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Thiel CS3.6 with issues: take the chance?

I am considering purchasing some used CS3.6 from a dealer. I auditioned the speakers and it seemed to me that the drivers were all working fine. One of the passive radiators looked as if a cat had had a brief go at it with its claws -- maybe a dozen scratches, one or two amounting to a little gouge, but there were no obvious punctures. On audition, I noticed that one of the speakers -- the one with the scratched radiator -- seemed to have a lower gain than the other. Instruments seemed to be predominently coming from the other speaker (the amp being used had no balance control, so assume equal output to each speaker). This was especially noticeable with cymbals and voices, but overall balance was maybe 40/60 left/right. The salesperson confirmed my impression, and said they would look into seeing what was up. They report that they suspect a crossover issue, and that they do not want to chase it down and repair it themselves. Their tech is mostly in the field to do installations,and it is not worth it to them. They are offering me the speakers as-is for $900. I am pretty well lusting after them, but do not want to get them unless they can be put exactly right (in a way that I will confident of) for an amount of money I can live with. So I am asking advice,

Specifically,

1) Should I be concerned about the scratched passive radiator?
2) How many crossovers are there -- two in each speaker or one complex network in each? I imagine the former.
3) Would you trust a reputable speaker repair place to diagnose the problem and/or repair the complicated crossover?
4) Should I repair all crossovers if one of them needs repaired?
5) Should I have the service tech simply remove and send the crossover to Thiel for repair?
6) Is there anything else that might be the culprit here?

Please forgive my verbose questioning. I could tell from the audition that if these were made to work correctly, i would have found the speaker for me. I currently have CS 2 2's, and while I love them, the 3.6 has everything they do, but greater dynamic range and bass control, depth and most importantly authority.

Any help much appreciated.
rnm4

Showing 1 response by kacz

kacz
177 posts
 
They typically sell for $1200 or so. See some for $1000 on Audiomart right now. Seen them as cheap as $800 even.

Let me tell you about dealers. He very well knew about it, you think he didn't test it out and hear it? He did, it was just so small a difference he thought he could pass them on and hope you wouldn't notice. It's his job to test them and know what's going on. If it's an easy fix he'd have done it. It's not an easy fix.

And I don't care how much you love a dealer, I've seen plenty of them do some sleazy things, even though I used to think they were great people. Look at it this way, he knows what the bluebook is also, and it's obviously not worth it for him to fix. But he still needs to sell them. And he's barely giving you around bluebook anyway. Yeah what a swell guy and swell deal for you. REally not even a deal, just low bluebook. Most likely they really were not working and they did a cheap fix with cheap parts. Hence the sound difference. Know what's going to happen to them now? He's going to sell them to someone who didn't catch the difference. Really you bought that line about not having his tech fix them? That was a BS line you bought. He already knows what is wrong that is why his tech guy is not going to look at them. So still think he's a great guy? Yeah me neither.
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