Thiel 3.7

Thiel has now posted a new pdf detailing the 3.7's.

Some interesting stuff there. As I speculated about in my previous post, the actual woofer does indeed sport a corrugated flat diaphragm, outwardly the same as the passive and different from earlier photos. The blurb talks about elimination of cavity resonances with this shape, probably more of an issue for a woofer in a first-order design. (I notice that Thiel has now adopted the term "wave-shaped" to describe the woofer and midrange diaphragms. Guess that's more poetic than "corrugated".)

Also learned that the curved cabinet isn't made from scored and bent MDF, but 15-layer molded hardwood ply, a first for Thiel I believe and more unusual. And the baffle is aluminum, like the dome-shaped top. No details yet on the interior construction, but the back seems angled-back similar to the front, although not the same angle. They're specifying 90dB anechoic sensitivity, but a 2.8 ohm minimum impedance, so beefy solid-state would still seem to be the preferred amplification. Anybody hear this at CES?

$10K, 33Hz +/-2 dB from an out of time and phase drone cone, 2.8 Ohm minimum impedance, metal back. Of course the proof will be in the listening, but, despite the engineering novelties and the excercise in cabinet craft, I can't help but think they're aiming at the wrong targets.

Here's a little vid on the 3.7. Harley doesn't know the difference between phase coherency and time coherency, but Jim Thiel does ;)

http://www.avguide.com/features/ces07/videos/thiel.php

Don't think I've ever seen Harley without a suit on.