tomthiel

Responses from tomthiel

Thiel speaker model range
@kingloff - I suggest you ask this question at the Audiogon Thiel Owners’ Forum and you’ll get a thorough answer.  
Thiel Owners
Pico  
Thiel Owners
DIY is different than manufacturing. From 1983 / CS3 onward, all our film caps were custom with a target and a tolerance window, not necessarily symmetrical. Our commitment quantities were in the range of 10,000 pieces spread over the product life... 
Thiel Owners
magnet7 - He is correct, that's 2.5% over target, which is OK.  
Thiel Owners
jafant - the pleasure is mine. Good work here, guy. magnet7 - my latest schematic (22dec'87) shows an 8uF (not 8.2) which had replaced the original 7uF spec.  
Thiel Owners
magnet7 - yes, that 8uF tweeter blocking cap is the best bang for the buck. Psychoacoustically, its function range in the midrange and treble is where our hearing is most sensitive.   
Thiel Owners
For those interested, the original 03 EQ was similar to the 01 as a fixed point boost at 30Hz, enabling the speaker's -3dB point at around 27Hz while maintaining 90dB sensitivity at 8 ohms (6 ohms minimum). Those early EQs had less sophisticated c... 
Thiel Owners
Jeff - my memory was unclear about the ported 03. Please confirm NO equalizer. BTW, it's great to know these speakers have given you joy for so long. They were made in our first garage shop on the little farm outside Lexington, about the time we ... 
Thiel Owners
Jeff - here's a lesson from Thiel history. All our products shared the same goals of flat frequency, phase, time, and dynamic response. The family signature is quite similar between models. Also, along the time-line, new technologies were invented... 
Thiel Owners
magnet7 - Others here might help you find your best brand fit. Here’s my broad input. Those woofer electrolytics are in shunt (shaping) resonance circuits which are the least sonically important. The Solen 1uF bypasses are very good. The styrene u... 
Thiel Owners
Some of the power resistors can benefit from 25 watt versions, thus 2x12watt. This resistor thing was a short suit for Jim (in my opinion), since the compact layouts can only afford so much real estate. Modeling software can ID those candidates; s... 
Thiel Owners
Beetle - I looked extensively at thermal dynamics as a source of 'aural congestion', drifting crosspoints, etc. That's where the new layouts came from, which have all the resistors separated from caps as well as positioned over ventilation holes i... 
Thiel Owners
Adding to Beetle’s excellent summary, here’s a cheapskate trick for the Thiel resistors that you might keep. Turns out, a big part of those resistors’ ’sonic problem’ is the thermodynamics due to their mounting. They are non-inductive wire-wound ... 
Thiel Owners
@beetlemania re: " Curious if you have an opinion or knowledge about how to pair "main caps" if the full capacitance is not available in a single cap. Is it best to optimize balance between caps (eg, 7+7=14) or is there some degree of leeway (eg,... 
Thiel Owners
Rob - I can recommend the SonicCap from Sonic Craft that still has the old aspect ratio. Anything Sonic Craft carries has been carefully considered and chosen.