Thiel Owners

biannuzzi22

Good to see you here again.  Stay tuned until one of our CS 2.3 experts chimes in to address your query.  Was the upgraded double-magnet an option from Thiel?

Or, did someone else modify the Coax?   Very cool either way.

Happy Listening!

biannuzzi22 - I'm not a 2.3 expert, but I might shed some historic light around it.

The CS2.3 was the first-generation Thiel-designed coax. The 1990 SCS used a stock ScanSpeak 6.5" coax which solved Thiel's fundamental problem of working properly only for a seated listener 8' or more away. The coax upper driver was then applied to higher priced Thiels. By 1996 enough experience had been gained to produce a cost-effective coax. The model 2 was the chosen platform because its use in rooms smaller than for the model 3 and up made the model 2 a good candidate. Note, the model 1 never got a coax for cost reasons. The brainstorm was to create a mechanical crossover between the voice coil and midrange cone based on resilience/ viscosity to decouple the midrange cone from the directly driven tweeter dome - in just the right way. The product could only be created because we were prototyping all our drivers in-house by that time. It took more than a year of iteration to get it right. It worked, but with shortcomings that Jim addressed in the subsequent 2003 CS2.4. The 2.4 is considered the sweet spot of that design.

The bucking magnet was added in 2001, #4567 to manage the home theater use near televisions. The 2.3 coax was less expensive to produce than the 2.4, so it continued its career in the PCS and MCS models.

Jim continued work on the wrinkles of the mechanical coupling and had hoped to use an improved version in the CS7.3. A major element of that driver is the obviation of any electronic crossover between the midrange and tweeter. The joint crossover is devised to drive one electrical motor with compound mechanical elements covering the combined range.

Note: both the woofer and coax crossover sections are quite different between the models implying significant differences between the drivers. They are not interchangeable between the models. Your 2.3s are what they are. Any differences from the 2.4 would be speculation on my part. I have 2.4s and can't believe the wonderful sound quality for the price. That niche was in the DNA of the model 2 from the start.

Tom, thank you for your feedback, I’m disabled so I have some trouble getting the wires hooked to the bottom. Though once done, it won’t be a problem. We are still unpacking, and my music room is the last to get setup, so I’ll report back on banana plug connections. I have large spades now, and bananas on both ends will make hooking up, or changing wire easier, and per your report, sonically superior. 
 

kheine - Clearance is tight enough under the cabinet that some banana plugs are too long to fit. There are 45° locking banana plugs that solve that problem. Send me a PM if you wish.

tomthiel

Thank You for comparing models CS 2.3 vs. CS 2.4.  Very informative, as always.

Happy Listening!