Thiel 3.7

Zaikesman,
I enjoyed reading and learning from your posts. Very informative and your point is stated clearly. Thanks.

Hey! What happened to the old Shari?? This can't be good...

Looking closely at the photos on the website, I don't think the new compound driver uses the shared voice-coil design. It seems to have two adjacent inner suspension gaskets, one for the tweeter dome and another for the midrange diaphragm.

(Also, I'm thinking that passive radiator looks as if it's going to be a sore point for survivability problems with kids/dogs/vacuum-cleaners unless they provide some sort of screen for it behind the grille...)

Shari's husband was tranferred and they had to move, not too far but far enough to make for an unpleasant commute. That's the official story, anyway. She has gone to work for our own Larry Staples at LSA/DK Design.

Hi Dan, thanks for the info, you're another one I haven't communicated with in too long. I saw a thread recently about phase- and time-accurate designs where you mentioned you've moved on to Harbeths and are well pleased (I almost contributed to that thread too, but decided it would take too long a lecture to disabuse the Hardesty-clone true believers that what they hold so dear isn't as cut'n'dried as they idealize it). I never was convinced you were satisfied keeping the 2.4's, respected them maybe but not in love...feel free to elaborate :-)

Alex, I didn't sell the Thiels until two weeks ago. A typical pattern for me: I will own more than one component at a time and be unable to decide which I prefer. Eventually I just let something go in order to break the logjam. But you are right that I was never in love with the Thiels. They are a great, great speaker, but time to move on. The Harbeths are working nicely for me now, but I doubt they will be the last stop. The constant tension between music lover and audiophile. The Harbeths communicate the music so well and sound so beautiful. Tonight I put on a CD I rarely listen to, Charlie Haden and Hank Jones playing mainly old spirituals. It's always struck me as too spare. Not this time. It reached out and grabbed me, made complete sense musically. That's what we have systems for, right? But then I'll turn around and start thinking, boy, I sure wish these Harbeths used a better tweeter, I really need to try a Maggie or something with a Scanspeak Revelator or whatever. It's hard for me to be content. But I rarely am with anything. My character issues manifest fiercely in the hobby.