Anyone hear Thiel CS1.6?

I haven't heard the Arro's, so this is strictly a guess, but a woofer that small in a cabinet that small couldn't possibly really have more bottom end (and the reviews I remember reading of it - which were positive - unsurprisingly acknowledged it didn't do bass). What most speaker designers will do with a model too small to make real bass, and what I'm conjecturing the Arro's designer probably did, is to plump up the region in the upper bass that contains the harmonics of the missing low bass. This is a proven technique to make a small speaker sound as if it had big bass, and one that Jim Thiel will simply not practice, for better or for worse. I am not saying there are not competitors for the 1.6 in its price range (it is definitely possible to get more bass, for instance, and I certainly don't buy into the hyperbole of cover-copy writers), but I am saying that it is absolutely capable of outstanding performance, and if someone doesn't hear that from it when they audition it, suspect the set up first.

$2,000 is a lot for a 2-way but look at Pro-Ac Response 2.5's which are $4000 or something. Merlin VSM-M are $8,000 for a 2-way.
Joseph 25's have more bass than Thiel 1.6? Not in the Arcam system I heard.
Zaiksman has a good point. Levison Rosebud's do the undamped bass thing in a big way. Otherwise nice speaker that sort of puts a lot of questions to other types of speakers

Rbsteno and Labtec are hitting on a exceedingly important issue, The Hype Factor. Since most of us do not have access to hear alot of brands, we count on honest opinions. I'm not going to blast the Thiels, let the above opinions stand, and everyone can make up his own mind. I appreciate Rbsteno and Labtec for voicing their experience with a fair evaluation. Could Mr.Thiel put the same midwoofer and tweeter in a smaller cabinet and charge a realistic figure???

Tweekerman, the net savings could be spent on stands, the net result even less bass output.

Also to a large extent (not 100%, I know), JT seems to be reaching for the goal of engineering and manufacturing separate, application-specific drivers for each of his different speaker designs. Not inexpensive, to be sure, but probably the most valid approach if you can do it.

Tweek, I happen to think that $2,000 is very realistic for a speaker that, while it doesn't do everything (what does?), goes about what it *does* do with what sounds to me like fewer errors overall than many other designs that may do one or two things better for the price.

Cdc, JA has known and acknowledged for a long time that he isn't properly equipped to take the true measure of first-order designs like Thiel or Dunlavy, which makes it all the more curious why he often *does* seem to "hear his measurements" when it comes to these speakers (and I guess you might say his own Revels too, for that matter, but I wouldn't know about that one). Also odd, then, that he used to own a pair of my own CS2 2's as references, especially since I thought I heard the smaller 1.6 do certain things better, and came away with the impression that it might well be the more successful design overall, figuring in size and (adjusted) price.