Ever Have One Of Those Evenings?


Tonight, I went downstairs, turned on the system, and it sounded like crap. Within an hour I had:

>Discovered that one of my Thiel 2.2's has either a dead woofer (most likely), or a crossover or internal wiring problem. Testing to diagnose will commence tomorrow, tonight I'm too P.O.'ed.

>Additionally discovered that the tweeter on the other side is distorting badly, and will need the dome/voice-coil assembly replaced (again).

>Confirmed that my most costly set of interconnects has a bad jack connection (these are Harmonic Technology Magic Link Ones, which naturally feature a plug design that cannot easily be opened up for inspection or repairs without destroying the heat-shrink sleeve).

>Faced the distinct possibility that my futzing around behind the preamp trying to ascertain the culprit in the latter problem - without first turning down the volume - may well have been the cause of least one of the first two problems.

>Realized that now, not only can't I listen to my system the regular way, but since the OEM (non-standard) headphone amp output jack I got from Musical Fidelity's distributor to replace the faulty original in my X-Cans quickly developed the same exact problem as the old one (no right channel with either set of 'phones), I cannot even listen with my headphones for the time being, except through my CD-R recorder's wimpy monitoring jack.

Looks like I'm on a steady diet of cable movies and NPR for a while. (Way to go, Trent Lott: at least you'll be out-of-sight, out-of-mind by this time next week, you plastic-haired cretin - your plight is the one redeeming feature of my evening!)
zaikesman

Showing 11 responses by unsound

When it rains it pours. Sorry to hear of your plight. As you know you can count on Thiel to help alleviate your problems. Good luck.
Zaikesman, aren't your Thiels recommended for use with amps up to 250 watts into 8 ohms. Did you pump over 500 watts into their lower than 4 Ohm load?
Zaikesman, perhaps saying nothing might be prudent untill Thiel gives you their opinion .
BTW, I'm not suggesting that you mislead the good people at Thiel, especially saint Shari. I just wouldn't offer them anything unecessary.
Maxgain, you may be surprised to know that Thiel's latest offering includes electronic equalization though this time it's in the digital domain. As for me, I think Thiel's 3.5 was one of their best efforts, and that one came with an equalizer. Yes, the equalizer was discernable, yes it was the weakest part of the design, but, in the end the design was better for it. While it did add a burden to the amplification stage, it made for a better system over all. I for one hope that Thiel reconsiders the use of equalizers in future designs. IMHO, a sealed box with an equalizer is preferable to ports and passive radiators.
Sean, I agree with you re: sealed boxes sans equalization and extra size, how ever digital equalization may offer us a chance to "tune to the room" and do it with out the compromises that used to come the old fashioned analog way, what new compromises it adds is yet to be seen.
Zaikesman, yes it was the subwoofer that I was refering to. There has been rumous that Jim Thiel is considering many options for a furture state of the art project (read expensive) some of which include digital EQ, self powered and even omni directional.
Maxgain, yes there was a 5 (and 5i), it didn't use an equalizer but instead more drivers in a much bigger box as Sean suggested. The 5 was considerably more expensive. My favorite Thiels all seem to be sealed boxes.
Zaikesman, I hope I can count on you to share what ever you learn. Good luck.