Thiel Owners

@tomthiel Thanks very much for your help!

JA - I don’t know what to say! That is quite a kludge. The WAMM became a pinnacle of audiophile extravaganza. It (Wilson Audio Modular Monitor) launched an enterprise that audio history will be chewing on for a long time.

My personal perspective is the degree of difference between Wilson and Thiel, along with the huge success that Wilson achieved / and continues to achieve. Whereas Thiel spent considerable energy containing costs, shaving margins, internalizing capability, and working toward balance of all aspects of sound reproduction, Wilson embraced filling an affluent market niche where higher price was a fundamental advantage and some performance aspects could be ignored. Jim was especially flabbergasted how ’the market’ could forgive the WATT’s 0.33 ohm highly reactive impedance at 2kHz.

I have a vivid memory from the mid 80s when I attended Wilson’s introduction of their first generation WATT (Wilson Audio Tiny Tot), before Puppy came out. That opening demonstration was illuminating in so many ways. The Corian cabinets with lead damping were impressively inert. The sound was nowhere near flat - and the assembled audience was so avidly enthusiastic. David Wilson’s presentation included justification of the $5000+/pair price ($12K today) in terms of cost, including "more than $250 / cabinet for just the machining of the mineral loaded polymer baffle." Since I knew the material, I would have been embarrassed to claim $5 machining cost. And so on and so forth.

I’m not chewing sour grapes, merely expressing my personal astonishment of how the brand was embraced from the outset and over the ensuing decades. A NYC dealer once told me that "someone with a half million $ to spend needs to find a half million $ product." Another regaled me regarding how Wilson had done everything right.

Thanks for the question. I am reminded that we ordinary folks live in a very different world than some others. And there may be more of them than us judging by the direction the market has taken toward extremely expensive offerings. I might add that, with the exception of happenstance convention and dealer showroom sightings, I have never actually experienced Wilson music playback. Perhaps it’s wonderful beyond words, and I’m merely expressing my lack of sophistication.

For the love of music.

In case anyone is interested TMR is listing an Amberwood pair of CS 3.6 speakers for $1399 + $399 shipping - serial# 1241; 1242 ... condition listed as 7 out of 10.

Tom, Thanks again for providing this forum for Thiel-philes! The schematic I found some time ago that says its for the 03A does have LF347 op amp(s) in it, so it must not be yours. Could you please provide the correct historical schematic for the 03a and/or any of the series you mentioned as equivalent?

petaluman - I can't be of much practical help other than referring you to Rob Gillum at Coherent Source Service. If the 03a schematic exists, he would have it. There is an aftermarket op-amp EQ called the 'golden flute' in a brass tube. Here's a little context.

The 01 series had a 30Hz EQ for which I don't remember the topology, but I doubt we used op amps. The 03 was 'improved' and also different in that it was a combination ported box with optional EQ. The 03a was sealed and its 'improved further' EQ came with the package. I do know that the CS3 is discrete with all film caps, etc. but may have caps in the signal path. (I have a unit, but no schematic.) The CS3.5 EQ is all discrete, all polystyrene caps (except for the unregulated power supply), metal film resistors and direct coupled - no caps in the signal path. That unit is presently being upgraded. Now upgrades for all obsolete transistors are available and soon there be will a significant upgrade. Still working on it.

So, in general, the EQ keeps getting better, but the only schematics I have are the original 3.5 and 3.5 Renaissance in process.

As I've mentioned, the woofer / enclosure parameters are conceptually similar for the 03a, CS3 and 3.5, but not for the 03 due to its ported bass. Let us know what RG says.

For the record, JAFANT provides this forum for which I am grateful for this way to share insider information among us.