiel will remain with me.

utrak

Good to see you here again. Thank You for the update and confirmation via Rob's help regarding your 3.0 loudspeakers. 36 years and going strong is incredible!

Happy Listening!

silvanik

Excellent advice. Good to see you again.

Happy Listening!

CS3 lovers - just saying that the CS3.5 is really a CS3 with more sophisticated drivers. Same concept, functionally same cabinet. Any future life we develop for the 3.5 will apply to the 3. We have a good midrange replacement candidate. A replacement tweeter will be easier to find. The woofers are battleships and repairable.

The real issue with the equalized sealed-box 3s is that the boosted bass can bottom the woofers, and also puts real strain on the midrange. I am working toward keeping the sealed bass as-is (unequalized) and augmenting with a subwoofer crossed over to match the natural second order bass roll-out. That frees the 3 drivers to operate in their natural range for lower distortion and longer life. I now have a pair of CS3.5s, and they really are quite good, especially for 1983 (CS3) and 1985 (CS3.5).