Unsound - yep. The ’why not’ gets slimmer once the ’single’ barrier has been broken. And your suggestion puts the user in the driver’s seat. If we’re thinking a la carte, then the extra cost of a good pair of posts becomes user selected. I am reminded of the CS3, which split the tweeter from the other two combined drivers. That decision was partly due to the equalizer boosted bass with contributions from both the woofer and midrange drivers. But there was also input from Nelson Pass for the advantages of a very sweet class A tweeter amp. Jim prototyped such an amp with gain control to match any full range amp. Separate amps would allow low-level crossovers, before power amp stage where ultra-quality components would cost far less. Plus each cable set would be free from intermodulation from the other bands. No end to the possibilities.
Your idea brings to mind something we wrestled with at that time, an 'ultra' line with even more lovely cabinets, special veneers, hand scraped and rubbed finishes and whatever level of exquisite sound quality that might be imagined. The idea didn’t go very far for lots of reasons, but in the early 80s Thiel had very strong and enthusiastic support from reviewers, the editorial press, dealers and consumers. I suspect a market was there, and Thiel could have addressed it. One very tricky part would be how to keep the ’normal’ line from seeming like a poor cousin to the ultra line.
At that time Thiel was being courted by Mark Levinson and other expensive brands to develop and build such speakers under their brands. Thiel didn’t have the scope or desire for such undertakings. During my 20 years, and probably onward, Thiel grew at a maximum pace. We couldn’t have grown more if we had wanted to, which we really didn’t. We wanted to do a good job supplying our niche, and affordability was central to that self-image.
Your idea brings to mind something we wrestled with at that time, an 'ultra' line with even more lovely cabinets, special veneers, hand scraped and rubbed finishes and whatever level of exquisite sound quality that might be imagined. The idea didn’t go very far for lots of reasons, but in the early 80s Thiel had very strong and enthusiastic support from reviewers, the editorial press, dealers and consumers. I suspect a market was there, and Thiel could have addressed it. One very tricky part would be how to keep the ’normal’ line from seeming like a poor cousin to the ultra line.
At that time Thiel was being courted by Mark Levinson and other expensive brands to develop and build such speakers under their brands. Thiel didn’t have the scope or desire for such undertakings. During my 20 years, and probably onward, Thiel grew at a maximum pace. We couldn’t have grown more if we had wanted to, which we really didn’t. We wanted to do a good job supplying our niche, and affordability was central to that self-image.