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

thieliste - while you’re waiting for hands-on experience to chime in, I can provide some history.

Early-on (1978 model 03) we discovered the deleterious effects of eddy currents, first in steel driver baskets and later in aluminum voice coil formers. Part of that exploration over the years included binding posts. Either in direct power transmission or the secondary effects of changing magnetic fields, back-currents are generated from reflections and discontinuities along and near the signal path. Best practice is to keep cross-sectional geometry and resistances as even and smooth as possible to avoid distortion. Thiel kept its plastic-capped binding posts a very long time, and reviewers consistently took pot-shots for their ’RadioShack cheapness’. Fact is they weren’t cheap, and they outperformed most bigger, bulkier, brass rigs.

Somewhere around the CS1.6, Thiel converted to big, brass, gold-plated posts to praise from reviewers. I haven’t directly compared their sound quality to the ’old style’, but I will. I did hear that Kathy deemed the change as more politically expedient than trying to educate reviewers, dealers and customers.

Note that some of the high end posts have plastic caps. Danny Richie of GR-Research invented and sells a tube connector for the reasons outlined above. Some amp companies tried and rejected big metal posts.

My recommendation is something with approximately similar cross-section and conductivity to your cables and/or internal speaker wiring to avoid electrical reflections and resulting eddy currents. Copper would be a plus. A disadvantage to gold is the typical nickel under-plating which many consider to sound bad. Simple, small and high conductivity are pluses of course.

Excellent Cabling discussion Guys.  Keep up the good work.

Happy Listening!

As many of you know, I've been on a wire odyssey this spring and summer. The goal is finalizing internal wire upgrade options. But prior to those trials I have compared my various component and speaker cables to assure myself that I have a neutral and articulate signal feeding the speakers. More on that as things progress. Tonight I'd like to report on the digital S/PDIF from the CD player (Philips CD80 gone through by Bill Thalmann) to the DAC (Benchmark DAC3B). My digital cable stable includes Audioquest, BAV, Benchmark, StraightWire and Morrow. I consider the Morrow a cut above, and the rest basically equivalents with subtly different sonic shadings.

The good news is a sample which Iconoclast sent to me which ups the ante. The cable costs around $30 and appreciably outperforms the others in my trials, which are admittedly less than the league of many of you. The winner is Belden 4694R cable made for ultra high definition (12GHz) video, using high purity copper clad in silver. It's available from Blue Jeans cable. I'd love to hear from any of you who know it and are willing to share your opinions about it.

tomthiel

 

Thank you for the Cabling update. Across the Audio forums, Belden, Blue Jeans and Morrow all have a strong following. Grover Huffman as well. Keep up the excellent R&D work!

 

Happy Listening!