Thiel Owners

jon - Thiel kept quiet about their Chinese sourcing. The Home Theater products has FST parts, then entire boards from the mid 1990s. As far as I know, the MCS was always FST boards. 

Prof - my notes indicate there were about 1000 pair of 3.7s and 1500 pair of 2.7s sold. I'll comment further when I find time.

Jafant, Tom Thiel, et al.

Thought the following might be interesting.

I purchased my CS 2.4 speakers from Audio Consultants in April of 2011. They were a pre-owned pair (serial# 2951, 2952) and at time of purchase there were 5 years left on the transferable 10 year warranty.

Following are links to five Thiel CS 2.4 reviews (all rave reviews by the way) in more or less chronological order. Where discernable, I’ve listed the serial numbers related to each review.

Soundstage Nov 2003 – Marc Mickelson … Serial Number N/A

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/revequip/thiel_cs24.htm#:~:text=The%20Thiel%20CS2.,all%20the%20while%20the%20CS2.&text=4%20is%20certainly%20one%20of,art%20offering%20(Thiel’s%20own%20CS7.

6 Moons Jan 2004 – John Potis … Serial Numbers 903, 904

https://6moons.com/audioreviews/thiel/2.4.html#:~:text=The%20CS%202.4%20is%20nominally,to%20400%20watts%20are%20recommended.&text=Thiel%20was%20kind%20enough%20to,already%20shipped%20with%20substantial%20spikes.

Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity Jul 2004 – Jon E Johnson, Jr … Serial Numbers 413, 414

https://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_3/thiel-cs-24-speakers-7-2003.html

Stereophile Nov 2005 – Wes Phillips … Serial Numbers 1991, 1992

https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/1105thiel/index.html

Audio Perfectionist Journal #13 2005 – Shane Buettner … Serial Number N/A

https://www.vandersteen.com/media/files/APJ%20Files/APJ13_Proof.pdf

(note that review begins on page 19)

1500 pair of 2.7s !  

My speakers are #'s 329 & 330  ,  the prof's pair are around that # 
and so far I haven't read of any serial #'s any higher from 
Thiel owners responding on this thread .

 

Tom, your post suggests all SE versions are FST. On the ‘net, I found a pic of an SE crossover that looks Lex-ish (but with the Clarity SAs) and a video of Gary Dayton showing an SE crossover that looks neither Lex or FST. I suppose there are one or two prototype SEs with Lex boards?

I wonder if the quality of the FSTs slipped over the years. Perhaps they started as “Lex equivalent” but downgraded parts quality with time? I imagine all FSTs are on printed circuit boards but perhaps they initially used MKP caps and had better quality coils. The seller of my SEs claimed they were built in 2012, which is credible given the late serial numbers. That is 3 years after JT passed and the year Thiel Audio was sold. Maybe the downgrade in parts quality is restricted to late pairs?
Regardless, the CS2.4 has superb drivers and a quality cabinet. In my experience, a crossover upgrade yields a speaker that is near SOTA other than bass extension and definition. That’s the best you can ask for anywhere near this price level.