[JeffB2]

Hi.original owner of fan of my Thiel CS2's. the tweeter and midrange are totally dead on one speaker. I have switched all the cables, interconnects etc. issue is with those 2 speakers. The speakers play albeit poorly if I direct wire to them. Does this sound like a failure in the crossover? I see I need to pull the woofer to access them. Is there a way to test the crossovers? Thanks you any help you can provide.

[Phil A]

Welcome to the forum.  Here's a couple of links:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/how-to-test-a-bad-crossover.2172251/

https://serato.com/forum/discussion/70128

I'm sure there are other links.  I don't know if it is difficult to swap the crossovers between channels.

[JeffB2]

Thanks Phil for the links. I have tested the tweeter and mid range with direct connect to amp and they output sound. If I pull the crossovers how do I test to see if something like a capacitor or resistor etc is bad there? Does someone have a link on testing crossovers? Pulling these from the Thiels looks like a bit of a challenge but what the heck I want my speakers back...i have a multimeter just don't know where to start. Love communities like this, we are only as smart as our ability to collaborate our pool of knowledge.

[Phil A]

You could try swapping the drivers from one speaker to the other and if they output the same level, then you've pretty much confirmed it is likely the crossover.

[Phil A]

I have Thiels in my main system too (have owned a bunch).  Currently 3.7s as mains, MCS1 center, Power Points as height channels and two pairs of SCS2s, one for the side surrounds and one for the back surrounds (in the old place I used 3 of the SCS2s in the bedroom system, left, right and center).

[Phil A]

Here is the bedroom system in the old place when I used the SCS2s

[gdayton]

Hi.original owner of fan of my Thiel CS2's. the tweeter and midrange are totally dead on one speaker. I have switched all the cables, interconnects etc. issue is with those 2 speakers. The speakers play albeit poorly if I direct wire to them. Does this sound like a failure in the crossover? I see I need to pull the woofer to access them. Is there a way to test the crossovers? Thanks you any help you can provide.

I used to be the service manager for Thiel. If you can barely hear them when directly driven you have probably melted the voice coils off the formers. I believe you can still have those tweeters rebuilt, but midrange parts are long gone. You may have blown the crossover as well, but its very unlikely that the crossover is damages and the drivers are fine. These are typically pretty robust, so you should look for an upstream gear failure or consider that you may have just plainly overdriven the speakers. How long have you had them? Whats the amp? Ever had trouble with them in the past?

[fredgarvin]

Meltdowns like that lead me to suspect DC from the amp.

[JeffB2]

Thanks all. I am driving with Classe DR 15 and Classe DR 4 pre (never got around to upgrading), I have owned for 20 years or so, blew a tweeter once and replaced with original OEM from Thiel. Looks like Thiel is toast as a company now based on what I see on web site and no response from customer service...bummer...I just bought 2 used CS2's on ebay arriving today so if I'm lucky I have some spare parts and can make 2 working speakers. My banana plugs were loose and may have cause some shorting and I suppose that didn't make anything in the speaker too happy either (possible cause?)

 I am considering picking up some newer generation Thiels on the used market as I have really been very happy with them, when all aligns they are awesome albeit a tad finicky on upstream end. Super nice set up with the CS7's !! Are you still happy with those? I have looked at the 3.6. (Very reasonable used) and the CS6 but haven't seen CS7's for sale yet. I know additional amp upgrades etc would be needed too. I will let you know when I have some other parts to work with.