Thiel CS3.6 Brochure

Reprinted with permission from
HI FI
NEWS
JUNE 1992
RECORD REVIEW
This Southern Belle, a
Kentucky thoroughbred,
is so-o polite...
so-o well built...
by KEN KESSLER
Lord knows,
the sound is
about as
seductive as it
gets, a real
Southern Belle
without the
ringing. This
speaker is as
smooth as a
Shot of Jim
Beam Black
Label, and as
easy to enjoy
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T
HIEL
CS3.6
B ig boxes: doncha just love 'em?
Admittedly, I'm a two-genre
man–gigantic panels or minus-
cule boxes are my speakers of choice –
but I do get a buzz out of coffin-sized
wooden enclosures and hefty cone
woofers and the sheer slam they can
produce. And Thiel makes some of the
most consistent, most musical and
(okay, I know this is a hi-fi nut virtue)
impressive boxes of all. The latest model,
the CS3.6, is currently one from the
top; it's an absolute honey and it em-
bodies all of the latest developments
from the fertile mind of Jim Thiel. This
includes the nifty double-cone driver
technology which I wish they'd call
'Twin-Skin' – but then Thiel comes
from Kentucky and people Down South
are leery of monikers which suggest
even traces of salacity.
This is, after all, the heart of the '3.6
and not just because it's novel and the
subject of a patent application: the
'double cone' diaphragm is employed
in the 4.5in midrange driver – the
most important noisemaker in any
speaker system. The diaphragm con-
sists of two cones bonded together but
sandwiching nothing more than an air
gap; the result is increased rigidity and
no cone break-up, with no weight pen-
alty. In practice, it means greater
midband speed and clarity, lightning-
quick transient recovery and dipole-
like transparency. This diaphragm is
fitted to a heavy cast magnesium frame,
while the motor consists of a large
magnet and a short voice coil with a
long gap. A phase plug is fitted to the
centre of the cone for even greater
response uniformity.
The midrange driver is fitted just
above the midpoint of the sloped and
sculpted baffle, the latter a Thiel trade-
mark. Above it is the 1in metal dome
tweeter seen in other Thiel speakers,
while the bottom of the baffle contains
a 10in woofer with an aluminum dia-
phragm. Above the woofer is a passive
radiator made of sandwich construc-
tion.
Thiel is well-known for complex
crossovers, so the '3.6 features a 25-
element, first-order device incorpo-
rating custom-made polystyrene ca-
pacitors and air-core inductors while
the wiring is made from low-oxygen
copper. The terminals are fitted to the
underside of the cabinet: a single pair,
as Thiel doesn't see the need for bi-
wiring when a properly designed cross-
over is in use.
As ever, the cabinet is heavy and
bomb-proof, braced with five cross-
pieces; the midrange driver has its own
internal enclosure. The shaped, sloped
baffle positions the drivers for time
alignment, and it's free of edges which
could cause diffraction. The black grille
HI-FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW NOVEMBER 1992