Thiel Owners

tomthiel

Over on US Audiomart there is a pair of CS 2.4SE with S/N #217/218.

Located in central Florida. I wonder if the full production met 150 pairs ?

Happy Listening!

@jafant Yes, the planned run was 150 pairs but Tom Thiel shared with me that Rob Gillum reported closer to 100 pairs sold. That Mr. Gillum still had SE kits when he started CSS seems to corroborate less than the full planned production. Still, I thought you and I had some of the last pairs built. I guess not!
 

That pair on Audiomart looks to be in better shape than mine although the resolution of the pics leaves something to be desired. That’s a pretty good price although the buyer might want to refresh the electrolytics if not replace the entirety of what is probably FST crossovers. 

J - thanks for the lead. My purchases are on hold until I find a new workplace; unless, of course, something drops into my lap. I don’t really know the SE status - here’s what I think I know: The 2.4SE was introduced in 2008, which is about a year before Jim’s death after battling cancer about 5 years. So, it is a personal swan-song at some level. When I picked up with Rob around 2018 when New Thiel was going out of business, I believe about 100 pairs had been sold. One thing I would like to find out is whether those SE crossovers were executed in Lexington style or not. The few SE-type upgrades that I have seen are modifications of FST crossovers with ClarityCap SA substitutions in the coax feed. Normal old-Thiel MO would include early SEs having been executed in classic Thiel style.

Since the SAs are now a few generations old and we can substantially upgrade the XO performance over the original SE edition, that leaves mainly the red birdseye maple cabinets and other cosmetic niceties. My fantasy collection would include one such pair of 2.4SEs with Renaissance outboard crossovers.

There is a pair of 3.6 speakers for sale near me and I'm curious how they would compare to my 2.3.  I had the 2.3s setup in my main system for a while, but when played at higher volumes, they were just too bright in my room.  They are now in my home office, where I don't listen loud and are perfect there. 

I've done some reading on the 3.6 and have found a couple of comments about those also being "bright".  I really like the Thiel sound, but can't do harsh high frequencies.  Also, if I do decide to buy them, are there any known issues I should check for?  Thanks in advance!

Thiel speakers, especially the older models, are the poster children for needing everything right in the chain before them (e.g. electronics, cables) as they tend to be less forgiving than some other brands (e.g. laid back British type speakers).  I've owned the 2.3s many moons ago.  Do yours have the original tweeters or the later (vented) ones they changed to (and I'm sure someone like Tom or Coherent Source Service would know)?  What is the rest of the system like electronics wise, cable wise and what about the room (size, treatments, etc.).  My friend also worked at a high end shop years back and I helped deliver many models.  The tweeters can sound bright if pushed hard.  

I've owned the 2.3s, 7.2s and now the 3.7s.  I find the 3.7s to be more forgiving.  The 7.2s were better than the 2.3s with regard to brightness as there was a crossover to a midrange at 1kHz before the crossover to the tweeter at 3KHz (and a crossover at 200Hz) vs. the 2.3s at 900Hz and 3kHz.