Thiel Owners

stspur
Thank You for the update. Good to read we have another DIY member of the Panel.
Happy Listening!

The butcher blocks aren't a solution for me due to WAF and stability, and with Tom's information, why upset my frequency balance, when the bass in my room is outstanding as is?  But is tilting the speakers <1" back on spikes, which tilts the baffle back the same amount, launching the wavefront 'higher', as the laser pointer indicates 8" higher at 9'?  Even if in so doing I lose a couple degrees of phase and gain a taller listening window before midrange suckout?  Or don't I really?

sdecker - tilting is the less offensive solution. But the changes introduced by either tilting or lifting are very small and either provides better performance than listening at the 'wrong' window. The coherence puzzle has its requirements, and Jim chose the average 3' ear height as part of the solution. The window is not as small as some imagine it to be unless you sit closer than 8' where it falls apart very quickly. Sit at 10' and you get a lot of leeway.

   I now realize what I've been misinterpreting for fifteen years.  The infamous Stereophile measurements are taken at 50".  Their 2.4 test figure #5 "vertical response family" shows the 1kHz crossover suckout just above the tweeter axis. 
   So at my 9' listening position vs their 4' measurement position you suggest I have far more leeway for vertical response, even though my 38" listening position is only 2" above "ideal."  Whew.
   I can't understand how JA's 50" measurements correlate to the real world for any speakers but pure-nearfield mini-monitors, regardless of XO design or driver spacing, especially the large multi-ways they typically test.

Coherent speakers must heed the listening position to test properly. JA knows this. His normal, small room would add too many early reflections to give readable graphs. So he chose 50” which gives false readings for coherent sources. There are other review rags using more legitimate methods. 
Early on, JA explained, even apologized for the misleading readings. But subsequent ownership policy changed that.