Thiel/Crutchfield

MCPODY

I like how yesterday, Thiel was a well-respected, extremely customer service friendly, high-end speaker manufacturer and today, with the ability to buy them from Crutchfield, they are no longer any good.

Seems like a smart way to reach a much larger customer base without undercutting current dealers and having to deal directly with customers. (They ship direct from Thiel but all transactions are through Crutchfield.)

Ok,colour me dumb but how does selling direct, not impact the local dealer network?????? I would tell Mr. Thiel his listing floor standing front speakers, each; is reaching for the bottom of the barrel. His company--my opinion.

It seems an odd pairing. From what I can tell Thiel attracts a pretty limited crowd. I have posted my reactions to Thiels in the past and the fans appear to be mostly from the classiscal music fan base. Not that this is a bad thing at all. But somehow Crutchfield with its emphasis on automobiles, home theater and mid-fi just doesn't seem to be the place to sell this type of speaker. Besides, Thiels are a non-mainstream sounding speaker with treble that many find downright irritable (yes the new models still make me cover my ears) that to sell them without an audition seems to be a mis-service.

price is ea how can you miss that?

Actually, given that in the past Thiel was very fussy about its dealers being able to properly set up and demonstrate their speakers, this is a major departure for them.