Do you own/have you heard the new Thiel 1.6?

Haven't heard them yet but TAS just gave them one of the best reviews ever.

I heard them about 1.5 weeks ago at Innovative audio in NYC. Came out pretty impressed, seems to be a very musical speaker, while giving gobs of detail. To me, this is rare for Thiel, they usually lack a certain emotional impact for me. Maybe it was familiar music, but I was definitely toe-tappin' !

Tonally, from upper bass on up, this is lovely. No brightness as in some earlier Thiel designs, and the mids were very dynamic and clear (I own Lowthers right now, and no the 1.6's aren't up to that level, but they probably don't have the spikes that lowthers can have, either).

One thing that didn't seem to come thru, and that was bass. This is supposed to have great quality bass, but it seemed a little soft to me. I wasn't expecting super deep bass, but there was a slight muddiness to it IMO.

Other stuff seemed good, though it's not paramount in my book of priorities. Soundstaging was very good, past the edges of the speaker. Depth was OK, not great. Definitely a problem with the room (too busy), not the speakers. I'd say this little speaker did HiFi very well, as well as playing some good music.

FYI, the electronics were all Arcam: Diva 85 integrated, CD92 cd player (with the dcs RingDAC technology). Not the best system to show off the 1.6, but it was very enjoyable anyways. I'm thinking the integrated had something to do with the bass problem.

Lastly, the music was pretty loud, but not congested, and I didn't have the volume turned up a lot. It seems the efficiency rating is pretty accurate; these don't look like they need a ton of power to drive them. I may still investigate these for my 22wpc tube amp, and use a subwoofer to gett he best bass.

Overall, very positive feeling, definitely worth looking into.

Thanks,

Todd Samost (chams_uk)

PS - the guys at Innovative were VERY nice.

I own them. I first heard them with an Arcam CD Player/integrated amp. Noticed very natural percussion sounds. Next time I auditioned them with Arcam FMJ CD Player, McCormack pre and power amp, and I compared them to the Proac 1.5 sc. It was surprising - the Thiels did not have the fatigue I expected - the proacs seemed to have more fatigue. As far as bass, I heard more definition from the Thiel than the proac, no contest. I bought them that day. They're breaking in and I've played them with Mccormack and an Arcam alpha A7. They're just getting better. I'm amazed at the detail, the coherence and the bass. I know they're missing some bass on paper but it's nothing I'm noticing. It's the best purchase I've ever made. I think if you wanted to go with tubes, you should get alot of tube power. I've since heard these with spectral - amazing.

Check em out

robert