Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
The 1.7 (and its precursors) were priced at least in the neighborhood of the Vandy 2 and Magnepan 1.x speakers. I wonder what market exists for Thiel at those price levels? They better sound very, very good.
In the dem room, I auditioned the new CS2.7, which combines the coaxial HF/MF unit from the well-regarded CS3.7 with a hard-anodized woofer loaded with an elliptical passive radiator. Run full-range, but assisted below 35Hz with a pair of SS-2 subwoofers and driven by Bryston amplification and the Canadian company's new BDA-2 media server, the sound on a Bill Frisell recording was rich and clean. The distinction between the similarly pitched electric bass and double bass on one of Brian Bromberg's tributes to Jaco Pastorius was well-preserved.
Shown in the photo are Thiel's current high-performance line-up (from left to right): The SS-2 powered subwoofer, the new CS1.7 ($5490/pair), the CS2.7 ($8900/pair), and the CS3.7 ($13,900/pair). The CS1.7 is scheduled to ship in February, and combines a version of Thiel's "wobbly-web" woofer, loaded with a slot-shaped port, with a 1" metal-dome tweeter.
The 1.7 (and its precursors) were priced at least in the neighborhood of the Vandy 2 and Magnepan 1.x speakers. I wonder what market exists for Thiel at those price levels? They better sound very, very good.