Thiel Owners

I've owned a few Thiel models.  The newer ones (e.g. 3.7s, 2,7s) don't seem as sensitive to cabling as the older ones (I've owned besides the 3.7s, the 2.3s and the 7.2s).  In addition, when my friend worked at the high end shop in the early 2000s, for about a six year period, I did virtually all his set-ups and installs with him (and those where all pre 3.7s by a few years, 1.6s, 2.3s, 2.4s, 1.7s, 6s, 7.2a).  The 3.6s do have a reputation for sounding bright as do some of the other earlier models (not owned or heard them personally),  I almost went into the cable making difference and have had numerous secondary (non-Thiel) systems currently and in the past.  Many times a cable would make a bigger difference on my old 2.3s for example and something I could barely tell if there was a difference on something like my B&W P6s.  So from my experience (but nothing as old as the 3.6s - but yes to the 1.6s), some of the older models are the poster children for everything in the chain is important more so than some other brands.

    
big_greg wrote" If there are other suggestions to tame them, I’d love to hear them."

A gentle amount of EQ will work wonders.

"

big_greg -I agree with Cascadesphil that Thiel’s can be more sensitive to input signal than most brands. In my opinion, that has more to do with their coherence allowing the ear-brain more scrutiny. But that discussion is beyond the scope of this response. Let’s assume that your signal is fine.

You stated your listening distance as 9’, which is fine. Design distance is 10’, and the closer you get, the more critical your ear height becomes. The propagation triangles have to resolve at your ear. Design ear height is 3’. If you sit high, you will get a treble-heavy and non-time-aligned wavefront. That’s a design constraint of phase coherence with multiple drivers and why Thiel gravitated toward coax treble sources in later models - with their own issues and challenges.

Another critical factor is early reflections, which likewise become more critical in a coherent design. The speakers are designed as point sources with very broad, even dispersion characteristics. As such they require at least 3’ between the tweeter and any reflective surface. Side-wall reflection is most often a culprit; absorption at the reflection point helps - a lot. Similarly, a low ceiling and/or hard floor can be problematic. In a small room, consider a long-wall layout.

Note that Thiel’s tonal balance is tuned for listening off-axis. At design setup the ear is 20° off-axis which is where the power (in-room) response matches the direct response. That straight-ahead position requires at least 3’ to a side wall, more is better, and absorption helps. In my experience most people aim them slightly inward to mitigate side-wall reflections. My experience is that straight-ahead with narrower speaker to speaker placement solves the issues better. Such particulars of setup are far more germane to performance than are particulars of equipment (unless grossly inappropriate.)

Thiels are articulate and precise, and for those who appreciate that, they can be very musically engaging. Many speakers are designed to be forgiving of problems - Thiels are not. Our goal is to faithfully reproduce their input signal - unvarnished. Much like a recording environment must be carefully optimized to capture a proper record of the recorded event, the playback environment must also be optimized. In the hi-fi hobby I believe we could create far more satisfying musical immersion by working on our environment and setup rather than looking to gear changes.

Keep the faith - the results can be wonderful.

I saw the recent references to the 03/03a Thiels, and had a question.  I have a pair of 03a speakers, which came to me without the equalizer.  My understanding is that they only provide a bass boost to lower the -3db point.  Would anyone know what the unequalized vs equalized response curves looked like?  Or at least the -3db points.  Did the equalizer return to flat at still lower frequencies (relying on the natural 12db/octave rolloff), or did it add additional rolloff at 6 or 12db/octave?

Also, I've seen the crossover schematic with the op amps.  Are there any hotrodded versions of the 03a equalizer?