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Phase coherence is a subject every bit as complex as loudspeaker waveform radiation. Purists such as Thiel maintain that their 6dB/octave slopes are the only way to truly maintain phase coherence; John Bau of Spica can show you on his Tecron analyzer that the Bessel 4th-order low-pass filter he uses to cross his tweeter down to the woofer on his TC-50 and Angelus, when used with the particular drivers he chooses, is also phase coherent.

Not mentioned by any of these designers, but surely important, is that the loudspeaker radiation is phase coherent and…

Fig.1 shows the plot of impedance with frequency for the Thiel CS1.2. It agrees with the appropriate specified impedance in the review heading, but it is noteworthy how little change there is for each speaker. Obvious features can be distinguished, such as the port tuning, but I would conjecture that Jim Thiel has used some form of conjugate load system in his crossover designs to give such a flat curve with frequency. (This is where elements are added to the crossover to compensate for phase and impedance changes to result in a simple resistive load.) I would…

At $1090/pair these speakers have a lot going for them. They look great—elegant styling, impeccable cabinet finish. (The speaker terminals under the cabinet are a pain in the ass if you like to experiment with changing cables, though. You have to pick up the speaker, turn it on its side to switch cables. With this arrangement, though, you can hide some cables under the carpet, and bring them up under the speakers through a little hole in the rug. "Look, dear, no cables!")

When I first got the Thiels, I was…

You will probably remember from October's "Recommended Components" that there was disagreement in Stereophile's ranks over the merits of the smallest in Thiel's range of three loudspeakers, the CS1.2. Larry Archibald had been mightily impressed with the sound of this $1090/pair floorstanding speaker last January, feeling that it "images extremely well, has a more extended...and more natural high end [than the similarly priced Spica Angelus]...plays reasonably loud easily, has satisfying low-end extension, and…

Before listening to each pair, I ran a series of measurements on all four speakers to see if there was any obvious reason for the conflict of opinion. Fig.1 shows the spatially averaged in-room response of Larry's pair, a curve that correlates quite well with the subjective tonal balance. Though a slightly overdamped alignment leads to the response starting to roll off below 80Hz, it still features useful bass output down to 42Hz, the frequency of the bottom E string of the double bass and bass guitar. While the '1.2 does not compete with the Waveform…

If this were a beauty contest, the $1090/pair Thiels ($1120/pair on the West Coast) would win hands down. The look is clean and elegant, as is the sound. Cabinet finish is exquisite. "Thiel puts their money into cabinets," sniffed one speaker manufacturer. (Guess who.)

I may have been a little too tough on the Thiels last June, in retrospect. In fact, if this were my personal choice, I'd probably take the Thiels over the Vandersteens. I can live without deep, full, rich bass. I can't live with a lack of midrange and…

Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" aluminum-dome tweeter, 6.5" plastic-cone woofer. Crossover frequency 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 52Hz–18kHz ±2dB. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum amplifier power: 40W.
Dimensions: 36" H by 10.5" W by 10.5" D (base), 3" D (top). Weight: 47 lbs each.
Price: $1090/pair ($1120/pair on West coast), 1989; no longer available (2007). Approximate number of dealers: 52.
Manufacturer: Thiel Audio Products Co., 1026 Nandino Boulevard, Lexington, KY 40511. Tel: (606) 254-9427…

Here's the feature I liked best: The 7.1-channel Analog Direct input uses the channel-balance adjustments specified for the digital inputs and adds analog bass…

SCHUMANN: Piano Quartets in E-flat Minor (Op.47) & C Minor
Trio Parnassus: Yamei Yu, violin; Hariolf Schlichtig, viola; Michael Gross, cello. With: Chia Chou, piano.
MDG 903 1414-6 (SACD/CD)

Yet another glorious example of near-ideal re-creation of chamber music in multichannel sound. MDG's warm yet detailed recording presents the ensemble as a coherent group across the front of a room that seems not much larger than a small rehearsal hall. With this intimacy, the augmented Trio Parnassus delivers spirited and big-hearted performances…