jetter, I can only hazard guesses as to what Jim Thiel had in mind.
But, first of all let's clear up the idea that the 3.7's lack bass, they have good clean bass until all but the deepest 1st octave. Perhaps, Jim Thiel thought that since most music (about 80%) is in the midrange, that there is limited musical content in that first octave, that many don't have the rooms to accommodate true full range bass, and if they did have the room, that deep bass might be better managed by his dedicated sub woofers.
The only question I would have for him is why he didn't use the superior time and phase attributes of a sealed box design in the 3.7's, especially if he was willing to sacrifice actual deep bass response? Sealed boxes might have made the transition to his sealed boxed sub woofers smoother as well.
A speaker capable of full range bass response would probably need to be considerably larger, and more expensive. As such perhaps more people and a correspondingly larger market share would see greater value and WAF in the 3 series with somewhat(!) limited bass response. Those who wanted deeper bass response could augment the 3.7's when space and funds availed themselves.
Jim Thiel has hinted that the 3 series had for some time become the sweet spot as the value to performance leader in the Thiel line up. I don't think it would be unfair to suggest that the original CS 3's were the ones that really put Thiel on the map. I can only speculate that if Jim Thiel wasn't so abruptly taken, that he would have went on to develop more, even higher end projects that went beyond the 3 series.
But, first of all let's clear up the idea that the 3.7's lack bass, they have good clean bass until all but the deepest 1st octave. Perhaps, Jim Thiel thought that since most music (about 80%) is in the midrange, that there is limited musical content in that first octave, that many don't have the rooms to accommodate true full range bass, and if they did have the room, that deep bass might be better managed by his dedicated sub woofers.
The only question I would have for him is why he didn't use the superior time and phase attributes of a sealed box design in the 3.7's, especially if he was willing to sacrifice actual deep bass response? Sealed boxes might have made the transition to his sealed boxed sub woofers smoother as well.
A speaker capable of full range bass response would probably need to be considerably larger, and more expensive. As such perhaps more people and a correspondingly larger market share would see greater value and WAF in the 3 series with somewhat(!) limited bass response. Those who wanted deeper bass response could augment the 3.7's when space and funds availed themselves.
Jim Thiel has hinted that the 3 series had for some time become the sweet spot as the value to performance leader in the Thiel line up. I don't think it would be unfair to suggest that the original CS 3's were the ones that really put Thiel on the map. I can only speculate that if Jim Thiel wasn't so abruptly taken, that he would have went on to develop more, even higher end projects that went beyond the 3 series.