Thiel 3.7

Anthony Cordesman said this in his Nov. 2008 3.7 TAS review that was otherwise a rave:
"You will hear the hardness & excessive upper-octave energy that is actually present in far too many classical recordings of piano, flute, clarinet, violin. You will hear the bad moments on recordings of tenor and, particularly, soprano voice....Accuracy has its costs..."

Whenever I see the word "accuracy," I think it's a code word for fatiguing.

Thiel actually has this review on it's site (a tribute to their honesty, I guess).

Any comments? Are these the anti-Harbeth?

(note: above I said that Stereophile compared them to the Sophias, but I can't find that right now so I may be mistaken about that. Sorry. I will keep looking. A Stereophile review actually said the 3.7s had more "grace" than the Wilson WP8s -- by Wes Phillips posted Dec.15,2008)

Rgs92,

TAS, was knocking the recordings not directly knocking the speaker. But there is truth to the review. They are very reveling and can be fatiguing if your recordings are not up to pare. But and it is a big but, if the recording quality is there they are extremely hard to be for the money.

They are not bright in the upper mids and no more bright in the upper mids than the Sophia 3. They do not have the rich color mid of some other speakers. If you want a warmer mid look into Kef or Dynaudio. If you like a flat detailed sound you might like the Revel Studio 2 also.

If you did not like the CS2.4 you will most likely not like the 3.7 either. They share a house sound but the 3.7 is better in every way than the CS2.4

Here is another review from Tone Mag.

"All in all, this is one of the most enjoyable systems I’ve heard. The imaging and dynamics in particular were fantastic. There was no sense of any part of the system struggling to keep up and there was nothing fatiguing about the sound, it got my feet tapping with every track and made me feel good enough to want to start singing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and eating apple pie. If this is America the beautiful, I’m there like a bear"

http://thielaudio.com/THIEL_Site05/PDF_files/PDF_reviews/CS37/TONE_Mag_37Review0208.pdf

Good stuff James! I really appreciate all that research you did for me. The dynaudio idea is also good. I think my most memorable experience was the Evidences about 10 years ago
(at the late Soundex in Willow Grove PA). Best to you.

It's fitting to me, that Jim's last design was a 3 series product.
My first ownership from him was the 03a, an equalized, 25Hz to 20Khz, loudspeaker of relatively diminuitive stature...then within a couple of years, the CS3, (Coherent Source 3) the 3, was for 3 way speaker.
This speaker was the one that put THIEL on the radar of the mags as well as the higher end audiophiles.
There's a great story about that speaker that I'd like to share with everyone. The story is illustrative of Jim Thiel and Kathy Gornik--how they view business and customers.
A review came out(this would have been circa 1984 fall) in which the reviewer complained about an 'upper midrange GLARE', which was mostly apparent when one stood slightly from the seated position.
Jim was always appreciative of magazines that published specs, as he was the ultimate 'spec' guy--but oftentimes he took issue with methodology.
I remember speaking to him about the 'glare' issue, which he at first said, (to me at least) why does it matter what it sounds like when standing/stooping at a strange height? Who's going to be standing like that? But then, his clinical side took over and he started experimenting.
After several of what had to be painful hours, he found a production error that was to create a seminal moment for THIEL, yet illustrative of what kind of people they are.
Back in those days, THIEL drivers were manufactured to thier specs (Jim would talk to Seas for example for weeks designing, sending drawings etc, and they would send samples to him). As it turns out, the midrange driver at that time was paper, coated with a viscus compound, a plasticized compound which increased the Young's Modulus, defined for this example as 'strength to weight ratio', in simple terms it increased the tensile strength of the driver while not increasing the weight significantly, allowing the driver to act in a more purely pistonic motion, punching the air without twisting. Sorry, but that's what it was.
Anyway, the company manufacturing the driver had put slightly, and we're talking microns of depth, too much of the compound on the driver, changing the response of the driver slightly from the prototypes.
Because of the nature of manufacturing in those days, before 'sample testing' and such, AND the slight alteration, it slipped by Jim's Q.C. efforts.
Understand this, this was back in the day...THIEL was just a struggling young company.
The 'change' in the output really didn't show up on a sweep, but at certain volumes would be apparent, but only when one stood in a crouched manner above the normal listening position...so it was WRONG, but an almost 'who cares' change that only an Absolute Sound listener might notice.(Kudos to the writer, who I can't remember, I'm wanting to say Anthony Cordesman, but not sure).
Anywho, THIEL needing the cash flow from the hundreds of pairs of already completed speakers, elected NOT TO SHIP the speakers out, creating a billing cycle--but chose to let them sit in the warehouse until replacement drivers could come in.
Think about this...a young struggling company, who was dependant on monthly billing cycles, had more than a couple hundred pairs of CS3's sitting idly in their warehouse waiting for almost 2 months for replacements--creating 60 days of delay. This WAS a 'make it, break it' moment for them and they didn't hesitate. The COULD have shipped, sent a 'oh gee' letter to all owners and replaced the drivers in the field, but didn't. They held the products.
How many people would do this in today's business world--in the 1984 business world? They did the right thing without anyone noticing or looking. What's the old saying, 'It's what you do when no one's looking that tells what kind of person you really are.'
Looking back those almost 30 years ago that that happened--knowing the pain that this action created for them financially, I can't tell you how proud I am to tell you that Jim and Kathy were two of my icons and heroes in not only just audio, but in the business world.

It's important that everyone know, when thinking of buying a product, what THIEL does when no one's looking.

Good listening,

Larry

Your Ayre player is fine. But I had Bryston components (7BSTs and a Bp25 pre) upfront of my CS7s and I have to say that the Bryston gear will not bring forth all that your 3.7s will be capable of delivering. It's not so much the current capability, but one of resolution. When I upgraded to Krell KCT and 400cx there was a dramatic, and I mean significant, in all dynamics, extension and air. I'm not saying that Krell is the last word in powering Thiels, but I am saying that the Brystons will only get you so far with these extremely fine speakers. Kudos to you for choosing Thiel, they, along with Vandersteen, are my favorite speaker brands.