Thiel Owners

@andy2 and @tomthiel.  Its good to hear that Vandersteens are now voiced more similarly to Thiels.  People also used to say Vandersteens had a shelved midrange which helped simulate lots of "depth" and some folks believe that has NOT changed.  What is still an issue for me is how the pricing of the product has really climbed to rather crazy levels, with the 5a at the time it was discontinued, at $30K....it sure didn't start out at $30K.  And the Quattro is $15K.

model 2 have just now with recent price increase caught up with inflation.....
but my sense is both Jim T and Richard frugal engineers where cost and target price points are paid attention to.

The Quattro is a stunning value and with carbon tweeter outperforms the 5 a in every way except maybe the bottom 40 HZ

I know, I owned 5a for years...even the new Treo Ct has better mid and up performance than the vaunted 5a

i would LOVE to see Thiel get back in the time and phase fight.....

Jim and Richard were both extremely frugal engineers and approached the work very similarly in broad strokes. The largest budgetary difference was the cabinet, which gave Van significant sonic-budget advantages. People compare and contrast sonic particulars; I find it more fruitful to contrast either or both of these product lines against all the other serious contenders such as Wilson, B&W, or the planars and hybrids that completely side-step coherence. Their task is perhaps a couple orders of magnitude simpler and solvable than the time and phase game. They out-sell and over-price Thiel-Van by large multiples, and get plenty of respect from reviewers and the marketplace.

It serves us well to remember that our perspective is peculiar; what some call a cult, what most say is unimportant and un-hearable. Those who 'get it' (appreciate the time and phase aspects of music) generally don't go back. I am pleased that you guys are out there enjoying what took blood sweat and tears to create.

After getting the Cardas hookup wire in the second channel, whatever last doubts I had about these 2.4s being my last speakers has evaporated. 

tomthiel -
as always, thoughtful perspectives. On my first listen to a Thiel, I certainly "got it" or was  "it got me"? As luck played its part, I had heard the Vandy 2 series a few times previously. To my ears, any differences between these (2) brands were not subtle. I found my loudspeaker brand on that Spring day. Not only was the weather beautiful there in Baltimore MD so was the aural experience.  Testimony,  is the highest compliment.
Happy Listening!