Thiel Owners

how do Thiels sound compared to Vandersteens?

I have heard Thiel 1.6, 2.4, 2.4SE, 3.7, and 7.2; Vandersteen 2Ce Sig II, 3A Sig, Treo, Quatro, and 7 (the 7 is a true top shelf speaker and it *should* be with that price tag). I have lived with Thiel 1.6 and 2.4SE, and Vandersteen 2Ce Sig II (and am pretty familiar with 3A Sig).

Comparing the Thiel 2.4 to Vandy 2/3, the Thiel has tighter, better defined bass but the Vandersteen has deeper extension. The Thiel has slightly better resolution and transparency. Some have opined that Vandersteens are "warm", "forgiving", and "laid back", Thiels are "bright", "ruthlessly revealing", and "forward". IMO, those are great exaggerations, if not entirely inaccurate. I find both brands quite close to neutral and very musical. For my sonic priorities, I prefer the bass articulation, midrange resolution, and overall transparency of the Thiel.
And with my upgraded crossovers, I think you would have to move up to the carbon driver Vandersteens to match/exceed the clarity, resolution and transparency I'm getting.

Thiels and Vandrsteens, having owned a few models from both manufacturers, sound similar in tonality, but the main difference in my experience is that Thiels are more dynamic and forceful. Perhaps they are less compressed? Vandersteens are more polite. Both are worth owning; they are the only two speakers I've ever been happy with. Currently, I own a pair of 1Cs and CS 2.4s. The 2.4s are significantly the better of the two. Previous models owned include 2CE Sigs and CS7s and CS6s.

Good info thanks!

Todd - others may have additional SQ comparisons - my contribution addresses other marketplace factors. The design prospectus for Thiel and Vandersteen could be interchanged; they have conceptually the same design goals, launched at the same time into different arenas, avant-garde Southern California and conservative Midwest.
Vandersteen in Southern California was blessed with a robust and sophisticated market with dealers, equipment makers and clientele capable of sorting out the best musical outcomes from the components at hand. So Van took the approach of dual inputs and user adjustability which allowed the audiophile to fine-tune the speakers to their musical taste, room and amplification. The audiophile dealers loved this flexibility and cooperated with Van to get great market penetration. Add to that the enclosure design differences. Van's cabinets were nearly free compared to Thiel cabinets. With the cabinet savings, Van engaged in driver matching and pair crossover tuning. Each Van pair was nearly identical and musical as the next.
Thiel adopted the easy to love cabinetry and high Wife Acceptance Factor as part of its DNA. It was considerably more expensive than Van's approach and it garnered its own followers, but prevented overnight upscaling of manufacture; our cabinet-making required capital and training that simply weren't required by Van. So, Thiel's dealers were a different profile - more mainstream, businesslike and less audiophile - tweek. Thiel's attempt at dual inputs was not successful because inappropriate experimentation by less audiophile users sometimes yielded poor sonic results which were blamed on the speaker. Jim and Kathy couldn't be bothered with such uncontrollable variables and simplified to single inputs, which increased the demands on the driving amp and left the tweakier crowd disappointed. Thiel tested every component to a standard rather than a mate, so a particular pair might be less well matched than a Van, even though it fell within a tight spec window. 

In the marketplace there were many dealers who wanted to represent both Thiel and Vandersteen, and Thiel welcomed that situation. Vandersteen prohibited that product combination which may have been the largest component of the either - or marketplace division.

Although the two brands reach for the same goals in very similar ways, each has its own voice. History says that Vandersteen achieved a far larger audiophile following, but Thiel garnered over 60 design and engineering awards around the world over the years, evidencing a higher level of critical acclaim. When someone asks me what brands to consider I always say Vandersteen.

tomthiel
Thank You for another historical perspective on Thiel Audio. I really enjoy reading these accounts, posts. I do the same when asked about other brands to consider (Vandersteen). Happy Listening!