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Perhaps the biggest Thiel news was the introduction of the company's first subwoofer, which will be available in March or April of this year. This new powered subwoofer will feature a 350-watt switching power amplifier and two 10" high-output drivers. Unlike traditional subwoofers, the Thiel unit will have only a power switch and line-level inputs on the cabinet; all controls will be placed in a separate electronic control unit, one of which can manipulate any number of subwoofers, allowing multiple units to be used in rooms of varying sizes without sacrificing ease of setup and configuration.
Jim Thiel also discussed his PCS coaxial midrange/tweeter driver, which combines both a tweeter dome and a midrange cone with a mechanical crossover in one driver. This system allows for maximum time and phase coherency in a small-cabinet loudspeaker, and is used in the PCS, PowerPoint and PowerPlane. |
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Kentucky's Thiel Audio announced a number of
new products at a press breakfast held on January 7th. Among them are the PCS
"personal" speaker, which we reported earlier in 
Thiel's subwoofer control system (shown
left, $1500) is designed to minimize the traditional difficulties of integrating
subwoofers into a speaker system. The control panel allows users to input their main
speakers' type (sealed or reflex), low-frequency limit, sensitivity, and damping factor,
as well as indicating where the subwoofers are placed, and the Thiel system automatically
configures the subwoofer for highest-quality sound integration with the consumer's main
speakers. The control unit also allows consumers to use the subs in mono or stereo mode,
select how many subwoofers are in use per channel, and configure the lowest frequency
(down to 20Hz) and output level.
Each subwoofer system will require one control unit and one or
more subwoofer units ($2500 each). The subwoofer cases are specially designed to function
as speaker stands for Thiel monitor speakers, making them even easier to integrate.