CS2 Chapter in Thiel History
CS2 development began in 1984 after the game-changing introduction of the CS3 in 1983.
The CS3 was the 4th iteration of the model 3 – equalized sealed 10” 3-way with bass response to 20Hz. It demanded a fairly large room, robust woofer, and a midrange to cover 7 octaves including its long in and out ramps. The model 3 spent significant budget on those very capable midrange, woofer and the equalizer to take it low. Its right price was considerably higher than what Jim wanted to charge.
The model 4 filled smaller spaces with a bass limit in the mid 40s from a ported 6.5” two-way floor-stander. That format later became the CS1 series.
The company needed something for smaller rooms with less demanding bass at significantly lower cost than the CS3. The CS2 was born from those needs. From the beginning its identity included trimming costs without sacrificing performance beyond bass extension, which extended to 35Hz. In fact, its midrange could be cleaner than the CS3 since its crosspoint came in at 800Hz rather than the model 3’s 400Hz.
By this time we had established a strong working relationship with Vifa, who co-developed the 3.5” full-range driver for our midrange needs. Vifa and Jim also co-developed the woofer with some of his emerging motor geometries and techniques, even though it was still a conventional overhung design. A reflex woofer costs about half of a boosted sealed woofer because its low-frequency requirements stop at the port tuning.
In 1984 all cabinet work was still conventional tablesaw work along with our newly acquired inverted router. The CS3 baffle was being sculpted with hand tools, at considerable cost. We developed the routable CS2 grille board as a wave-guide and diffraction control mechanism with considerable success, at very low cost compared to the CS3 baffle. Later when we bonded the grille to the baffle with rubber tape, it became even more effective. The port was nearly free compared to the $ multi-hundred equalizer, which audiophiles wanted to be more transparent (and therefore expensive.) The CS2 load was a very resistive 6 ohms minimum, and moderate 87dB sensitivity, making it quite easy to drive. We focused our collective energies to cost-effectively producing this low-cost / nearly full range, coherent source for smaller spaces.
The introductory price was $1350/ pair against the CS3’s $1950. It met its market and sold consistently and well. Its 1991 replacement CS2.2 was driven by our developing CNC capability for a more sophisticated cabinet to support new driver technologies developed for the 1988 CS5.
The CS2 served as a sophisticated, elegant entry-level speaker for a broad audience. It sold about 7500 pairs over its 5 years, the most of any Thiel model.
