Thiel Owners

Let me chime in as some one with relatively recent experience with Clarity and CMR in particular, but not with Thiel rebuilds.

The CMRs are excellent caps. I honestly don’t know if they are better than the previous generation. I’ve swapped them out in my application and they sounded equally excellent.

What I have found in both cases (CMR and MR) is that Clarity caps above 5uF benefit from a small bypass copper cap. This was a suggestion passed onto me at DIYaudio by Speakerdoctor before he passed (RIP). Though he did not suggest it above a certain uF value, I have found this to be about the break point. Below this value, a bypass cap did not help, but above it certainly did.

Based on his suggestion I’ve used Audyn 0.1uF TrueCopper bypass caps, and they worked really well. Anyone who wants to ship me Jupiter caps instead please do so! :) I wish I could afford them.

Best,

E

@beetlemania

You have seen one of my obstacles ,
one possible option is 2 Solen 200uf 400v large
but the 400 is at the bottom of the board ,
Another is a Clarity TC 400uf 400v  very large .

I'm going to have to do a lot of measuring 
this project is going to take a lot longer than anticipated
as well as way over estimated budget ,
but after rehabbing 2 100 year old buildings with 5 apartments 
I'm used to being over on time and money .

Hey @vair68robert

Given the cap sizes you are talking about I'm assuming these are in low pass sections, and going to ground. The Solens, or their cheap brand, Axon, will be great choices, BUT, you must maintain the original ESR + R of that portion of the circuit or you may suffer unexpected impedance issues, which causes your amp to suffer, along with changing the crossover points.

Save the top-end caps for caps that are in series with the drivers.

Best,

E

Hello all, returning with an update on my 3.5 mids.  I received them back from Tom this week and was able to do an A/B test with the original mids, rebuilt by Rob, and the  Scanspeak 12W/8524G00 speaker, which has been floating around on the web as a suitable replacement for the original Scanspeak mids.  The replacements were in my 3.5's when I bought them, I was able to score the mids from a fellow Audiogon contributor and had Rob rebuild them.  Anyway, I wasn't expecting much of a difference, if all, simply because I don't consider my ear terribly critical. I replaced on of the mids, put my preamp on mono, and played some ZZ Top (I am originally from Texas, so....) and did a close up comparison as well as sitting position in my listening room.  I was surprised at the difference!  The original Scanspeak obviously worked better with the crossover, the difference being that the rebuilt original was much clearer and articulate, where the replacement was subdued sounding. So what I thought was an excellent listening experience before the replacement has turned into an exceptional one. I kid you not. So I would say this  particular Scanspeak ( Scanspeak 12W/8524G00) is not a good match for the original. I think Rob is recommending another one, and Tom may have something to say soon as well.  
Amplifier update, my last post was lamenting on the binding posts on my Yamaha M85 and Denon POA 1500.  I replaced the posts on the Denon to 5 way, and sold the Yamaha and bought a Denon POA 2200, which I now need to replace its binding posts as it used the exact same one as the Yamaha.  My only comment on replacing the bindings is I was scratching my head on what to use to replace the strip of metal between the old posts and the PCB.  Then I remembered I had some romex wire from my basement finish work, so I stripped sections of the solid copper wire and used it.  Worked perfectly.  

Rob and Erik - The 400uF electrolytic is in series feed to the midrange. Bummer.