They were and in my view still are excellent speakers, though there were a couple of things I recall both from hearing them and the reviews:
1. They need a LOT of current and power, as they had a very cruel dip in impedance in them. Big Krells and Thresholds were called for back then. They also need a good deal of room to sound their best; you have to sit about 10 feet back for all those drivers to start to integrate properly. Because they could go down almost to 20 Hz, you need a room that can handle the bass they put out, and you'll discover bass nodes in your room you never knew you had, so be prepared for a bit of work in setting them up properly. They are very heavy, as the baffle was made of concrete. And they definitely sound best when you're sitting--stand up and they lose some of their magic. I recall Tony Cordesman's review saying that these are speakers meant to be taken sitting down, literally. So not as great sounding when you have a party vs. when you're in the listening chair.
2. John Atkinson reviewed them for Stereophile, and while he was favorably impressed I think he ultimately gave them a Class B rating, I seem to recall (I may be wrong here, he may have put them in Class A). JA always was a tough critic with Thiel speakers, and I think he appeared to raise his standards when he listened to them because it was hard to find much wrong with them. His reviews were fair and favorable, but he would point out flaws that in the overall scheme of things would seem minor but because the rest of the speaker's performance was so good it would bother him. I wish there were more reviews like that these days...
3. The speaker has a massive and extremely complex crossover, which led some critics (Sam Tellig comes to mind) to remark that the music sounded perhaps a little too processed, so to speak--too many crossover components getting in the signal path. This never bothered me when I heard them, but I can understand the point.
4. Thiel did change the design after a few years and had a model designated the 5i; not sure what the changes were, but you could contact Thiel, they're models in the customer service industry and should be helpful here. There might even be upgrades available for the originals.
5. I always enjoyed listening to music through these speakers, though I ultimately preferred and kept my Duntech Princesses. They were perhaps a shade polite dynamically unless you really had a big amp to drive them, but were especially good-sounding with classical music. Older Thiel designs may not be quite as good technically as the newer ones, but they're still fine speakers--my old Thiel CS3s are with a friend of mine and still sound great, and I always liked the 3.5s, many of which are still making fine music.
I'm sure you'll hear from a lot of other folks--my guess is you don't see many of them used because the owners never felt the need to upgrade them.
1. They need a LOT of current and power, as they had a very cruel dip in impedance in them. Big Krells and Thresholds were called for back then. They also need a good deal of room to sound their best; you have to sit about 10 feet back for all those drivers to start to integrate properly. Because they could go down almost to 20 Hz, you need a room that can handle the bass they put out, and you'll discover bass nodes in your room you never knew you had, so be prepared for a bit of work in setting them up properly. They are very heavy, as the baffle was made of concrete. And they definitely sound best when you're sitting--stand up and they lose some of their magic. I recall Tony Cordesman's review saying that these are speakers meant to be taken sitting down, literally. So not as great sounding when you have a party vs. when you're in the listening chair.
2. John Atkinson reviewed them for Stereophile, and while he was favorably impressed I think he ultimately gave them a Class B rating, I seem to recall (I may be wrong here, he may have put them in Class A). JA always was a tough critic with Thiel speakers, and I think he appeared to raise his standards when he listened to them because it was hard to find much wrong with them. His reviews were fair and favorable, but he would point out flaws that in the overall scheme of things would seem minor but because the rest of the speaker's performance was so good it would bother him. I wish there were more reviews like that these days...
3. The speaker has a massive and extremely complex crossover, which led some critics (Sam Tellig comes to mind) to remark that the music sounded perhaps a little too processed, so to speak--too many crossover components getting in the signal path. This never bothered me when I heard them, but I can understand the point.
4. Thiel did change the design after a few years and had a model designated the 5i; not sure what the changes were, but you could contact Thiel, they're models in the customer service industry and should be helpful here. There might even be upgrades available for the originals.
5. I always enjoyed listening to music through these speakers, though I ultimately preferred and kept my Duntech Princesses. They were perhaps a shade polite dynamically unless you really had a big amp to drive them, but were especially good-sounding with classical music. Older Thiel designs may not be quite as good technically as the newer ones, but they're still fine speakers--my old Thiel CS3s are with a friend of mine and still sound great, and I always liked the 3.5s, many of which are still making fine music.
I'm sure you'll hear from a lot of other folks--my guess is you don't see many of them used because the owners never felt the need to upgrade them.