Thiel ViewPoint Dimensions

REPRINTED FROM
November/December 2004
Electronically reprinted from
Issue 57
Designer Jim Thiel is pret-
ty much a legend in
high-end audio circles.
For decades, his floor-
standing speakers have
been rated at or near the state-of-
the-art, even compared with the
price-no-object competition. Jim
recently focused his speaker
design talent and trained ear on
building the ultimate plasma TV
speakers. Now, it’s possible to
have both superb aesthetics and
superb sound in a room where a
full surround system isn’t an
option.
I’ve stated many times in
reviews that plasma monitors usu-
ally don’t make the best home-the-
ater displays, although they can
look very, very good. It seems that
many people agree, because in my
ISF calibrations I rarely see plas-
ma-based home theaters. Many of
my customers have plasma sets,
but they’re almost always being
used as the home’s primary dis-
play, while a front projector or
RPTV occupies the dedicated
home-theater room. Plasma dis-
plays are popular because they
mount on the wall, take up little or
no space, have a bright sharp pic-
ture that looks great from any angle in
a fully lit room, and are cosmetically
the best solutions for many spaces. In
such circumstances, a surround-sound
system with six or more speakers
would just add the clutter that plasma
is designed to avoid. But how do you
get good TV sound with a plasma
monitor without multiple speaker
boxes or the hassle of multiple in-wall
speakers? With the ViewPoints, Thiel
has the answer. The ViewPoints are
high-end audio all the way, yet they’re
custom-made to perfectly match the
styling and cosmetics of your particu-
lar plasma display, giving true audio-
phile sound with a totally seamless,
integrated appearance.
Features
The ViewPoints may be small and
thin, but don’t let that fool you.
Dynamite comes in small
packages. The custom-built,
custom-painted cabinets are
extruded from solid pieces of
aluminum specially engi-
neered for minimizing vibra-
tion and enhancing clarity. A
single ultra-low-distortion
coaxial/coplanar driver on
each side gives uncolored
response to the widest possi-
ble listening area with per-
fect time and phase coher-
ence—something multiple
drivers could never accom-
plish in such a configuration.
No expense is spared in this
driver, which Thiel makes in-
house. Even super-powerful
neodymium magnets are
used. The woofer uses a
short voice-coil with a long
gap for high power-handling
and long excursion. The
coaxially mounted tweeter is
also capable of extremely
high output and is, in fact,
the same one used in the CS
7.2, Thiel’s most expensive
audiophile speaker. Maxi-
mum recommended amplifi-
er power is an incredible 400
watts per channel.
AUDIO REVIEW ❘Randy Tomlinson
How do you get good TV
sound with a plasma
monitor without multiple
speaker boxes or the hassle
of multiple in-wall speakers?
With the ViewPoints, Thiel
has the answer.
Thiel ViewPoint Plasma TV Loudspeaker
To subscribe to the perfect vision, call 888-475-5991 (US), 760-745-2809 (outside US) or visit www.theperfectvision.com. $42 for six issues in the US; $45 Canada, $75 outside
North America. Posted with permission from Absolute Multimedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication of this article is strictly prohibited.
For more information on reprints from The Perfect Vision, contact Wright’s Reprints at 877-652-5295.

The Perfect Vision ❘November/December 2004
Perhaps the most crucial design
aspect that affects loudspeaker perform-
ance is the crossover network. Thiel’s
expertise in crossover design is leg-
endary. You’ll simply never get audio
engineering like this from a plasma-TV
manufacturer. And once again, top-of-
the-line parts from the CS 7.2 were used
in the ViewPoint crossover.
According to Thiel, his patent-
pending combination of mounting the
woofer very close and angled to the
wall eliminates the wall-reflection can-
cellation that mars the sonic perform-
ance of virtually every other surface-
mounted speaker. This is also said to
eliminate the need for a separate cen-
ter-channel speaker. It’s important to
note that these speakers are designed
specifically for wall-mounting and
failure to use them mounted flush
against a wall will hinder their per-
formance.
Listening Tests
Thiel supplied the ViewPoints cus-
tom-made for the excellent Hitachi
42HDT55 plasma set I reviewed in
Issue 52. The Hitachi, which continues
to impress me, remains on hand for
plasma comparisons. Before mounting
the ViewPoints next to the Hitachi
plasma, I decided to give them a try in
my high-end listening room, right in
front of my Magnepan MG 3.6s and
driven by my reference 240 watts-per-
channel (4 ohms) Class A fully-bal-
anced Sumo Gold power amp, upgrad-
ed with the latest and best parts. Of
course, with no rear wall for bass rein-
forcement, I expected the sound to be
somewhat thin, particularly in the
upper bass region, but I just wanted to
see if they had what it takes to sound
like a real audiophile speaker. What I
heard was impressive clarity, detail,
and lack of coloration (from the upper
bass on up), with beautiful, delicate
highs that were distinctly high end.
The soundstage was wide and deep
and the speakers disappeared (sonical-
ly) nicely. Engaging a Hsu HO1220
subwoofer with Bryston amplification
further enhanced the listening experi-
ence, and by an order of magnitude.
While I’m not ready to sell the
Maggies just yet, this was still impres-
sive sound considering that the
ViewPoints are a tiny fraction of the
Maggies’ size and were being used far
from the rear wall and totally against
their designer’s intentions.
With the ViewPoints mounted on
the wall next to the Hitachi plasma,
the listening experience with all sorts
of video sources was outstanding.
While low bass was lacking, there was
still plenty of “body” to the sound.
The upper midrange/lower treble
region sounded just a tad elevated,
probably to enhance intelligibility, but
it was far from forward and fatiguing.
Excellent movie soundtracks (like
Master and Commander—The Far
Side of the World) were done beauti-
fully and with spectacular detail, as
you’d expect, but the real surprises
came from conventional broadcast
and satellite TV programs that always
sounded better than I thought they
could. One could be easily spoiled by
this kind of everyday TV sound.
Keep in mind, though, that while
two speakers in a stereo configuration
can give you gorgeous, involving
sound, they cannot give you the
incredible effect of six speakers and
Dolby 5.1 surround. You gave that up
for aesthetics—remember?
The recommended power ampli-
fier for driving the ViewPoints will
vary according to your listening
needs. If you never really crank it
up, a really good integrated amplifi-
er with 50 watts per channel might
be ideal. My 240Wpc (4 ohms) amp
actually gave some surprising sound-
pressure levels. But since there
would be no center speaker or sur-
rounds, I’d avoid A/V receivers and
stick to stereo separates. Watching
DVDs with no subwoofer will
require considerably more reserve
power, but for even better movie
sound, you should look into one of
Thiel’s new powered SS series sub-
AUDIO REVIEW
The ViewPoints
may be small
and thin, but
don’t let that
fool you.
Dynamite
comes in small
packages.

woofers and passive crossover.
One thing’s for sure, though. You
don’t want to disgrace these speakers
by driving them with the amplifiers
built into your plasma TV. Either use
the TV’s line outputs or those on
your cable box, satellite box, or
DVD player to drive a good external
amplifier.
Conclusion
Thiel’s ViewPoint speakers aren’t
cheap by any stretch of the imagina-
tion, yet, when you understand that
they’re designed to the highest stan-
dards of a company known for
decades as one of the high-end speak-
er industry’s finest, and truly custom-
made in both size and finish to per-
fectly match your particular plasma
display, the price suddenly looks real-
istic. Even without the aesthetics,
stunningly beautiful sound with
incredible dynamic capability simply
can’t be had cheaply. Now if you’ve
spent a few thousand bucks for a
Gateway plasma, it certainly makes
no sense to spend even more than
that for two speakers, but if you’ve
got one of the best plasma sets and
want the best sound to match, but
without the clutter of multiple speak-
er boxes, the ViewPoints are about as
good as money can buy. In this case,
highly recommended.
And, as an added plus: With good
electronics, they’ll sound better play-
ing audio CDs than many “audio-
phile” speakers.
Randy Tomlinson is an independent
ISF-certified calibrator in the Atlanta
area and can be contacted via his Web
site at www.advancedtechservice.com.
AUDIO REVIEW
SPECIFICATIONS
Bandwidth: 60Hz–20Khz ±3dB
Sensitivity: 88dB/watt
Impedance: 4 ohms (3 ohms min.)
Rec. Power: 50–400 watts
Size: 8" x 5" (height and color built to order)
THIEL AUDIO
1026 Nandino Blvd.
Lexington, Kentucky 40511
[phone]
www.thielaudio.com
Price: $3980
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION
The ViewPoints are about
as good as money can
buy. In this case, highly
recommended.

1026 Nandino Boulevard • Lexington, Kentucky 40511 • USA
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone] • E-mail: [email protected] • Web: www.thielaudio.com