tomthiel
Thank You for running down Thiel Audio's driver evolution. I hope that you are well this Fall evening and having fun in Garage or Studio.
Happy Listening!
- ...
- 13233 posts total
@jafant you got it! And happy Friday to everyone :) |
JA - my news may sound like a skipping record, but from here it sounds good. The lab has only the SCS4s as the test mule due to tight space. Other models are in storage. I'm picking up a CS5i pair this month. The SCS4s have focused my efforts and increased productivity. The big, general lesson has been Jim's brilliance as a value engineer (in addition to his inventiveness.) A lot of funds can be spent on Thiel speaker upgrades to get very little musical upgrade and/or even sonic downgrade in some aspects. My task is to keep every ounce of Jim's solutions while adding qualitative upgrades at defensible cost. Real progress is being made. In particular, I have developed a hookup wire solution that keeps the solid simplicity of Thiel's traditional solid 18-2 in Teflon while further augmenting performance. This wire gig has been a very deep dive and the result adds high end air and ease as well as full range increase in clarity and dimensionality. Presently looking for a manufacturer willing to cope with its particulars. I'm filling my prototype iteration needs via hand-spinning with a shop-built contraption. Starting to hot-rod / repurpose an old-school spinning wheel to make first generation samples. This wire is also being tested in inductors, which may add value without the down-sides of foil coils. Stay tuned. Lots of capacitor round-robin has led to our own custom caps by Reliable. Trials have been definitive in favor of their 'segmented' (Multi-Cap) technology. The segment ratios represent new work. First small run for 4 pairs of SCS4s is expected next week for beta review by collaborators. The surface wavelaunch and port airflow technology keeps getting better. I'll get next generation samples this coming week for trials. Some cabinet stiffening schemes are getting mature. Both internal and external treatments will diminish chatter and raise vibrational frequencies to substantially reduce their impact. Later this month I'm looking forward to visiting a collaborator who has built a purpose-built listening room with my design input. We'll be tuning it and making future plans before the end of the year. It's been very slow going, but a corner has been turned and real goods and products are taking form. |
- 13233 posts total