What a nicely made video of a magnificent sound system. Ken extended an open invitation to me to experience his place. But we really were in different worlds. For those of you who know Thiel's history, we were a nose-to-the-grindstone / little engine that could with the principals all typically working 12-15 hours x 6-7 day schedules. Jim and Kathy did more shows than I did, and I returned right after strike to tend to production. Free time was a foggy fiction; it was inconceivable for me to visit Ken's gig, no matter how attractive. But, I didn't realize how far he took it, what a monumental effort.
I note Vance Dickason, speaker designer and author, in the credits. That's serious design chops. His crossovers would be informative.
And there's the matter of cost. Imagine the price tag on that rig! That illuminates a piece of Thiel history. Ken ran a commercial/industrial mold-making operation. He claims he made our patterns, masters and molds for the CS5i baffle. Mostly true. He quoted them, which induced serious sticker shock in yours' truly. I opted to refurbish the pattern that I had made for the initial baffle runs via a local Lexington marble shop - patterns are somewhat damaged in the mastering process. We pushed and tugged awhile, and I ended up making the quoted $20K pattern for a couple days' work in my project shop and original CNC. Similarly the production molds - we had made two in the original marble shop. Ken's price was unrealistically high, and I opted to upgrade our originals myself (in my bootstrap style.) That fact cut Ken's price in half and added a highest-quality renewable wear-coat. He still made plenty on the job. His work was exemplary of a highly skilled craftsman. And his prices were wrangled into the zone of accessibility due to competition with Thiel's vertical integration. Such is the nature of small business with options to self-supply technical elements.
