Thiel Owners

A couple of thoughts regarding moving speakers closer together. One should be aware that as one moves the speakers closer together that you would also be moving the speakers closer to the listener. As such, it could affect driver integration. In order to preserve the time coherence that Jim Thiel worked so hard to achieve, a minimum of 8’ and preferably 10’ distance from speaker to listener needs to be maintained.
Also, as I previously touched upon, yyzsantabarbara is considering using DSP RC. In which case the opposite closer to wall placement could be advantageous. In fact. when using DSP RC not placing them directly besides the walls could trade one set of problems for another. Ideally speakers such as Thiel’s own powerpoints would be used with DSP RC.
Without DSP RC keeping the typical Thiel speakers well away from immediate reflections is most advantageous.

I was also surprised at the amount of content from China on the CS3.7. I thought they built the COAX in house but Rob mentioned something about getting shipment of drivers and why they have the black coated new ones. I did not ask more questions on that but that article makes it clear. As does the fact that it is laminate with a veneer.

I am also looking at an R2R DAC for the Thiel system and I have 2 Chinese made DACs at the top of the list. So I have no issue with audio gear from China. I want to get my bedroom headphone system rebuilt so I can use my Benchmark DAC3B or the second DAC for that.

The previous CS3.7 repairs were not done by a repair person. It was done by the previous (or first) owner. The dealer seems to have also opened up the COAX driver screws to have a look inside and had over torqued the screws to break the threads (just fixed by me).

At the moment I have the COAX drivers off and the woofers and other parts covered nicely for sanding, staining, or if I get brave, painting. As I mentioned before it is so much easier to carry the speaker with the COAX removed.

The cherry color I have is nice but I always wanted something a little more distinctive for the office. When I was considering the Paradigm Persona 3F I looked at the customer color configurator and came up with a few color combos that I liked. I use the grill at all times (my 4 year old has never seen the drivers).

https://design.paradigm.com/en/persona/customize
Carbon Black Gloss (saw this in person)
Burnt Orange (I loved the KEF Blade in orange)

My new neighbor has a beautiful matte brown colored Mercedes. I was think of painting the cherry to a matte black to perfectly match the top aluminum shell which has been recently spray painted by me. I think it may look good with the black grill on. Just thinking out loud at the moment.

@yyzsantabarbara,FWIW, I typically don’t care for black finished speakers, but for the very reasons you’ve suggested, I think the black finish could help disguise the harlequin effect the often 3.7’s present to my eyes.

@yyzsantabarbara  I'm also going to get a R2R DAC and the one on my shortlist for my Thiel rig is the Aqua Formula xHD v2.Check out Totaldac they make very analogue sounding R2R Dacs too.

@thieliste I know about those 2 DACs. I am looking at a bit lower cost, so the Halo Spring Level 3 and the Denafrips Terminator +.  If I were to spend over $10K (I won't for a DAC) I think it would be the non-R2R Mola Mola Tambaqui. I have spent $1580 on a new Benchmark DAC3B and I have no complaints other than needing a second DAC in the future.

I was also waiting on the new Luxman chip based DAC that is in their uber SACD player. The specs are amazing and the sound is supposed to be very analog. My main thing nowadays with electronics is that they have to be close to as quiet as my Benchmark HPA4 preamp. For me that makes all the difference in the world because I can hear the silence.

@unsound  That harlequin effect is beyond my brain power. I looked it up online but could not find anything about it. In University, I took a class on some subject that discussed  the following book,

https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Display-Quantitative-Information/dp/0961392142/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&...

There were some very interesting visualization issues described in that book. I still have that book and tried to look up the harlequin effect, no luck.