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From: tmajni@sequent.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Spica Angelus
Message-ID: <11949@uwm.edu>
Date: 8 May 91 12:47:32 GMT
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In article <11821@uwm.edu> donald@CSI.COM (Donald Maffly) writes:
>
>I like the Angelus, alot, although I must confess that own a pair of TC-50's.  
>I would tend to agree with how you described it:  imaging excellent, but a bit
>cold.  The TC-50 on the other hand is much warmer through the mid-range,
>though the imaging not as quite as good.
>
>One reason I'll never buy an Angelus though, is that the bass is very
>disappointing.  Better to go with TC-50's and perhaps add a sub-woofer 
>later.   If you are serious about the Angelus, I saw a used pair
>going for the unbelievably low price of $525 in the back pages of
>Stereophile, recently.
>

I like the Angelus a lot as well.  My major complaint is not the same as
yours though.  WAF (wife acceptance factor) is quite low.  The local dealer
curses "the damn thing" because only single guys buy it, and sure enough my
wife hated the things.  I did have a picture of them in my office which a
woman I work with commented on them as "sexy".  When I asked if she would
allow them to live in her living room she said NO!  Oh well, so much for
Spica Angelus.

I have a much more basic problem with the TC-50s.  They are too sensitive
to power overloading and can be easily damaged.  When the TC-50s are hooked
to small high quality amps like Naim or the baby VTL the image produced can
be hauntingly real.  Bass is a major problem with these units, but Spica
does make a subwoofer for them.

You should be able to get better bass from the Angelus though.  I have a
set of baby Thiel CS-1.2s that reportedly have the same problem.  They
are down 3db at 50hz and drop like a rock from there.  I have done several
things to get better bass response out of these speakers:

   1. Got a really good amp - replaced Adcom 555 with Threshold S/200.
      While Adcom is supposed to have good bass, it isn't nearly as
      strong or well defined as Threshold's.  Thiel uses Threshold
      for R&D as well as demo as CES shows - there is a reason.

   2. Put in a dedicated 20 amp line from breaker box to plug with 12
      guage wire.  Most homes have 15 amp lines with 14 guage wire.  This
      increased the power available to the amp, which cleaned up the lows
      even more.

   3. Put in good speaker wire.  I am now using 8 guage silver plated
      copper with teflon dielectric, twisted with shrink tubing over the
      entire length.  Connectors are crimped and silver soldered.  This
      increased the damping factor which improves tightness of bass.  I
      thought bass was less with these wires at first, but close listening
      showed that is was more defined, and not as flabby.

   4. Upgraded the power supply in my CD player.  I found a 15 volt
      computer power supply with tons more current than the player will
      ever use.  This increased the imaging and added a lot more definition
      and weight to the bass.

I am sure that I'm getting more out of these Thiels than 95%+ of the owners.
First off, most would not hook $1250 speakers to $6000 of electronics and
wire.  Better electronics can make a major difference.  The Threshold was
the most dramatic of these changes, with the other three being equivalent
in effect.  None of these changes where subtle.  The last three didn't cost
more than 2% of the Threshold (each less than $60).

I am currently working with a local speaker designer to come up with a
passive woofer to mate with the Thiels.  It will probably be an offshoot
of the Aria 10 design by Joesph DiAppalito for Focal, the speaker driver
manufacturer.  Initial testing shows that these puppies will be 3db down
at 22hz!  I plan to have the highs roll off in the 60hz to 80hz range.
Getting the crossover right is going to be the most difficult part.  The
port will most likey have to be disabled in the Thiels with some sort of
plug to get melding of the two right.

Tim Majni