Thiel Owners

Damn!


I've been switching up my speakers with some others I own, like the Waveform Mach MC monitors and then my old Thiel 02s.


Sometimes I think I shouldn't do this, because every time I throw on the Thiel 02s I'm bewitched.  I think "THAT'S what I'm looking for!"  They have a magic tone, actually a sort of rainbow of tones, where cymbals and horns pop from the mix in shiny metallic, warm hues, guitar strings sparkle and sound EXACTLY like an acoustic guitar, with a woody body, voices sound beautiful, and drum snares sound so organic and have that papery "drum snare" pop and texture, bongos the same thing.  They have this magic ability to give electric keyboards, and electric guitars (no distortion) a beautiful shimmering quality like I hear in real life.   Strings have such beauty and texture.


And they image wonderfully.   Though they do have a slight upper midrange peak that helps give that glow and palpability.  They aren't as coherent as the bigger Thiels.  


But when I hear them I can't help but think "have we really come that far?" in terms of speaker design.


My 2.7s are wonderful and produce a far larger, richer sound.   But in terms of sheer tonal beauty, and in terms of the palpability and sense of life, I find myself leaning towards the 02s!


Then again, leave anything in the system long enough, the flaws come out and it's time to switch.  But...jeeze...there's a reason I just can't sell these things.   "Thiel 02s...girl!...I can't quit you!"

:)

Prof - your interest has inspired me to resurrect and study my 02s which are in transit from Virginia. the o2 is second order like Wilson, ps etc. stock peerless tweeter and normal coils caps resistors woofer and port. Unbraced cabinet, no anti diffraction tricks. A thesis could written on why you like them.

I’m glad to report that bluestone is local enough and/or intrepid enough to arrange pickup of the 3.5 drivers and crossovers next week. Seems as though he is as fond of these old speakers as I had been. And I’ve had a few. They are most definitely worth sustaining for as long as feasibly possible.  30 year old speakers that sound this good?  Yeah!

The pair of 3.5’s that I gifted to my nephew - with the mids repaired by Rob a while ago - still sound excellent. At low to moderate listening levels I don’t think I’ve had a speaker that put out such impeccable sonics - which may very well be the strongest suit of this model. Yeah, it’s an old design, replacement parts are scarce and growing even scarcer, but they’re still an absolute bargain on the used market.  There’s a pair in California asking $800, and there’s been a pair in New York for well over a year asking $1000.  That would be my personal ceiling given all the drawbacks aforementioned.  

It has been a LOT of fun watching the discourse continue here; the conversations regarding upgrades and tweaking these speakers is interesting as all hell even though I wouldn’t know a first order network from a short order cook. That so many others also find Thiel to be something very special is - forgive the very weak pun - music to my ears. 

Thiel was responsible for me getting back into “hifi” around six years ago with my first pair of 3.5’s. Hard to let that kind of influence just go away. 

Rock on, thread!  Best there is ...

jon_5912 , jafant --

To me it is fairly simple --- when you go to a jazz club or classical concert you hear the music.  If well performed, there is absolutely nothing to create tension, stress, or even untoward focused attention.  You tend to let the music and performance wash over you.  You are immersed in it.

To me, the Thiel and Vandersteen speakers (as well as some planars) do that.  Other speakers do not, except perhaps a few planars.

 Interestingly I grew up in a household with a very large JBL C-30 front loaded corner horn (two 15" woofers and a D175 horn mid-tweeter that dispersed widely via baffles and covered everything from 175hz on up.. It was mono, but music was produced that was effortless and low distortion, with pretty coherent phase given it was handled mostly by a single driver.  It had much of that same "effortless" , relaxing quality you feel.

tomthiel,

Ha...yeah I feel a bit strange lauding them so highly.  They just happen to hit my buttons. 

As I said, at least my pair has an upper mid/lower treble peak of some sort that unfortunately can make them shouty or piercing with the wrong material.  And they won't turn up terribly loud before straining.

But they have such an in-the-room palpability.  And they seem to be a match made in heaven with my Conrad Johnson tube gear and especially with vinyl playback, which I think plays to their strengths and mitigates some of their weaknesses.   I'll have to try pairing them with my subs at some point for fun.