Thiel Owners

I haven't spent much time listening to carbon drivers per se, but I have to say that overall I've always ended up preferring composite cones, anything from the Focal W construction to the ScanSpeak sliced paper to simple fiberglass/resin construction from Peerless.

Certainly I can say that I like composites a great deal more than I do the top ceramics.

Still, there's a lot more to a speaker than a driver material and it's' focusing on these single items which leads to out of proportion spending and myths about specific speakers.  The system is what matters, but the drivers are always fun to talk about.

Best,

E

Vandersteen’s carbon drivers are, IMO, the best audio drivers ever. If I win the powerball, I won’t look any further than his model Seven.

The 2.7/3.7 coax and ribbed diaphragms were a significant step towards the same goal Vandersteen has with respect to pistonic behavior. I’ve long considered Jim Thiel designed drivers to be among the best. Who knows what he would have produced by now. But Tom shared with me the concept of the CS7.3 and it would have a new pinnacle in the Thiel line . . . 10 years ago.

We audiophiles are fortunate to have had JT and RV bring their talents to our listening rooms with gear that we can actually afford. That their designs compete with or outperform others at multiple times the price is a testament to their abilities and real-world sensibilities. 

@erik_squires,  At the risk of appearing to be tit for tat, this post just a few days ago on 5/17/20 didn't come with much of a caveat:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/vandersteen-2c-vs-thiel-cs2

@Unsound

While I apologize for the confusion, I didn’t think I needed to make a caveat when the OP clearly established the boundaries of the conversation in the thread you posted as being about the Thiel CS2, which was reviewed at least as early as 1985:

https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/1085thiel/index.html

and the Vandersteen 2c which was reviewed at least by 1989:

https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/914/index.html

If you wanted to know if I meant to review all Vandersteen and all Thiel speakers forever, then you should have asked the question as such and I would have said "no, no I do not."

If you wish to hold me to an editorial standard of writing complete monologues each time I post on this hobby site then we can discuss an appropriate salary.



Best,

E

When the freakin pandemic is over, y’all who visit Seattle can hear some 2.3 that are lovely