Thiel Owners

Tom, I have serial No. -4 of the SW1, now in mothballs. I'll probably put it up for sale at some point. This is the prototype that Jim used to demo the SW1 at audio shows until the SS2 model was released. I bought it from a former employee (or contractor?) who did graphic arts work for Thiel. I used the SW1 with a PX05 that Rob configured for my 3.7s. It sounded great and blended seamlessly without any fiddling.

Tom, do you know how the circuitry controlled by the rear and sidewall adjustments works to counteract Speaker Boundary Interaction Response (SBIR) effects? SBIR involves cancelation between reflected waves (with negative amplitude) and direct outgoing waves at certain predictable frequencies. SBIR problems cannot be addressed with equalization, so I've always wondered how this unique Thiel technology works. The only thing I can think of would be to sum the original signal with a suitably delayed signal filtered to within a narrow band of the problem frequency.

Another question: Why didn't Jim include phase controls on the SmartSubs? Although it runs counter to the plug and play SmartSub philosophy, a phase control can be used to achieve phase alignment between subs and mains at the cross-over frequency.

ish - I am interested in your SW1. Please contact me via PM.
Regarding the boundary management software, I would only be guessing. I do know as you outline, that Jim would not have addressed the problem via EQ. I believe there are patents on what he did which you might search online and perhaps report back to us.

I share your phase control question.  I am using physical placement for an approximation of phase alignment. Someone said here that LTE can be use simultaneously with PXO to address phase. My speculation is that since the sub crossover is 4th order (high and low), and therefore adding 360° phase shift at xo, and given the very long wavelengths at those low frequencies . . . perhaps he thought plug and play was worth more than time alignment from a phase control. I don't know. Does anybody out there have any educated opinions?

Thieliste,

Try to audition a Coda CS.

Biased to class A for the first 8 watts and peak current of 100 amperes per channel. 300 WPC into 8 ohms and doubles down. 

It has no trouble driving my Thiel CS 5's that go below 2 ohms.

I am listening to "Joe Pass: Virtuoso" right now and the bass is vibrating in my body.

Ooh la la!

Dsper

Ish - Duh. I believe the SSs are all analog, so delays and so forth can't be easily implemented. For example, dsper's upper and lower mid drivers needed 3/8" and 1/2" time delay which took, if I remember correctly, more than 40 bucket brigade capacitor banks. Huge, expensive and specific to those parameters.