Thiel Owners

jon_5912-

Good to see you again. I know shortly after JT died,  many long-term dealers/retailers quit placing orders on new speakers.  (2) such operations that I know about are Goldprint Audio in NC and Audio Alternative in Atlanta (now HiFi Buys of Atlanta).

I spoke w/ these guys a few years ago and there does not seem to be any interest in stocking the post-JT offerings. Hope this helps you.

Happy Listening!

Listening to the Thiel 3.7s again last night...boy I don’t know if I can give these things up! It’s amazing the degree to which you can dial in a speaker (especially like the 3.7) to one’s taste - far field, near field, toed in, toed out.

As I’ve said the 3.7’s wide, even dispersion allows me to have them very wide apart, quite close to me, and faced almost straight ahead. The balance I get is lush and warm, with an utterly massive width and depth to the soundstage, yet with perfectly dense, focused imaging of all the voices and instruments across that span. Anyone who ever doubted that the Thiels could sound warm, lush and inviting hasn’t heard what they can do when set up that way. I listened to some live Everything But The Girl - they do lots of quiet, solemn music with one or two guitars being played, and the voices and acoustic/electric guitars were just astonishingly warm, human and clear.   I played some Joanna Newsome (talk about an acquired taste! Her voice! But that harp playing!) and her harp simply "appears" a out 4 feet behind the speakers, as if she has just beamed down into my room to play for me.  At least in my experience, certain instances like this are probably the most tactile sonic reproduction I've ever heard from an audio system. (I'm not saying other systems can't do it - of course they can - but simply in my own experience with many speaker systems, and hearing many show and store systems, it's among the best I've heard with certain recordings).

I have an audiophile pal - who writes for an online audio mag - who said the first time he heard the Thiel 3.7s at an audio show it sent him running from the room - too bright and aggressive! But when he comes over to listen to my 3.7s he is thoroughly pleased by completely smooth and gorgeous they sound. I’d told him that (due to ergonomic issues I’ve mentioned earlier) I may be looking to replace them with a smaller speaker, but after he heard a couple of cuts played on the 3.7s he turned to me incredulous "And you intend to get better sound than THIS...how???"

I told him, I don’t intend to get better sound. Not for anything remotely close to the price and I’ll probably never have better sound than I have with my current Thiel set up. That’s just a pill I’ll have to swallow (IF I sell them...)

Whilst I am awaiting the arrival of my 3.6's and the fellow member to pick up my 3.5's I have been working a pair of Acarian Alon ll's just for the heck of it - got 'em purty cheap from a bricks and mortar retailer/occasional seller here on the site. 

Fortunately I had a pair of Transparent bi-wire cables in my inventory/snake pit of cables left over from some previous 'speriment, so I hooked them up ...

They'd been in the store for over a year and they were a little dusty, dull-looking, but only needed a little cleaning and TLC that included about 6 coats of tung oil.  They show their age but now look swell. 

The store owner related that the woofer was designed to emulate the old Advent woofer - a very cool piece of history. 

They're a suitable stop gap between the Thiels coming and going.  They're definitely not "bright" sonically, the bass is tighter than I had anticipated, the mids are very well defined if not
as well defined as a Thiel - but they ain't Thiel so...

They're fun. They're temporary.  I'll probably toss em up here on the site when my 3.6 get here - at the same price I paid for them. 

prof - Don't sell!
They don't make them anymore and it will be rare to find again. You will surely regret the sale and try to find another pair. THERE AREN'T ANY MORE.

oblgny
That is a coincidence...My previous surround system had all Alon speakers. Very nice sounding. Smooth and open....but not Thiels as you said.I still have all of them and need to sell eventually. I have the Lotus Elite fronts (Saloon door looking) with LCR Grand center and Alon Petite rears. They were very enjoyable.