Thiel Owners

Thanks for all the information you share here, Tom!

Just to get on the right side of Thiele & Small, the term "critically damped" refers to a total system Q of .5, and "maximally flat" refers to the more commonly used .707 Butterworth configuration, which is slightly underdamped and is tuned to use a 3db hump in the bass response to lower the -3db point.

Thanks Unsound, your thinking makes sense to me.

Re bright Thiels, it was the one thing I didn't like when I first got my 2.3s, but it can be tamed.  For me it meant that each and every upgrade/improvement had address this, and room treatment amd arrangement (rack to the side wall), careful speaker placement (including height), speaker cables (AZ Holograph, thanks Eric Squires!), and Isoacoustic GAIAs all helped in different ways, the clincher was upgrading the digital source (went with bel canto 3.7).  All the while I was rolling tubes, and one thing I have learned to appreciate is being able to hear most (not all) of these little changes.  One reason I went for Thiels in the first place as a newbie audiophile was bc of their reputation to be very revealing of the signal, as TT mentions above.  I knew I'd be cycling through equipment cables etc and wanted good chances to be able to hear the differences.  Thiels have delivered!

You are correct - I didn't cross-check my rusty memory. The CS3.5 bass in its enclosure is 'critically damped' Q.5 for no bass hump, which some critics consider 'dry' or over-damped.

Also my apologies for my final statement of 'excellent in every way'. I meant that the bass configuration was optimized for performance in the phase, time and frequency domains. In particular the EQ'd sealed bass keeps the fundamentals in time with the upper harmonics, whereas reflex bass places the (reflex-supported) fundamentals a full cycle behind the rest of the signal. Lots of controversy around whether such bass coherence can be heard or matters. I'm among those who say it does 'to me'.

^I too have often (perhaps too often) gone on record record here on my strong preference for sealed boxes, not only for bass output, but for overall coherence as well.

Signal cables do make a huge difference from one brand to another with Thiel speakers at least in my experience with my 3.7s.

I have gone from Gryphon VIP IC and SC to Cardas Clear Beyond IC and SC.

The difference is night and day, Clear Beyond cables are in a league of it's own.

The synergy with my 3.7s is mind blowing, never heard such level of weight and clarity in the bass region before.

Musicality is second to none, same with depth, soundstage, air, texture and so on.

Best cables i've ever heard to date by a wide margin and i can even say best component upgrade i've ever done in my life.