Advertisement
Quick Links
Product Review – Thiel CS2.4 Floor-Standing
Speakers – July, 2003
Introduction
Thiel Audio is a medium sized speaker
manufacturer, co-owned by Jim Thiel,
who is Chief Engineer and CFO, and
Kathy Gornik, who is President and
Marketing
Director.
Lexington, Kentucky, the company is 25
years old and has garnered many
awards for their various models.
The Design
This is our first review of Thiel speakers,
with the newly released model CS2.4.
They are a floor-standing speaker, with
a tweeter and midrange driver that
share the same voice coil.
This results in a coincident sound for
the highs and mids, meaning that they
are coming from the same spot on the
enclosure. It is a technology developed
in 1997 for the CS2.3s, and has also
been used in their PCS and MCS1
speakers. The version in the CS2.4 is
improved over the one in the CS2.3.
The photo below shows a close-up of
the tweeter/mid driver. The center 1" is
the tweeter, with a small black rubber
surround, then the midrange driver, and
its surround. The crossover between the
midrange and tweeter is mechanical
rather than having capacitors and
inductors in the signal path.
The woofer is 8" in diameter, and below
this is a 7 1/2" x 11" passive radiator. All
the drivers use metal cones.
Located
in
1
Electrical crossover between the woofer
and tweeter/mid is first order, at 1 kHz.
Advertisement
Related Manuals for Thiel CS2.4
Summary of Contents for Thiel CS2.4
- Page 1 Lexington, Kentucky, the company is 25 years old and has garnered many awards for their various models. The Design This is our first review of Thiel speakers, with the newly released model CS2.4. They are a floor-standing speaker, with a tweeter and midrange driver that share the same voice coil.
- Page 2 As a result, the sound from the tweeter and woofer reach your ears at the same time. Why...
- Page 3 Common Man. It has high pitched trumpets and thundering bass. It is also a good test for any audio system. The Thiel's handled this piece in stride, without breaking up at all. The bass was tight and clean, and the huge bass drum used in this recording is a stress test to end all tests.
- Page 4 Dukas' La Peri on Erato is another great recording that does not use dynamic compression. The brass, as presented by the CS2.4s, raised the hair on the back of my neck, as it should, but will not if the speakers are incapable. For violins, Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings is a fine test.
- Page 5 At 1 kHz and 100 dB, distortion is very low. IMD measurements showed very low distortion using a combination of 1 kHz and 1.5 kHz, or 5 kHz and 6 kHz. With a 10 kHz sine wave input, distortion again, is very low. The frequency response is quite flat.
- Page 6 8 Ohms, with a rating into 4 Ohms, will be a good choice. Conclusions Thiel's new CS2.4 speakers are superb. They have no noticeable tonality aberrations, i.e., they sound neutral throughout their range, they have a big soundstage, and have marvelous detail.