How much is too much for Thiel CS3s?

[Brunt]

I wandered into an estate sale the neighborhood over yesterday in search of a new bedframe and stumbled upon a pair of original Thiel CS3s that I was able to get for a song. They aren't perfect and didn't come with the Thiel bass equilizer box. Not really sure why I bought them honestly as I don't think they will be anything close to a replacement or upgrade for my main system, but I just couldn't stand to see such a pretty speaker go to the landfill. I guess I'll just hold onto them until a friend needs a nice stereo pair.

My question is this though: how much would you spend to fix up a pair of CS3s? They need their bass box and either another d28 af tweeter or a pair of the morel drop in units, and could use some new grill cloth.

There is actually a bass box on ebay right now oddly, though it's priced at 175 which feels a bit expensive for what it is, and I could get either a used d28 af for 180ish or a pair of morel replacements for 84 each. They would be pretty much done after that but it would cost minimum $350 to get them to that state. Is that worth it or should I just flip them and buy something else for that amount?

 

[nolasally]

whats the issue with tweeter? I say fix/replace tweeter and then have a listen before buying EQ. That is stupid money for that used tweeter for 180ish! Funny you balk at EQ cost but not used 180.00 tweeter??

 

[RossW]

D28 can be rebuilt with proper new diaphragms for $125 per pair or so. I'm dropping my CS3.5 tweeters off for rebuild this week.

The EQ boxes don't show up for sale very often, but when they do they can usually be had for <$100. Be patient.

Thiels are exceptionally good, if somewhat brutally revealing, speakers. With the proper EQ they have a low end that few speakers can match (-3db at 22Hz...), although some people find the highs fatiguing. They may be old but give them a chance, I think they will surprise you!

 

[Brunt]

I wasn't ignoring the crazy used tweeter price, but had just resolved to get a pair of Morel MDT32S's at $84/tweeter, they are almost identical in terms of specs so I'd imagine they wouldn't change the sound much if at all. Now knowing that I can have these rebuilt changes things a bit though, Are you using a local shop or a mail-in service Ross? It it's only $125/pair to have them rebuilt I'll probably just go that route if I can find a trustworthy tech around here or something I can just mail the things to.

I don't doubt that they will impress me, it's just that I already have a pair of Infinity IRS Sigmas and I'm quite skeptical that they'd be able to outdo those behemoths. Having said that, the primary reason I picked these up was because I had previously owned a pair of 0.5s and was taken aback by the quality and quantity of sound that Thiel was able to get out of a tweeter and single 6.5 inch driver. Those have moved on to be my sister's primary speakers and she loves them to this day.

 

[RossW]

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...dio-d28-rebuild-service-all-varieties.916591/

Brian's a good guy, I'm lucky enough to be local but he'll do mail-in service too.