Thiel Owners

Purity Capacitors

 " greater clarity in reproduction of sound as well as improved spatial separation of individual instruments and vocals. "

I copied this from the CC web site as I have been trying to think of how to describe the addition of a 1uf 400v  Purity capacitor on the tweeter positive output .

The clarity ( no pun intended ) and definition created a 3D sound that is beyond what I would have thought a single capacitor could create .  I feel that high notes that used to sound edgy , sharp and higher volume now sounds clear and same in volume levels .

I can't wait ( but have to because they haven't been released yet ) for the 1uf 630v cap for the midrange positive output .  I am also thinking about replacing the 1.5uf cap ( that I already upgraded from an ERSE to a CC ESA ) on the tweeter negative side with a Purity 250v .

I am having so much fun with my Thiel CS.5 but sometimes I feel the need for a bit more bass.

My room is rectangular shape (speakers on the short wall) with 2,42cm ceilings and a total area of 18sq meters.

The amp that I currently use is the Vincent SV237MK (250w/4ohms), famous for a well extended quality bass deliver. Although I have a REL Stampede 5 subwoofer, I never use it because I have always found that it mess the speakers natural voicing / balance.

Following general Thiel instructions I use the CS.5:

- resting on the 3 plastic cups (without spikes) on hard concrete floor

- grilles on

- straight, without toe-in

- distant from the boundaries, more or less where all my other speakers work well in my room (90cm from front wall, 76cm from side wall, 185cm between them, 278cm from speakers to listening position).

- good neutral to warm speaker cables, VanDamme LC-OFC 4mm or Straightwire Encore.

The imaging and tonality is better away from the front wall, and moving my chair closer to the speakers mess up the balance between the drivers... any suggestions?

vair68robert - Great to hear. Motivates me to replace the 1uf stock coax capacitors. The 250v would fit but not sure about the 800v on these CS2.4 crossovers. Figure that part would be reusable when doing the big crossover upgrade.

(Right now it’s stock PCB, SE kit, Mills Resistors)

audiiofilio123 - two thoughts come to mind. A: you like more bass than the CS.5 delivers or B: something is wrong.

Your room is appropriately sized and I'll presume your equipment is up to the task, with the caveat that the CS.5 has a low impedance requiring an amp that is comfortable driving 4 ohms. Insufficient current delivery can manifest as bass-starved. 

Thiel speakers are often considered bass-lean. Their tuning has a Quality Factor of .707 which we think provides the 'best' compromise between bass quantity and quality. However, the CS.5's target market was Home Theater and its Q target was '1' - providing a 3dB hump before roll-off. So, it has more apparent bass than Thiel's music models.

You might play the same-channel or combined mono into each speaker separately to ascertain they both have the same bass output. Let us know what you learn. That speaker punches way over its weight!

anzen

I looked at images of the 2.4 crossovers and it looks like they used Jantzen Superior Z caps which measure 17 x 43 mm for the 1uf 100v cap ,  The Clarity Purity measures 18 x 45 mm for the 1uf 250v . Maybe the 400v will fit but it doesn't look like the 630v or 800v will fit  .