Thiel Owners

I'm always happier with a company designs speakers to be used with grills on.   This is because I'm not a fan of seeing the speaker drivers.When I see the drivers, I can't help but become more conscious of the process producing the sound I'm hearing.  The highs are coming from that tweeter, the mids from that woofer in front of me, etc.

Once grills are on the speaker becomes a nice piece of furniture in front of me around and between which the sound is occurring, but it's not obviously being generated by the speaker.  I find this much more conducive to the soundstaging/imaging illusion in audio. 


Also, for me the majority of speakers without grills don't look too great - you get a bit more of the made-in-shop vibe when you can see all the different colored drivers, screws etc.  (Though some can look nice).

Though when it comes to grills, I also much prefer that they not look like an afterthought, as on many speakers:  "Ok, here's a pair of grills you can place over the drivers if you really want to!"   An after-thought looking pair of grills - e.g. one that ruins the nice lines of a speaker by sticking out - can also reduce the aesthetics.


This is one reason why my Thiel 2.7s fit the bill for me in many ways.  They are designed to sound right with the grills on, so I don't have to see the drivers.   And they were designed aesthetically with the grills as part of the design - they are inset into the frame making for beautiful smooth clean, integrated lines. 

prof,

Ditto!

Prof - thank you for your appreciation. The "live with" factor was an integral part of our designs.

Jay - there are two periods of post Jim Thiel designs: the x.7s including the 2.7 and 1.7 and the MCS?.7 prototype. The physical CS2.7 was principally developed in-house by Kathy Gornik, Rob Gillum and Dawn Cloyd in tribute to Jim's practice of incorporating series 3 breakthroughs into the series 2 at lower cost. Part of that cost savings results from minimizing amortization of development costs of series 3 technologies when applied to the series 2. The 2s have always been bargains.
The electrical engineering was done principally by a Canadian consulting engineering company using the Canadian Research Council anechoic chamber and design facilities. I have been told but do not remember the name of that company. A few outside opinions were also solicited, but did not generate material contributions. Serious $6 figures were consumed developing the 2.7, leading to the need to sell the company. The twos had generally been somewhat "easy" since they benefited from the generosity of the threes.

After the sale things happened fast, but of material consequence is that Bob Brown of Boston-area upper mid-fi experience was brought in as consulting operations manager who brought in Steve DeFuria, a long-time Thiel retailer, knowledgeable insider and sales executive with various Boston-area upper mid-fi brands. Bob and Steve hired Mark Mason formerly of PSB and freelance designer for SVS. Mark determined that Jim's phase-time coherence was not important enough to merit the significant difficulties it caused. The new owners wanted to exploit the name and chose to pursue mass-market Chinese-made products.
The 3rd Avenue Series (TT1, etc.) were developed by Mark Mason with help from New Thiel's considerable in-house engineering chops led by Dennis Crosson. The products are commendable for a new market entrant; but the marketplace was flooded with very good ordinary speakers. They spent upwards of $10million doing the dance that many of us witnessed with sadness and chagrin.

Additional factors tied the hands of the new owners, but those remain behind the curtain until answers might come to light. Jim's copious lab documentation is nowhere to be found.

Thanks for asking.  

Meadowlark speakers were also concerned with time alignment/coherence along with exceptional build quality and, depending on your tastes, aesthetics as well.  From what I’ve been able to cull off the interweb thingy, Mr McGinty was a “ poor business man “ who wanted to produce good speakers, period. 

And they are.  From the Kestrels on up they offer remarkably “true” sonics. Although compared to Thiel they struck me as somewhat less lively in the mids and highs, I found them to be one of my personal faves.  My girlfriend still has a pair of Kestrels that I gave her around 5 years ago. While the cabinet veneers could use some refurbishing, the solidity of the cabinets themselves is rather impressive - especially considerate of the fact that they set me back around $500 for the pair. 

Good stuff. 

Thank You, as always, Tom Thiel.
shortly after the TT1 launched, I spoke with several Thiel dealers/retailers, and the response was positive. There were a limited amount of reviews as well. All positive among the Audio press. I wonder how many pairs were built? Sold?  Happy Listening!