New Thiel Speakers - Post Jim Thiel Era

I love my old 1.2's and thought of upgrading to 1.7's but now I problably won't. I hope the company survives, but Jim Thiel was the visionary for the unique speakers they produced. With him gone, that vision is also gone, and they may be left with just a good cabinet-making facility. If there is nobody to take his place as the technical leader, they could become just another producer of box-style speakers with off-the shelf drivers and nothing unique about them. That is alot of speculation and I hope that doesn't happen, but it will be interesting to see what direction they go in.

There will be a new designer. He'll bring his own values. His own listening preferences. They will be Thiel in name only. Like following a team full of free agents, one is in effect loyal to laundry, the uniform only. Same with Thiel, watch and see.

I would just like to chime in that I too have had nothing but great interactions with Thiel since all the changes happened. They just did some "warranty" work on a crossover for my first generation smartsub, that I bought used and must be > 10 years old. I only had to pay for shipping there. Tim's been quick and attentive to anything I brought to them.

I've had some recent experience with Thiel support. Clearly, this not the same management.

Apparently the 3.7's will be replaced this summer with those "life style" looking white speakers. Most likely the rest of the traditional line will soon follow into the abyss. Appears all the in house construction and parts is being done away with too. Using more off the shelf parts and off campus manufacturing. Probably to save money but keeping the price the same. Thiel as we knew it is gone.

But it remains to be seen what it becomes. I'm personally sad to see this era come to an end. A unique piece of speaker history is disappearing before our eyes.