Thiel CS2.2 Floorstanding Speakers – Refinished, Made in USA

A pair of Thiel CS2.2 three-way floorstanding speakers, built by hand in Lexington, Kentucky. This pair has been professionally refinished in real wood veneer with replaced top caps, so it presents like a much younger speaker than it is.

Why the CS2.2 still matters

Jim Thiel’s CS2.2 is one of the great value propositions in used American hi-fi: a time-coherent, first-order three-way that competed with speakers several times its price.

Thiel built the CS2.2 around a principle most manufacturers avoid because it is difficult: time coherence. The sloped baffle physically aligns the acoustic centers of the drivers so that sound from the tweeter, midrange and woofer reaches your ears together, and the crossover is first-order, 6 dB per octave, which preserves phase where steeper filters do not. The result is the CS2.2’s signature: a soundstage that resolves into individual performers in space, and a midrange that flatters voices and acoustic instruments without editorialising.

Stereophile called it world-class performance at a steal. At its 1993 launch it sold for USD $2,250–$2,750 per pair, which is the context worth holding when you look at what a pair costs today.

Condition and refinishing

The cabinets have been professionally refinished in real wood veneer and the top caps replaced: the two things that most commonly let a thirty-year-old Thiel down cosmetically. Drivers are intact and the pair has been tested and confirmed working. This is a restored-presentation pair, not a survivor in original finish.

What they need to sing

The CS2.2 is a 4-ohm load that dips to 3 ohms, and at 86 dB it is not especially sensitive. It rewards an amplifier with real current delivery far more than it rewards raw wattage: a stable 50 to 250 watt amplifier that is comfortable driving 4 ohms will get far more out of these than a higher-rated amplifier that is not. This is the single most common reason a pair of Thiels underwhelms in a new room.

Isolation and cable

Two upgrades matter more on a speaker like this than on most.

Isolation. A 70 lb cabinet with an 8″ woofer and a passive radiator puts real energy into your floor, and on a suspended wood floor that energy comes back as thickened bass and blurred imaging. IsoAcoustics GAIA II isolators are the correct model here, not GAIA III. GAIA III is rated to exactly 70 lb per set of four, which is precisely what these weigh, and IsoAcoustics’ own guidance is to move up a model when a speaker lands at the limit. GAIA II is rated to 120 lb, giving real headroom, and ships with M6-1.0, M8-1.25 and 1/4″-20 thread adaptors. The current-generation GAIA II Neo adds floor sliders for positioning a heavy speaker without dragging it. On carpet, add GAIA Carpet Discs. We are an authorized IsoAcoustics dealer: ask us to confirm thread fit before you order and we will.

Cable. A 4-ohm load punishes undersized speaker cable more than an 8-ohm one does, because the cable’s resistance is a larger fraction of the total. Build exactly the length and gauge you need with our Custom Speaker Cable Builder, made to order in our own shop and terminated in Radique gold-plated connectors.

Common questions

What amplifier do these need? Something stable into 4 ohms with genuine current delivery, anywhere from 50 to 250 watts. Amplifier quality matters more here than the number on the box.

How far from the wall? Thiels are time-coherent designs and reward being pulled out from the front wall, then toed in toward the listening position. Give them room and they image extraordinarily.

Can they be bi-wired? Ask us and we will confirm the terminal configuration on this specific pair before you buy cable.

Do they need a subwoofer? Rarely. The passive radiator takes usable output down to the low 30s, which is full-range performance in most rooms.

Thiel CS2.2 Specifications

• Design: Three-way floorstander with elliptical passive bass radiator
• Tweeter: 1″ (25 mm) aluminum dome
• Midrange: 3″ (76 mm) cone
• Woofer: 8″ (203 mm) double-surface cone
• Passive radiator: 6″ × 9″ elliptical
• Frequency response: 33 Hz–27 kHz (±3 dB), 35 Hz–20 kHz (±2 dB)
• Crossover: First-order, 6 dB/octave acoustic, at 800 Hz and 3 kHz
• Sensitivity: 86 dB/W/m (2.83 V)
• Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 3 ohms minimum
• Recommended amplification: 50–250 watts
• Dimensions: 42″ H × 12″ W × 13″ D (1067 × 305 × 330 mm)
• Weight: 70 lb (32 kg) each
• Built in: Lexington, Kentucky, USA

See everything we have in stock from Thiel.

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