Thiel CS3.6 User manual

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)
impressiveboxesofall. The latestmodel,
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
fromKentuckyandpeopleDownSouth
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
fittedto 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
couldcause diffraction. Theblack grille
B
HI-FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW NOVEMBER 1992
HI FI
NEWS
RECORD REVIEW
JUNE 1992 US $5.25 £2.00
&
THIEL
CS3.6
This Southern Belle, a
Kentucky thoroughbred,
is so-o polite
…
so-o well built …
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
by KEN KESSLER
Reprinted with permission from
Hi-Fi News & Record
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Distributor:
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777 8522
LOUDSPEAKERS
HI-FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW NOVEMBER 1992
R
E
V
I
E
W
S
U
B
J
E
C
T
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V
E
Thiel’s
cautious, sane
approach – the
refinement of
known
techniques –
has produced
a speaker with
clarity,
transparency
and admirably
superb
imaging
A small
footprint is the
neatest trick
in the book:
the Thiel
salesperson
will tell you
that the ’3.6
requires
floorspace only
12.5x17in.
But the Thiel
stands 48.5in
tall, so it won’t
disappear in
any room
smaller than,
say, the
Number 1
court at
Wimbledon
– so carefully chosen that its removal
isn’t necessary under ‘audiophile’ con-
ditions - is wrapped around a solid
frame and the snug fit provides shape
to the grille as it mates with the baffle.
The review pair arrived in the
amberwood finish which I’ve grown to
loathe. It’s one of those orange-y,
heavily-grained woods which gives me
eye-ache; but I almost feel guilty criti-
cizing it having seen how Thiel builds
it cabinets. It makes me think of Ger-
man car-makers’ attempts at produc-
ing Jaguar-calibre wooden dashes: the
wood is so perfectly finished that it
looked like it was grown in a DuPont
laboratory rather than a forest. (This is
a wholly personal view and not to be
taken too seriously as I’m also known
to hate cricket, classical music and
other refined pursuits.)
A small footprint is the neatest trick
in the book: the Thiel salesperson will
tellyou that the’3.6 requires floorspace
of only 12.5 x 17in/32 x 43cm (w x d).
But the Thiel stands 48.5in/123cm
tall, so it won’t disappear in any room
smaller than, say, the Number 1 court
atWimbledon.But the boxes areboxes,
no matter what you do to them, so
forget any speaker of this size if you’re
into camouflaged hardware. But they
are slim and beautifully made, so I
suppose I could learn to love ‘em in a
different veneer. Balsa, petrified – any-
thing but amberwood...
SOUND QUALITY
Lord knows, the sound is about as
seductive as it gets, a real Southern
Belle without the ringing. This speaker
is about as smooth as a shot of Jim
Beam Black Label, and as easy to en-
joy. Positioning? The CS3.6 is so
unfussy that I was wondering how all of
the other high-end makers could get
away with the positioning to the
millimetre. (Then again, they’d argue
thatyou can’t design a successful prod-
uct unless you specify how it is to be
used.) Still, it’s delightful to play with
a high-performance speaker which re-
quires no painstaking toe-in and which
responds enthusiastically to cable
changes and variations in the proxim-
ity to the walls. And, as Thiel provides
three spikes, you don’t have to worry
about levelling the ’3.6 or supplying
suitable footwear.
What you must provide, though, is a
near-state-of-the-art system because
the Thiel will let you in on all sorts of
things you didn’t know your system
was doing.
At 86dB/1W sensitivity and a hardly
frightening 4ohm impedance (not
droppingbelow3ohm), the Thiel could
bedrivenwith a small AdcomorAcurus
amplifier to obscene levels, but let’s
face it; at £3595 [$5900 U.S.] per pair,
you’d expect the owner to budget a
wee bit more than £500 [$825 U.S.]
for amps. So I turned to the all-Krell
system for the bulk of the listening
period, with a few hours of Beard-
powerfor comparison purposes.Wir-
ing consisted of Mandrake balanced
cables, with NBS digital coaxial and
the thinner of the two XLO speaker
cables. And, with all the bass energy
extractable from the Thiels, it’s bass
control which you’ll require of the
rest of the system.
Sufficeitto say thatthe Krell MDA-
300s are the best I’ve ever used in my
system commanding lower octaves.
At no time and under no circum-
stances – passive woofer effects in-
cluded – did the Thiels sound lumpy
or one-note, despite delivering copi-
ous amounts of bass in my listening
room.The synergy between the Krell
and Thiel was impossible to fault.
And the bass section did everything it
should beyond merely reproducing
the notes. The weight was convinc-
ing - my fave rave from Sousa on Test
Disc 2 made me think of the corny
parades I witnessed as a kid in the
States. I could almost taste the cot-
ton candy and smell the politicians.
On rap swill, it was the good ol’ fist-
in-the-chesteffect, the speakers mov-
ing a lot of air but not letting it eddy
into clouds. But the real skill came in
thetransitions, from thunderous pas-
sages to near silence. If you want to
hear what a system sounds like when
it’s free of overhang, the Thiel/Krell
pairing is a textbook example.
THIEL TWEETER
Before delving into the wonders of
thetwin-skin midrange, a word about
Thiel’s use of metal dome tweeters.
Leaving aside the Celestion SL-se-
ries, which (despite being among the
first-evermetal dome systems) sound
nothing like speakers with metal
domes, in the ’3.6 Thiel has achieved
a balance I’ve heard only rarely.
There is, simply, no tell-tale ‘spit’
or sizzle to indicate the presence of a
metal tweeter. Even CDs from the
vaults with pre-Dolby hiss sounded
smooth and silky. Maybe the snake
simulation is only important in bud-
get designs, where retailers try to
dazzle punters with £100 speakers
which ‘sound like hi-fi’.
But the midband is the important
bit, like the heart of a fillet mignon.
Thiel’s cautious, sane approach – the
refinement of known techniques –
has produced a speaker with clarity,
transparency and admirably superb
imaging. However crude and me-
chanical it is (in these days of digital
correction) to use a sloped baffle for
time alignment; however trivial the
shaving of the baffles’ edges may seem;
however obvious the overkill cabinet
bracing, it’s all good, reliable stuff, and
the combination works. Twin-cone
midband aside, there’s little about the
Thiels that’s unusual. What’s impres-
sive is how all of the elements work
together. And the midband is the give-
away.
As far as my tastes are concerned, the
toughest tests are acoustic piano and
vocals. With some luscious ragtime,
some purist recordings of Dr John, my
pet Patsy Cline tear-jerkers, a Persua-
sionsdisc or three, Tennessee Ernie Ford’s
Greatest Hits and anything else audio-
philes detest, I heard all that I could
want: lifelike reproduction with con-
vincing dynamics and minimal colora-
tion.
With the best sources, it was possible
(eyes closed, of course) to sense true 3D
dimensions to the performers and an
eerily convincing sensation of space.
The only weakness the Thiels showed
in this area involved the edges of the
soundstage. The Thiels delivered very
little beyond their outer borders, stand-
ing there like the sides of a picture frame
to the left and right of the musical event.
To ameliorate this condition, I would
advise you to set them as far apart as
possible, just before the onset of a ‘hole
in the middle’. As all of the action
occurs in between these speakers, it’s
easy to discern the point of too much
spread. The sound loses its solidity, not
unlike wiring speakers out of phase.
If there’s anything fallible about the
Thiels, it’s the Aw-shucks-yes-ma’am-
mah-name-is-Elvispoliteness. I kid you
not: if ever a product sounded like its
birthplace, it’s this south-of-the-Ma-
son-line speaker. Would that it could
let out a Rebel Yell. Instead, it always
sounds ‘nice’, however revealing it may
be of system nasties. Rather than irri-
tate,these ‘exposedweaknesses’ in your
hi-fi chain merely intrude, and that’s
because they’re rendered easily identi-
fiable. In a lesser system, they’d be
exacerbated.
Which is a nice way of saying that the
Thiels won’t necessarily drive you into
the immediate upgrading of the rest of
your system. You’ll merely learn how
to focus on the good stuff and ignore
the rest, like the seeds in a watermelon.
Hell, I’ve got to get away from this
Dukes of Hazzard nonsense. The Thiel
CS3.6, Southern origins or not, is a
thoroughbred(and if that ain’t an open-
ing for an equine, bluegrass, Kentucky
Derby simile, then what is?). Given the
right system, they’ll give you chills.
And the best cure for chills is a little
toddy. Which brings me back to bour-
bon. Which is a Southern drink. And
Southerners are polite. Like the Thiel
CS3.6