Thiel Owners

I have some thoughts on The Listening Room. Don Hoatson was an early Thiel adopter, a pioneer from his opening in 1978. He was going strong with Thiel when I left in 1995 when I lost touch. His rooms were indeed great sounding due to their dimensions, construction, and that he used commercial horse-hair pad under the wool carpets to take the bottom octave absorption about an octave below any of the foam underpadding  products. Don died in 2016. 

This morning I spoke with his grandson, Michael, who grew up in Don's business and listening rooms. Mike has taken over and moved the business to Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore where he has been open one year, is growing and expects to honor everything his grandfather taught him. He is staking his future on customers like you guys.

tomthiel
Good to see you today. I am sad that Mr. Hoatson passed. He was a unique character that believed in entry level cables/power cords only. During my visits we discussed this matter at length. Still, his rooms did sound great- no question about it. Equally important, he has a family member to carry his Audio business forward. Here is to Michael becoming successful on the Eastern Shore. Thank You for the update.

Happy Listening!

jafant


When I ought my 3.5s from Don, I was using a HH Scott preamp and a Scott power amplifier I had built from kits in 1961. I’d been using a series of bookshelf speakers - - ending up with my wife’s pair of AR3a speakers. We had recently moved into our new home with large living and family rooms, and now we could enjoy some floor-standing speakers.

Someone suggested the Listening Room., so my wife and I went there on a Saturday. We both fell in love with the Thiel 3.5s. She said: "Get Them," to which I responded "Yes, Dear!"

Don strongly suggested I acquire a better amplifier; however, finances were strained at that time. I finally had to admit the Scott wasn’t up to the job of filling the living room in our new home. I contacted Thiel, and Jim Thiel recommended Bryston amplifiers.

BTW: Tom’s description of Don’s aversion to esoteric cables is apt. Don ended up steering me to The Audio Critic, and I’ve been a Belden guy since.

Don was an electrical engineer as is his son Dave, Michael's father.