Thiel Owners

Fellow Thielophiles,
I’m torn on my next step! My 21 year old CS 3.6s need a tweeter rebuild (I’ve had to do this at 7-year intervals and it’s that time again). I’m not sure if the speakers also may have a problem with the crossovers — they’re sounding raspy and pretty nasty lately. 
Issue is I’ve only had Thiels (03a and then my current 3.6s) for the last 33 years and haven’t done any serious listening to other speakers! ! Now that my 3.6s need work - and given possibly having to do significant work if crossovers need attention - and only CSS still servicing them, I’ve actually been thinking about listening to some other speakers (sorry guys!).  I’m curious if the “improvements” that the dealers, that Ive recently spoken to, say have occurred in the last 20+ years 

(Continued - sorry) 
are real or just the normal sales talk. 
Have speakers really improved that much in the last 20 years and is it maybe worth checking out other brands now that my 3.6s need work ?
Are there any objective Thiel owners among the Thielophiliacs that have done serious unbiased listening to other newer brands and can provide thoughts on PRAT, imaging, coherence, etc. of other brands vs. our beloved Thiels?
Thanks. 

unsound...

You were the very first member to relate the merits of the 3.5’s to me and once again I have learned more. 

I mis-spake (new word!) about sensitivity/efficiency and your input cleared that up.  Much appreciated.  

I had lived with a pair of Klipsch Epic CF-3’s for a period far longer than I have with any Thiels. (Entirely Audiogon’s fault, mind you.)  Those old Klipsch had a sensitivity of 101db, capable of being driven with a tabletop radio but - and oy vey! - those compression horn loaded tweeters really got to me after a while.  At one point, just before I removed the drivers and turned the cabinets into bookcases, I had actually stuffed a pair of white crew socks into the horns to eradicate the brittle quality.  Solely for aesthetic reasons shortly thereafter I used some foam.  Neither attempt resulted in resolution to the perceived problem so...bookcases. 

Don’t ask.  I am less of a carpenter than I am a technically proficient “audiot”, but it struck me as a good idea at the time.  

Anyway...it might be misconstrued by some followers of this thread that I didn’t like the 3.6’s. They were typically excellent Thiels - unbelievably “true” sounding from top to bottom.  It was only at my very conservative listening levels that they didn’t, couldn’t (?) deliver that natural, organic bass.  Pushed a little beyond my norm they were as wonderful as the 3.5’s. 

Thiel makes ANYTHING sound good, period.  I’ve thrown just about everything at the Thiels I’ve owned - class a, class a/b, class d, monoblocks, tubed and passive preamps, and they all benefitted from Thiel. 

If I didn’t discover Thiel from this site I would probably still have that old Pioneer pushing them Klipsch...

rosami, while there has been some incremental improvement (IMHO more hype than substance) over the years in speaker design, I still think the real value is with some of the older stuff. Some of the great designers, like Jim Thiel, John Dunlavy, Peter Walker, etc.,  have past, and there hasn't been a stampede of newer one's jumping to take their unique places. If you like Thiel's you might want to check out offerings from Duntech, Green Mountain, and Vandersteen. I suspect the next generation of speaker design on the horizon might be a bit different with more internal DSP functions. Time will tell.