Thiel SmartSub SS1 Dimensions

testreports
Daniel Kumin
PHOTOs BY TONY CORDOZA
Although “audiophile ceiling-
speaker” might seem an oxy-
moron of the same magnitude
as “English cuisine” or “Amer-
ican diplomacy,” that didn’t stop a num-
ber of speaker companies from releasing
new models at the recent CEDIA show,
all claiming h igh per for ma nce. The
interest is perfectly understandable:
Ceiling speakers are beloved of buyers of
whole-house media systems (and airport
PA designers) because they require zero
floor space and disappear into rooms.
However, for several reasons, they usu-
ally sound mediocre — frequently down-
right bad. I’d never heard a good one,
until now. Thiel, a small, Lexington,
Kentucky high-end maker of long stand-
ing and high reputation, has attempted
this feat in its PowerPoi nt 1.2, w it h
results not far from astonishing.
SETUP
Like Alexander with the Gordian knot,
Thiel solved its problem with a single
sword-stroke, by tak ing the ceiling-
speaker out of the ceiling. The 1.2 ($1,450
each) is a high-performance, coincident-
source 2-way speaker in a contoured, cast-
aluminum “pod” that mounts to the ceil-
ing, with the tail near the juncture of a
wall. This third-of-a-watermelon enclo-
sure delivers highly rigid and non-reso-
nant behavior. Equally important, it pro-
vides fixed foreknowledge of the driver’s
location relative to the two primary reflec-
tive surfaces, allowing the PowerPoint to
optimize sound in ways that traditional
ceiling speakers can’t.
I’l l s p a r e r eader s t he ac r ob a t ic s
whereby I affixed three PowerPoints to
my ceiling without boring yet more holes
into my long-suffering studio: It worked,
but somewhere, Rube Goldberg was smil-
ing. Fortunately, a permanent installa-
tion requires just two
1
⁄
16 -inch holes in
solid wood, or a pair of fairly small ones
using molly bolts (all supplied). My sur-
round-channel ’Points went, as usual, on
high, sidewall shelves, but shimmed up
to be flush to the ceiling. The handsome,
compact SmartSub SS1 ($2,900) sat in my
established sub location, just left of the
front-left channel.
At Thiel’s urging I eschewed the cross-
over circuit in my processor for their
own PX 05 passive crossover ($500). This
small, nicely finished component is sup-
plied custom-tuned to your particular
Thiel models, accepting speaker-level sig-
nals from all five channels and summing
their bass content to a single subwoofer
output.
MUSIC PERFORMANCE
This was one of those sessions where
I turn things on for the first time and
inwardly go, “Whoa!” Running the Thiels
in full-range stereo (no subwoofer), the
sound I first heard was so unexpect-
edly full, and seemed to originate so far
below the physical ceiling, that I actually
checked to make sure my regular stand-
mounted 2-ways were not still somehow
connected. From my listening position
some 10 feet f rom the front wall, t he
PowerPoints’ stereo soundstage seemed
to hover a good 2 feet below ceiling
height, perhaps a foot and a half above
the top edge of my 50-inch screen’s top
edge. (This proved plenty close enough
for movie viewing/listening.)
Sound was open, clean, and well
–
+
Snapshot
A no-brainer if you demand serious
performance from a ceiling-mounted
speaker and have plenty of budget.
Plus

:: Unique sound quality for ceiling speaker.

:: Surprising bass extension.

:: Unexpectedly natural imaging.
Minus

:: Jetsonian look won’t please all.

:: Slightly elevated sonic image.

:: Sub volume limit falls short of speakers’.
The Shor t Form
Price $10,750 (AS TESTED)
PowerPoint 1.2 Ceiling Speaker System
Thiel
soundandvisionmag.com
ELECTRONICALLY REPRINTED FROM DECEMBER 2006

Thiel PowerPoint 1.2 ceiling speaker system
testreports
defined, with none of the hyped 80-Hz
octave by which many small speakers
hope to fool the ear into perceiving more
bass than is really there. Bass was smooth
and controlled, but clearly beginning to
roll off fairly quickly below that point.
However, in my setup, the Thiels also ini-
tially produced a modest surfeit of output
in the next, upper-bass/lowest midrange
octave, lending deeper male vocals a touch
of an over-full, extra-warm tonality. (This
seemed to diminish slightly after some
hours of playback; perhaps a breaking-in
of some sort.) Either way, I suspect much
of this arose from ceiling-to-wall, bound-
ary-effect reinforcement. Had I spaced my
PowerPoints’ “tails” a couple feet from the
wall instead of about 6 inches (I couldn’t,
due to my temporary setup’s mechan-
ics), I suspect this might have been much
mitigated. When I later tried the system
“upside-down” on the floor some 18 inches
farther from the wall, it was.
Treble seemed a bit warm at first as
well — a factor that also improved slightly
with a dozen or so hours, so I left the sys-
tem playing overnight a couple of nights
at moderate volume, which did in fact
appear to continue the process somewhat.
A little unexpectedly, I found that on-axis
listening really made a difference here: If
I moved more than about 20 degrees off
center, front-to-back, by line of sight to the
tweeters, treble definitely “darkened” and
the Thiels lost a bit of sparkle and air.
But I don’t mean to pick nits, because
really, the PowerPoint 1.2’s musical abili-
ties were quite remarkable. The Thiels’
tonal balance through the critical mid-
range was essentially perfect, yielding
consistently uncolored, natural-sound-
ing voices and instruments, while their
smooth extension into the treble regions
delivered obvious detail and depth. In my
setup, the PowerPoints projected a very
cohesive soundstage that seemed dis-
tinctly to wrap around toward the sides
of the listening area: shallower in the cen-
ter, but quite deep and out-from-the-wall
toward either side.
Adding the sub immediately produced
near-perfect bass integration and impres-
sive extension. A PBS-HD Great Perfor-
mances concert of the Vienna Philhar-
monic celebrating Mozart’s 250th birthday
(in quite fine Dolby Digital 5.1) provided
very believable extended sound from the
small-section basses and cellos, with no
hint of “hand-off,” bloat, or response-gaps
between sub and sats. Bigger bass music
proved the SS1 goes plenty deep, and
holds its own up to moderately kickin’
levels: Pressed hard, the woofer didn’t
clack or snort, but distinctly stopped get-
ting louder, which I take to be well-imple-
mented limiting circuitry at work.
MOVIE PERFORMANCE
Performance on film sound was also unex-
pectedly high-end, “for a ceiling speaker.”
With the psychoacoustic aid of a video
image to “anchor” the sound, I had a hard
time noticing that the sonic image was
slightly above the screen; only when I
turned off the TV did the sonic image seem
to mysteriously shift upward a couple of
feet. Front-stage cohesion was extremely
good — not surprising, given the Thiels’
coincident-driver design. When t roop
trucks and tanks moved across the screen
in The Great Raid , the smoothness and sta-
bility of their accompanying roars, rattles,
and whooshes were impressive. (Sounds
panning extreme left or right do seem to
move up a bit as well, but again, you sim-
ply don’t notice this unless forced.)
As with music, the SS1 proved a stel-
lar small woofer, with surprising low-end
potential well below 30 Hz. Favorite deep-
bass effects such as the sliding stone door
early in Stargate reproduced with all their
foundations intact, though as I increased
the system volume, the Thiel sub fell well
shy of first-run-cinema reference-level per-
formance. This should be an excellent sub
for smaller rooms and/or systems where
higher-volume playback isn’t necessary.
BOTTOM LINE
Thiel’s PowerPoint 1.2 delivers truly ele-
vated performance (ouch!). At $1,450 per
speaker, it’s obvious overkill for casual
multiroom applications. But where serious
audio reproduction is desired and ceiling
speakers are the only acceptable option,
demanding (and well-funded) listeners
will find these an impressive and highly
livable solution. Under those conditions,
I recommend them enthusiastically. S&V
THIELAUDIO.COM :: 859-254-9427
Key Features
PowerPoint 1.2
:: ($1,450 each): 6
1
⁄ 2 -in woofer with
coaxially mounted 1-in dome tweeter,
6
1
⁄ 2 in high, 21 in deep; 10 lb
SmartSub SS1
:: ($2,900; $3,000 as shown with
amberwood finish): 10-in driver; 500-
watt RMS amp; 20 x 10
1
⁄ 2 x 15 in; 65 lb
:: Finish: PowerPoint 1.2: paintable matte-
white aluminum; Subwoofer: satin-black
or optional wood veneers
decibels (dB)
hertz (Hz)
20 100 1k 10k 20k
15
10
5
0
5
10
15
—
—
—
Test Bench
L/R ■■ 83 Hz to 20 kHz ±4.4 dB
Center ■■83 Hz to 20 kHz ±4.3 dB
Surround ■■83 Hz to 20 kHz ±4.3 dB
Subwoofer ■■17 Hz to 56 Hz ±1.8 dB
The PowerPoint 1.2 has
uniform directivity and near
identical response for all
channel positions. The trace
shows a moderate depression
between 1 kHz and 3.5 kHz
and roughness above 1 kHz.
Nominal impedance was
just 3 ohms, so use an
appropriate amp. The SS1
sub was measured with its
PX05 passive crossover. It
showed limited upper
bandwidth, though the side
and rear wall compensation
settings extend its range
somewhat. — Tom Nousaine
Full lab results at soundandvisionmag.com/thiel
Copyright © 2006 Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc. All Rights Reserved.