Thiel Owners

@prof, pre-concentric driver Thiels have that same phase cancellation effect.  If you're fairly close to them and move your head around vertically you'll notice huge shifts in sound.  I still love my 2 2s, though.  It's hard for me to imagine anybody not.  You never know what some people will think, though.  I saw a thread where some people were saying they're bright.  They're nothing of the sort.  I would say they're very close to perfectly balanced but if they're anything they're maybe just slightly warm.  

jon_5912
I concur. Perfectly balanced indeed.  Happy Listening!

stevecham
I, for one, would like to see you return to Thiel Audio loudspeakers.
Happy Listening!

The conclusion from some of the previous discussions is that concentric drivers with the tweeter located coaxially mounted within the midrange driver is the best way to achieve a more consistent soundstage.  Some have commented on the Meadowlarks and pre-concentric Thiel speakers to have a sound that is sensitive to listening position.  I am very puzzled that we don't have any good concentric drivers available on the market.  If Thiel could do it, I don't see why either ScanSpeak or Seas could not.

In my own design, with separate tweeter and midrange, the sound balance is also sensitive to listening position.  There is one way to fix this is to lower the xover frequency from the tweeter to the midrange so that the dispersion characteristics of the midrange and tweeter are more evenly match.  The problem is the tweeter has to play lower so that could add to tweeter distortion.  Some of the new tweeters from ScanSpeak could play lower but the less expensive tweeters may not be.

This affect is more prominent with first order filter vs. higher order filter design.