Thiel/Crutchfield

"Thiels are a non-mainstream sounding speaker with treble that many find downright irritable"

I used to sell and own Thiels, both. The speaker's trebble isn't harsh, and infact, it's well balanced! And, infact, you need an extrememely revealing speaker if you want the potential for high-end sound. That said, what you mate the speakers with can't be bright or edgy, but must be well balanced too. With less than perfect equipment (tubes works well), you can send any of these highly analytical and transparant sounding speakers over the edge!!
I've heard people for years say that Thiels, Wilson's, JM Lab's, Maggies, etc, were bright!! Well, my friend, it's all a matter of system matching (key), acoustics (another key), setup, toe-in, aim (yet another key),and just basically knowing what you're doing! You can walk into a dealer or customers home, who's got them set up wrong, and make assumptions. And they're just that, assumptions to the unknowing.
Hell I can take any number of high end speakers, that are VERY REVEALING, and make them sound too bright to listen to!
You simply use some edgy sounding amp or inteconnect, and that's it!
Yeah, the speakers AREN'T BRIGHT! It's "USER ERROR!"
Now, I don't own Thiels any more, but that's the facts, Jack

For the record, Thiel isn't going to sell anywhere near as many speakers, even to a bigger forum or vender like this! Their main sales needs to come from informed retail salesman, who can justify the purchase to the average customer. I used to sell Thiel, and your average buyer (who pays the bills...the audiophile will buy used) needs to be edjucated, and to be able to hear the darn things to justify that sale.
Good luck to Theil with Crutchfiel. I think it won't work so well, personally

I am somewhat surprised at a lot of the negative responses, it comes off a bit snobbish to me. If Theil never sells one speaker via Crutchfield at least it is getting their name out there to possible future buyers. Furthermore, it is possible that for those who were to purchase them, they may get excited about audio, such as many of us. Being that Crutchfield sells at MSRP, I don't see how this could hinder a local shop. Lastly, what if Theil needed to do this in atempt to keep themselves afloat? (I am not saying they are, I haven't a clue of their financial status.)

Regalmal, your right, Thiels do image great and provide alot of detail so I think it is diverse enough for all types of music.

I just want to comment on Flrnlmb's point even though this debate has gone on seemingly forever. He is absolutely right! Thiels reveal the truth in timbre of not only components upstream but recorded instruments. I own 2 acoustic guitars, a Taylor which has a faster, lighter touch, and a jumbo Martin which is rich and full bodied. Each is better suited for certain types of songs. I can make either sound different or even better or inferior based on the types/brands of strings.

For me, that is a pretty good analogy for how I like my system to playback. Thiels offer the most clarity for a box speaker I have heard, and because of that are revealing of everything that feeds it. It takes work to get the sound you want much like an instrument but it rewards you like no other when you strike that perfect balance. Just my 2 cents, lots of great equipment out there...

The first time I heard Theils was probably in the 80's. It was in a high end store. I had to cover my ears. The salesman was completely baffled by my reaction. What can I say?

Reminds me of a lesson I learned many years ago about equipment. On impulse I went into a high end store in San Francisco. Probably the most elite store I have ever been in. They had what was then B&Ws no-compromise speaker. I can't remember the model. They cost the outrageous amount of $3500 a pair. This was before Wilson and their like started the endlesses upward spiralling of prices for audio gear.

Anyway, I didn't have any records with me (no CDs back then) so from the store selection I put on Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac. It was awful. The bass was just tubby and muddy and bloated and unlistenable. I had heard that song many many times on many systems and never noticed this effect. The salesman asked to play one of his choices. He put on Spyro Gyra. It was sublime. It set a new standard for sound reproduction for me.

The problem is I would never listen to Spryo Gyra by choice but I loved and still very much like Rhiannon. So, was that a good system or a bad system?

By the way, I have used Rhiannon as a test ever since. Even the CD has some of the same poorly recorded bass. You should hear what it does to a Bose automobile sound system. It ain't pretty. So I guess that puts Bose in the same league as Theil and B&W ;-}