Thiel Owners

Out of curiosity, is anyone else getting weird stretched-width formatting for this page of the thread?

I believe that what is causing the page to stretch horizontally, at least when viewed in Firefox, is the long URL in Unsound’s post dated 4-3-2019 at 12:32 p.m. EDT. I’ve seen that happen in the past in other threads, and in at least one such case the poster subsequently deleted the post and things went back to normal.

On my system the issue does not appear with Microsoft Edge (which wraps the URL into many lines, so that each line is not any longer than usual), but does appear with Firefox.

My practice when providing a lengthy url in a post is to put it "under" a short piece of text, like this. Which can be done using the "Insert URL" button that is above the response box, after selecting the text under which the URL should be inserted.


Regards,
-- Al

Hello Paco - difficult room. Some setup thoughts from my experience: Phase-time coherence introduces problems not heard in normal time-challenged speakers. Your ear-brain strives to make sense of the signal. In non-coincident driver Thiels, the required distance of 8'+ enabled the 3 signals to arrive at the same time via finding the proper vertical position for integration. That serious business is addressed by the coincident driver which solves the mid-tweeter issue, which is the more critical range. Lower frequency waves are so much longer and the ear so much less critical in the bass that they are quite forgiving. So you can sit as close as you want and tilt the speakers as needed.

I have a pet bias for first reflections being very important. The time-correct rendering from Thiels allows your ear to differentiate between direct and reflected sound to a much higher degree than normal speakers require. In round numbers, there is a threshold for arrival transients at about 5 milliseconds. Shorter times try to conflate the reflected sound with the direct sound for a confusing slur. Longer times allow the ear to identify the reflected component as distinct - processing it as an understandable reflection, since your eyes know there is a wall behind or next to your speaker. The side-wall reflection can be readily absorbed or diffracted due to the ricochet pattern . However, the front-wall / behind the speakers is far more difficult due to its large flat-plane pattern. The absorption required to kill the reflected wave would make the room very dead. I strongly recommend having at least 2.5' behind the speaker (x2 for the wave to reach the speaker and continue forward,) more is better.

Low ceilings present problems. Apply the first-reflection strategy to a greater degree. The psyche distrusts overhead anomalies and that ceiling bounce introduces anxiety in addition to inflating the mid-bass frequency response. In musical terms frequency response is extremely important for timbre and identification. But in psychological terms FR is merely academic. First rule: get cozy and safe in your listening environment.
The standing waves between floor and ceiling present problems. I suggest good carpet. Organic hair underpad outperforms any of the plastic foams in spades. Wool carpet likewise outperforms, damping more than an octave lower than synthetics. Alternatively I get good results with rubber-backed commercial carpet tiles with as much thickness and texture as you can stand.

As stated above, near-field listening seriously minimizes room issues. And the x.7 coincident driver takes the compromise out of nearfield listening.

I think that your difficult room cries out for analysis and mitigation. Guys here know of apps and products to address room issues. Good luck. Happy listening. 

Sorry about that. Doesn't stretch in IE. In all the years I've been here I never bothered to check out the buttons above the response box. Thanks --Al. Once again you provide the most valuable contributions!

tomthiel- thank you for your continued input about Pass designs, it is very helpful. By chance prior to reading your post, I stumbled across the firstwatt.com website. It was fun to connect some dots between your comments and Nelson Pass.

unsound- thank you for bringing to my attention the re-listing on eBay of the S300. I appreciate your advice on what to ask and certainly plan on doing my due diligence. I must admit I am a bit hesitant to purchase something this old. I have only once ventured into the used audio equipment market when I purchased a pair of KEF Q900 speakers (from a long-standing local Audiogon member with impeccable ratings) so I felt pretty confident about what I was getting.