Thiel Owners

I imagine Thiel having concentrated on hi fi product refinement rather than the tremendous investments and demands of addressing home theater. Not only would the state of the art have been stretched, but the internal workings of the company would have been more manageable.
 

I sincerely believe Jim Thiel made some of the best drivers out there. IMO, only more recent and far more expensive offerings from Vandersteen, TAD, and Vivid are appreciably superior. In your alternate universe, a CS7.2 or CS3.7 with SOTA passive parts and, maybe, Wilson-like budget on cabinet materials would have elevated those models from outstanding to cutting edge.

I hope to some day hear the CS5, all the more if it has received your upgrades. IME, the highest quality bass is produced by a sealed box. Eg, the 30 year old Avalon Ascent has the best bass definition I’ve heard. Well, probably matched by the Vandy 7 which also has SOTA bass extension.

The Kento are low 40’s. You get powered subs built in w 11 bands of EQ and tge 7 midrange / tweeter matched to .5 db ( the 7 is matched to .25 db ) The 7 Extreme employs Kento bass driver arrangement.  IF one were to apply some critical thinking to where Jim T would be today, you could forsee him making many of the same design and execution choices made by Vandersteen ( many people don’t have a clear understanding of the mutal respect, friendship, time spent together w Dick Hardesty ). I see Jim continuing to invest in bespoke drivers, awesome capacitors that earn way on to speaker w sonic virtue, pistonic motion, low diffraction, time and phase and tge heavy technology investment required to build an inert low coloration cabinet , add in built for the most part in USA, stir in how many years of inflation and a $50 k JT product in the market is hardy far fetched…

Just my $1.50

I miss Charlie..RIP

tomic601

Thank You for pricing the Kento at $40K. It is an impressive loudspeaker system.

I dare say that I like it better than the Series 7. Still, I paid $3500- for my sweet CS 2.4SE loudspeakers. No contest. And I quite a large sum of money left over for other components.

Happy Listening!

beetlemania

Right On! Vandersteen and Wilson Audio are still cutting-edge, SOTA.

I hope that you are well. If Charlie Hansen(RIP) were alive today, it would be interesting to watch his creations as well. Add AYRE to the list.

Happy Listening!

tomthiel

Thank You for a little parts cost comparison and its relationship with Retail pricing.

We all can hardly await for the 1st speaker to roll off your assembly line. I am a later bloomer having learned about Thiel Audio in 2012. I am a quick study.  Most of the Panel members are grateful for Jim not following the H/T trend of the 1990's.

There is something to be said about staying focused on One's strong suit in Audio.

Happy Listening!