Thiel Owners

thank you Tom for the expert info!
Barnett

Hi again! While setting up a pair of SVS SB2000 subs in the listening room, of course I made a little playlist to examine the low end. This is how I found what might be the bass splat Tom described on 4/15 above. Somewhere I saw Boz Scaggs "Thanks to You" suggested and this audio example (recorded with my iphone) documents the noise coming from my right CS2.2 - no subwoofers, no left channel, from about 10 inches away. You can hear it at 8-11 seconds and again 22-24 seconds.

For reference, the Decibel X iphone app reported 60dB spl as measured 1 meter from the speaker during the splat. If I play it any softer, then the noise goes away and I never heard it on the left speaker. 

So now I'm interested in the XO solution when it becomes available, even though my normal listening never revealed this noise before. I guess now I'm suspicious. 

barnett, do you get the same sound if you switch the speaker wires so that you are now using the right speaker in place of the left speaker?

barnett - the sound in your recording is not the overload 'splat'. Your noise sounds like wire buzz or similar mechanical vibration. Something may be hitting the back of the woofer or passive radiator, or alternately, the surround of the passive radiator may have come loose. There is an interior surround identical to the external one. You can feel it by taking out the woofer or see it with a mirror.

Cheers.

Regarding the ’splat’ in general. The splat is the audible effect of a larger problem. Interaction of fields in the speaker system cause negative sonic effects at all volume levels - becoming worse as volume increases. Some have described the 2.2 as ’veiled’ and/or ’squishy’. Sorting out the internal field and propagation geometric issues lifts that veil and tightens up the squish, and the bass.

I observe two ’types’ of Thiel speakers: those with crossovers distant from the drivers (mainly woofers) and those with XOs in proximity. Those with distant XOs (think CS2.4 or 1.5 & 1.6 or 3.7 & 2.7) share a clean effortlessness that the close XO models don’t manage to attain.

I am developing various solutions short of outboarding the crossovers. Later passive radiators such as the 1.5 were removable, allowing the XO to be moved from behind the woofer to behind the PR. A new CS2.2 removable PR could address this issue. A removable cabinet bottom for repositioning an inboard XO may be feasible. Half the battle is identifying the problem. No end to the fun.