Thiel Owners

@ig316b , That’s a bit of an open ended question?

Not all subwoofers are the same. Amongst other things, many subwoofers are ported as well.

Ported speakers have the advantage of providing more bass in a smaller box and/or more efficiently. However if one is pursuing more accurate bass, especially if time coherence is an objective ports, slots, passive radiators, etc., are a compromise. With the first order 6 dB slope used in most time coherent designs exacerbates this. With that said it’s quite remarkable that Jim was able to make ported bass speakers as well as most anyone at their price points and above, even compared to designs without time coherence objectives using more forgiving cross overs.

Still my preference is, for amongst other things: sealed boxes.  In the past blending subs with main monitors was problematic.Things have advanced, and it’s much more likely to succeed in satisfactory blending today. IMHO, ports and their ilk as a design principle, should only be considered when space and/or finances are more limited.

IMHO, ports and their ilk as a design principle, should only be considered when space and/or finances are more limited.

+1

While we're on that subject, I've waited for years for an appropriate SmartSub pair to come on the market to use with my 3.7s. I even have the PXO5 Passive Crossovers for the 3.7.  Since this now seems a lost cause, can anyone recommend nice (SOTA) subs that are out there? Thanks in advance.

tmsrdg

There happens to be 3, SS2 subwoofers on US AudioMart if you are interested, two in PA and 1 in NY. I was concerned about the Thiel SS Subwoofer cause there doesn't seem to be any repair for them when they fail, same thing with the Integrator.

I have read good things about REL subwoofers, I haven't looked into these but look interesting. Vandersteen has the Sub-Three that has the 11 band Eq built into the amp and uses a feed off your amplifer to provide a signal to the subwoofer, these were designed to sit in the corner of the room and take advantage of corner loading to work their best. These are the two that come to mind for music oriented use as opposed to boom shake-allda home theater subwoofers.

It would be cool if someone could find a way to repair the Thiel SS subwoofers.

If you find something interesting let us know.

ronkent,

I'm aware of the cost and weight difference between the Rex 500 and Rex 300. I'm trying to simplify rig(s) as I use a different amp for a different set of Thiel speakers. No silver bullet that's for sure. 

I thought of the same thing then move up to mono. Cost would be higher initially if I went to mono's. Going stereo first to mono I add more shipping cost and most likely a service to switch out stereo to mono. Then will amps be sequential sn#. 

Greensboro is not far from Charlotte so would welcome the invite. Always nice to hear the 3.7 in a well configured rig.