tomthiel
The first time I ever heard a Thiel speaker was at Havens and Hardesty in Seal Beach, CA. Somebody from Thiel was there, just trying to convince Mr. Hardesty to carry them, which they did, soon after. I was blown away by the specificity of imaging, even from outside the speakers, and the presentation of depth from far behind the speakers . No speaker ever did that for me before. I wanted a pair, but I was a penny-less college student, so I bought a pair used. When the 3.0 came out, I never had an interest in upgrading, based on hearing them at CES. But hearing the 3.5, and reading about it in the magazines, sold me immediately, and I bought a pair new (from Havens and Hardesty).
Now, besides my new CS3.7 and subwoofer, I have 3 pairs of CS3.5 in storage (originals still have the blown midrange, the extra 2 were for spare midranges but they are too nice to take apart), two pair of O3a (one pair have never been out of service since I bought them used as current models), two pair of O2 (they need woofer re-foam, so I’ve never heard them), and two pair of CS2.x (also have not listened to them yet). The older CS2.x I intended to use for rear channel speakers maybe, and the newer CS2.x I only bought very recently to participate in Tom’s upgrade kit project. So I still have a lot to experience with my older Thiels. The O3a, in my opinion, are very close in sound to the CS3.5, particularly the spectacular imaging and low-level detail retrieval. I have never heard CS3.0 or CS3.6, except at CES, and I didn’t think they ever really sounded great at a show, like they might have in a real home environment. For some reason, the CS3.5 always DID sound VERY good at CES, Chicago (Blackstone Hotel) and Las Vegas (Sahara and Riviera).
At CES, Jim and Kathy were never available for me to chat with, so I always spoke with Tom at the shows. Jim was somewhat uncomfortable just chatting in general, so he was always tucked away in the meeting rooms, and Kathy was always busy doing business in those rooms. When not so busy, she just never seemed to be approachable. But Tom was ALWAYS extremely warm and approachable.
Just so all of you know, Tom is a super warm and down-to-earth guy; as they say, the kind who you would really like to have a beer with. I perceived Jim as seriously introspective (as you might expect a genius to be), and Kathy just seemed all business, no fun. And then, after Tom stopped going to CES, there was Martin (I think was his name... or was his guitar a Martin?... anyway, he was a Tony Rice fan), who was also very nice to chat with. He worked for Thiel for a LONG time.
--Warren (AKA Sandy)
