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
You guys are on to something. I got a pair of 3.6s about 1.5 years ago and discovered the phenomenon you all are addressing. It barely, if at all, exists on the CS2.2 or 3.5, of great familiarity to me, and subsequently not very present on the CS1.5, 1.6, PowerPoint or 02. I have spent weeks, spread over months, learning about "tinsel", which I called "sizzle". My observations are anecdotal, but quite thoroughly studied and addressed. This sizzle has led me down a rabbit hole into a warren. I have teamed up with Douglas Pauley who has newly patented a technology to manage turbulent fluid flow - in this case air coupling to the room. Big story there, more later.
The sizzle problem revolves around the comparatively large flat area above the 3.6 tweeter, where the 3.5, for example, has none. With a manual or electronic stethoscope, I can hear the problem distinctly as sonic eddies skittling around that surface. One contributor is the mid-tweeter both driving the same frequencies from different physical positions and geometries. I can stimulate the sizzle most readily with female vocal. Yesterday I hung out all day with the Rhino collection of The Trio - Parton, Harris and Rondstadt. The 3.6s are at the north end of the room with the PowerPoints in the southeast corner and my 02 under development on a corner baffle in the same southeast corner. I switch speakers with knife switches to audition same cut, same equipment, same room at same time from the same listening position. The 3.6s are the worst offender by far.


Cascadesphil - my working hypothesis is that dry air and moist air couple and resolve the various forces differently - not a theory, but a hunch developed over the past year of experimentation. 

Grille cloth helps a little, but not much. My best solution has been pruned from bunches of ideas and materials, landing on UltraFine UltraSuede on F11 wool felt on the entire baffle. I haven't developed a meaningful measurement scheme, and such may be beyond my resources. I know through study that we're in esoteric territory. Another factor in play is the turbulent waveform launch from the drivers. Various technologies applied to driver bezels and faceplates aid in transforming that very turbulent launch flow into more laminar flow. Substantive improvements there.

There's much more to share, and I'll have some news to report very soon.
Prof - I want to thank you personally for cheering the 02s awhile back. Your enthusiasm caused me to get a few pairs which are now my primary workhorses for comparing solutions and making sense of upgrade package choices.

The stock 02 is surprisingly good. Plus, it is readily upgradeable via braced cabinets, XO components, etc. and the application of the laminar-launch baffles and work in process of the new port fluid-flow technologies. I recommend all of you find some. We'll have both DIY and home-based upgrade packages sometime this year. I have some as Christmas presents with stock drivers and crossovers, with modified baffles and grilles. What a treat to give, And BTW, they shine compared against some current market darlings. 
Tom

About your hunch concerning dry and moist air and sizzle sound ,
I have noticed that everything sounds smoother and sweeter when it's raining or high humidity, so you might be on to something .
I always suspected it had something to do with the transmission 
of electricity .

Tmsrdg - I don't have 3.7s, but there is some baffle flat. My 1.6s benefited from laminar launch baffle treatment.
" Cascadesphil - my working hypothesis is that dry air and moist air couple and resolve the various forces differently - not a theory, but a hunch developed over the past year of experimentation."

Tom - thanks.  I sort of figured it could be something like that.  After one session, where I had some issues, I actually grabbed my allen wrench to make sure the drivers were tight and they were.  For a bit it drove me a little crazy (and some would say that's not a far drive) and I went back to the video on how the 3.7s were made and was thinking about looking inside.  Then when I played the same stuff where I didn't notice a problem.

Back in early March of 2020, I had my AC units tuned up (as I usually do annually and I have two zones, one for a large bonus room upstairs and I go upstairs about once or so a week to move dust around and flush the toilet).  Bacteria gets attached to the area around the coils and they get cleaned with either wipes or Lysol.  I decided to put in the Patriot UV light (https://www.patriotiaq.com/#!/Patriot_UV) on the main zone (and my bedroom and the living area I use is on the main zone) at the time of the tune up.

Since then, I began to notice (don't know if it is coincidence) a couple of things.  I've been sleeping a drop better.  Also, I began to notice (at least a bit more) those anomalies with the 3.7s.  I probably noticed them before that but to me it seemed less that I chalked it up to perhaps my ears were dirty (I go to the ENT on average about every 10 months as my ear canals build up wax) at the time.