Thiel Owners

my present work on these products strongly suggests that "neutrality vs musicality" is not necessarily a dichotomy. The assumption that we must sacrifice Articulation / Neutrality / Resolution in order to get "Musicality" is not necessarily so.

That is true albeit at a rather high cost.  If you were to build low cost speakers, then it's not likely you can get all three- neutrality, resolution and musicality.  Depending on the cost you may only get one out of three.  And the more you're willing to spend on R&D and manufacturing, the more likely you'll get all three in one package.  

The Thiel CS2.4 is one of those rare speakers that are close to getting all three.  In stock form, it has neutrality and musicality.  Its weakness is in the high frequency extension resolution.  Based on what others have done, it probably came down to the xover and internal cables, and it seems like if you upgraded the xover and cables, you can get quite good high frequency extension resolution as some have reported. 

Of course by the same extension, the same would apply to preamps, amplifiers, digital front ends, cables and so on.   

@tomthiel, Perhaps not. ;-)

Thanks for your comments @tomthiel. I am not familiar with the process of developing speakers so the description you gave of the engineering chamber where speakers were put up with tweeters 10’ above the ground made me imagine the Bat cave with Thiel on pedestals, lol!  I learn so much in this thread, thank you everyone.

Anyone other thoughts, especially from those who own (or have owned) 3.7s and/or 2.7s regarding the minimum size of a room for a pair of 3.7s? If you do provide dimensions, please let me know what assumptions you’re apply, such as how far into the room the speakers are placed and how loud they are played. Thank you!

batmanfan
Yup I went from the 3.7s to the 2.7s, not for sonic issues but aesthetic/ergonomic issues.
My room is 13' wide x 15 deep (that is at it's deepest point, which is the end of the bay windows behind the listening sofa, so really most of the room is between maybe 12 - 14 feet deep).   I have a large room opening to one side of the room, which no doubt helps.
The 3.7s worked perfectly in my room,  evenly balanced from top to bottom, and disappeared and imaged better than anything I've heard (except my MBL speakers).  

I actually think I found the 3.7s a bit easier to place for even sound than my 2.7s!
The Thiel designs are very well damped and controlled in the bass which I think makes them easier to place and work in smaller rooms than many other speakers.