I'd hazard a guess it might be due to Asian market considerations. In Chinese the number 4 is claimed to sound like the word for death. It is thought best to be avoided. Some buildings in China skip the 4th floor, just as some western buildings skip the 13th floor.
The Thiel 3.5 was the last Thiel to use a bass boosting equalizer, but certainly not the only model. I believe all the 3 series preceding and some of the earlier, smaller models did as well.


these speakers I picked up? they seem to look a lot like Thiels but they have no markings and I can't match them to any of the models provided in the links above.