Thiel Owners

Come to think of it, I haven't retested my system since I replaced the 2.4s with the 2.7s so it's been over 10 years.  The place where I bought my speakers is who originally came to my home to test and set up my system way back when, but they're no longer in business.  Should I try to find someone else to do it?  How hard would it be to do the testing and re-calibration myself, and what would I need?  I can borrow an SPL meter, standard one from Radio Shack I believe, from my brother-in-law (I think he still has it) but nothing else and no test CD.  What test CDs have people here used?  If someone can point me to a good site or discussion topic that shows what I need and how to set it up, I would greatly appreciate it.  I'm always willing to try something new, or at least take a look to see if it's beyond my capabilities and get someone else to do it!

geoffkait, you mentioned the XLO Test CD.  Did you do the setup and calibration yourself?  If so, do you have any tips?

The XLO Test CD speaker set up track is self explanatory. The person who is speaking walks you through it. It’s ridiculously simple. 

want to have some fun and give your system a real workout.   try this one.   i have used it for years to test speakers for a number of variables.   https://www.amazon.com/One-Second-Yello/dp/B000AC5LD4/ref=sr_1_9?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1528039...

Batman, please remember that I was not involved with THIEL since the mid 1990s, so my observations reflect general approaches rather than specific product knowledge. Jim's approach was very analytical and different from many audio engineers. Jim chose to make the speaker's job that of translating its input signal into the room. A corollary is that preceding links in the chain were also required to do their part. A signal chain must be clean, which is a tall order. Most designers of my experience hedge their bets toward forgiveness. Jim went for truth.  When it came to amps and cable, Jim would measure and listen and determine how well a link, cable in this case, was performing its job transparently. I judge that Jim chose that Goertz wire because he determined that it did a better job of being wire and that silver, being a better conductor did it better, both measurably and aurally . . . and so forth. This determination is different from whether he preferred the sound of silver to copper, flat or round but rather that one was a better wire having less distortions. The lab amp lived under the measuring tower with cable runs of about a meter and the listening room had several highly regarded amps with short cable runs.