February 2010 Reviewed by Howard Kneller	Thiel Audio SCS4 / PowerPoint 1.2 / SS3 SmartSub / PX05 Home-Theater Speaker System

Description Model: SCS4 main loudspeaker Price: $990 each Dimensions: 17.6"H x 8.4"W x 11.7"D Weight: 25 pounds each Model: PowerPoint 1.2 surround loudspeaker Price: $1450 each Dimensions: 12"W x 6.5"H x 21"D Weight: 16 pounds each Model: SS3 SmartSub subwoofer Price: $6900 Dimensions: 34"H x 16"W x 22.5"D Weight: 167 pounds Model: PX05 passive crossover Price: $500 USD Dimensions: 7"W x 2"H" x 6.5"D Weight: 3 pounds System price: $13,270 Warranty: Ten years, limited.

Features (cont'd) SCS4 Two-way design 1" metal-dome tweeter coincident with 6.5" metal-diaphragm woofer First-order acoustic crossover Aluminum baffle PowerPoint 1.2 Two-way design 1" metal-dome tweeter coincident with 6.5" metal-diaphragm woofer First-order acoustic crossover Angled drivers Solid aluminum cabinet Can be mounted on wall or ceiling SS3 SmartSub Two long-throw 12" woofers Short-coil/long-gap motor systems Switch-mode power supply, 1kW linear amplifier Boundary Compensation controls 6’ detachable power cord Compatible with Thiel PX05 passive crossover PX05 Permits subwoofer to alter its output to augment speaker output For use with up to five channels Custom-made to work with any Thiel speaker model(s) Small footprint ideal for crowded equipment racks or other areas

In retrospect, it was not the best-laid plan. I was leaving for work for an important meeting when a trucking company called to notify me that I was about to receive a 500-pound skid containing an assortment of Thiel speakers -- curbside delivery only.

Oh, yes -- I had, in fact, agreed to review a Thiel home-theater speaker system comprising three SCS4s, two PowerPoint 1.2s, and one gargantuan, 167-pound SS3 SmartSub with PX05 external passive crossover (total system price: $13,270).

This was a problem. Many phone calls later -- to Thiel, the trucking company, my editor, my boss, my building’s super -- a rough plan was in place. Inspired by a three-figure payoff, the building staff would, without suffering injury, attempt to receive the skid when it arrived.

When I got home that evening, I was glad to discover that the delivery had gone smoothly and that the goods were safely stashed in my building’s basement. Getting the small speakers up to my apartment was easy. The sub? Not so much. In size and shape, its enormous wooden crate resembled a coffin. Figuring it was too heavy to be easily stolen, I left it in the basement for a week, until Thiel could send its very helpful PR representative to help me get it upstairs.

At which point -- and after I’d cleared a backlog of other review equipment I had on hand -- the review could begin.

SCS4

The two-way SCS4 loudspeaker ($990 each) sports a 1" metal-dome tweeter at the center of a metal-diaphragm 6.5" woofer. The tweeter is virtually the same as the model used in Thiel’s flagship speaker, the CS3.7.

The SCS4’s drivers are placed in an unusual "coaxial coincident" array in which the tweeter is inset back in the speaker and time-aligned with the woofer. According to Thiel, this "time coherence" ensures that every listener hears the sound from both drivers at exactly the same time, regardless of where and in what orientation (vertical or horizontal) the speakers are placed.

The SCS4’s tweeter crosses over to the woofer at 2.5kHz via a gradual-transition, acoustic first-order crossover. According to Thiel, this improves the uniformity of the speaker’s dispersion in all directions; the speaker is claimed to be "phase coherent."

The SCS4’s cabinet of 1"-thick MDF has a die-cast aluminum baffle and is front-ported. The baffle provides a rigid platform on which to mount the drivers, and minimizes cabinet resonances. The cabinet is reinforced with internal braces of 1"-thick MDF. Don’t let the fact that this speaker is made in China fool you: It’s sexy and gorgeous, with a fit and finish that are nothing short of incredible.

PowerPoint 1.2

Like the SCS4, the PowerPoint 1.2 ($1450 each) can be used as a front-, center-, or rear-channel speaker; it can also be mounted on a wall or ceiling.

Also like the SCS4, the PowerPoint uses coaxial coincident driver placement, and is designed for situations in which conventional speakers could pose problems. The PowerPoint’s drivers are almost identical to those found in the SCS4. The crossovers used in the two speakers are also very similar, the one used in the PowerPoint also being a gradual-transition, acoustic first-order design.

The PowerPoint’s sleek, wedge-shaped cabinet of cast aluminum undoubtedly accounts for some of its higher cost over the SCS4. Thiel states that aluminum offers excellent clarity and dynamics, and makes it possible for the speaker’s output to cover a very wide area, further maximizing performance for virtually any listening position. This heavy speaker is built like a tank.

SS3 SmartSub and PX05 external crossover

It’s safe to assume that most people running SCS4s and PowerPoints don’t pair them with a monstrous SS3 subwoofer ($6900). But because I’d recently had some outstanding ones in for review, my editor told Thiel to send me a "killer" sub, and that they did.

This large sub stands a commanding 34" tall. I’m 5’11" -- it comes up to about my waist. The SS3 sports two front-firing, 12", high-output, low-distortion drivers with aluminum diaphragms, heavy cast chassis, and proprietary, short-coil/long-gap, copper-stabilized motor systems powered by 10-pound magnets in structures that have a total weight of 20 pounds each. Thiel states that this design results in distortion levels that are one-tenth that of drivers with the same excursion rating, and allows each driver to move an unusually large amount of air. The SS3 can be used by itself or with an external crossover.

The SS3 is powered by a switch-mode power supply and a linear amplifier claimed to output 1kW. What caught my eye were the controls on the rear panel: they not only let you adjust the gain, as with most subs, but also to engage what Thiel calls Boundary Compensation by equalizing certain frequencies, in the event the SS3 needs to be placed near a side or rear wall.

The PX05 ($500) is a freestanding passive crossover that can be used for up to five-channel listening, and is configured at the Thiel factory to work with any Thiel speaker model(s). The PX05 doesn’t redirect bass away from the speakers; instead, it allows the SS3’s lower-level output to augment that of the speakers, to create smoother frequency transitions. As a result, as discussed below, it’s probably not suited for use in very large rooms with smaller speakers, as such speakers will typically receive too much low-end signal.

Getting an elephant to play well with mice

Properly positioning the SCS4s and PowerPoint 1.2s in my medium-size (22’L x 12’W) room was easy. It was getting the enormous SS3 SmartSub to smoothly blend its output into that of the smaller speakers that gave me pause. This process is never simple, but when the smaller speakers don’t go extremely low in the first place, thus necessitating the use of a relatively high crossover frequency, the job is even harder.

Luckily, I had two ringers in the wings: the PX05, as well as Audyssey’s MultEQ Pro room-correction software, included in my Integra DHC-9.9 A/V processor. Before starting up the software, I ran an XLR-terminated interconnect from the SS3’s input into an output on the PX05. Also, for each of the five channels, and at Thiel’s advice, I ran inexpensive zip cord from the speaker-level output on my power amplifier into an input on the PX05.

After positioning the SCS4s with very slight toe-in and placing them on inexpensive stands, I ran the Audyssey software and began to listen. But something was amiss -- with multiple types of sources, the midrange sounded recessed. Luckily, using Audyssey meant that I didn’t really need the PX05 to assist with the crossover when running source material through the Integra. I therefore removed the PX05 for my initial testing, then reran Audyssey, and wound up with a sub crossover frequency of 80Hz -- at which point the problem disappeared. I later contacted Gary Dayton, Thiel’s manager of customer support and technical service, who told me that while Thiel’s external crossovers usually work just fine with digital room-correction software, occasional glitches can occur.

Performance: smart listening

The Thiel SCS4 was recently reviewed for SoundStage! by S. Andrea Sundaram. I won’t go over all of the details of that review, but Andrea was not disappointed by this tonally neutral speaker, which displayed, for its price, coherence, fluid transitions between its drivers, excellent transient delivery, and deep soundstaging. He also found that the SCS4 could create a relatively large orchestral sound while demonstrating "very respectable bass performance for a two-way monitor" and "a little less bass bloom" than some of its competitors.

According to Andrea, the SCS4 had an honest midrange, if not the sweetest he’d heard, and its treble was "slightly shelved down," resulting in "a little less harmonic information and a little less air around instruments than I am accustomed to hearing."

Doug Schneider, SoundStage! Network publisher, chimed in to say that the SCS4s played louder and larger than he’d imagined they might, and that their imaging was "stunning." Doug did quibble with the high end, which he found a bit "splashy" on cymbals, and overall somewhat "dry" and "uneven."

The SCS4 and the PowerPoint 1.2 have similar pedigrees, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that they sounded similar as well. Nonetheless, switching them from front to rear revealed that those sounds were not identical. Both models had a smooth, detailed, distortion-free midrange. At first listen, however, the PowerPoint 1.2 came across as sounding a bit metallic -- perhaps unsurprising, given their cast-aluminum cabinets. But the more I listened with various recordings, the more I realized that the PowerPoint didn’t sound metallic at all. Rather, it was tonally dead on. Instead, it was the SCS4 that subjected singers’ voices to a mild coloration -- and a similar effect could be heard with the SCS4 throughout the midrange, particularly with horns, guitars, and other stringed instruments.

Moving the PowerPoints to the front left and right channels revealed that the SCS4s could dig deeper into the lower frequencies. This was possibly due to the SCS4’s larger cabinet, as well as the fact that, unlike the PowerPoint, the SCS4 is ported. Of course, this doesn’t mean you couldn’t use the PowerPoints up front -- in a home theater, you’ll likely be using a subwoofer as well.

Still, in light of the SCS4s’ deeper reach, slightly more developed soundstage, and the fact that they’re easier to place for stereo listening, I’d keep the SCS4s up front. But I kid you not -- you could use the PowerPoint 1.2s as the speakers of a two-channel system (especially if you’re also using a small subwoofer) and be shocked at how great they sound.

The Blu-ray edition of Fast and Furious offers low-level, nitro-methane-induced engine growls and a healthy dose of plain old-fashioned gunfire and explosions -- just what the doctor ordered for a review of such a beast as the SS3 SmartSub. I was also interested to hear how the SCS4s would handle all the action. In chapter 17, just before the final chase scene, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker face the lead baddie in an old, extremely large church. Unlike the rest of the movie, this scene is dead quiet except for the delicate, peaceful chirping of birds high up near the church’s ceiling. The SCS4s placed the birds high in the soundstage, adding realism to the scene though their incredible imaging abilities.

During the final car chase -- er, I mean, car wreck scene, the SS3 made it sound as if the cars were crashing in my listening room. Only at the very loudest, unrealistic levels did the SCS4s began to give. At no time, however, did the SS3 even think about overreaching or straining. The low bass was deep, taut, clear, and utterly resolved. In fact, although the SS3 initially sounded lean, it wasn’t. It simply distorted less than any other subwoofer I’ve had in my listening room. And that meant that, over extended listening sessions, I was less fatigued than with many other subs I’ve heard.

Moving on to multichannel music recordings, and thus freed from the intense low-level frequencies inherent in action-movie soundtracks, I reset Audyssey MultEQ Pro to move the crossover point lower, from 80 to 50Hz. This sent more bass signal to the SCS4s and resulted in even better bass integration, although at the expense of headroom. I don’t recommend using this setting for movies, especially if you have a large room and prefer watching movies at high volume.

But it was the cat’s meow for music. I put on the Doors’ L.A. Woman (DVD-Audio, Elektra 62612-9), and again, what struck me most about the SCS4s and PowerPoint 1.2s was their soundstaging and the solidity of their images, especially with a multichannel source. The midrange was crystal clear. In "Riders on the Storm," the rainstorm beautifully filled the soundstage. John Densmore’s tapped cymbal was appropriately placed perhaps a foot off the left speaker and slightly recessed. The sound coming from the SCS4s and PowerPoint 1.2s was a lot bigger I expected from speakers of these sizes.

With both speakers, the highs lacked the polish of some similarly priced speakers. As Doug Schneider noted, cymbals were a bit splashy. I noticed this also when, as discussed below, I did some two-channel listening with my Nuforce two-channel P-9 preamplifier. On the Boskovsky Ensemble’s Dances of Old Vienna (CD, FIM LIM K2HD 034), the sound of leader Willi Boskovsky’s violin lacked fluidity. I’m no speaker designer, but it seems to me that even the best designer would be hard-pressed to create anything approaching perfection for the SCS4’s price of $1980/pair. Ultimately, at this price, the choice is of which set of tradeoffs you prefer: this speaker’s or another’s.

The thing that struck me about the SS3 was its musicality: This large box was no mere rumble generator. This was demonstrated by recordings of double-bass chords, in which the SS3 revealed definition and pitch resolution I hadn’t heard before. With Jorma Kaukonen’s Blue Country Heart (SACD, Columbia CS 86394), the SS3 uncovered not only precise low-level tonal shifts, but also the snap of the strings of Byron House’s large bass fiddle.

Comparison: subbing it up

It makes little sense to compare just under $6000 of Thiel monitors to my almost $20,000 worth of MartinLogan full-range speakers. Nonetheless, I was extremely curious to see how my MartinLogan Descent i subwoofer ($3495) would stack up against the larger, more expensive Thiel SS3 SmartSub ($7400 with PX05).

For about twice the price of the Descent i, the SS3 should be the better performer, and it decidedly was. The Thiel sub not only mustered considerably more shock and awe than the ML, it also displayed more musical finesse. In addition to its higher price, the SS3 has a larger cabinet and a more powerful amplifier. However, it became apparent that the SS3’s Boundary Compensation adjustments contributed as well, increasing the definition of bass with only negligible perceived loss in output. This was after I’d set the Boundary Compensation to reflect that the Thiel sub was, by necessity, virtually pressed up against a wall. When I questioned Gary Dayton about this, he said that while Boundary Compensation sometimes decreases the output of some frequencies, the output of other frequencies is actually increased.

As indicated above, if you use a processor that has room-correction software, you don’t particularly need the PX05 to create a seamless blend of the outputs of the SS3 and the other speakers. For me, the PX05 was worth its weight in gold for two-channel music listening with the Nuforce preamp, which was beyond the jurisdictional reach of the Audyssey room-correction software.

With the SS3 hooked up to the Nuforce preamp and the PX05, the SCS4s were relieved of the burden of having to attempt to produce output below 47Hz, the point at which Thiel set the crossover for them. (According to Thiel, the SCS4 can, under ideal conditions, dip down to 48Hz.) The sonic improvements I now experienced were not at all subtle, and included improvements not only in low-end extension, but also with respect to higher frequencies, particularly in the midbass and midrange. The SCS4s also sounded faster than before. Incredibly, dynamic range, soundstaging, imaging, and the ability to portray spatiality all improved as well.

In addition, in this two-channel configuration, the PX05 was solely responsible for making the SS3 and the SCS4s and PowerPoint 1.2s function as a single full-range speaker with a seamless integration of frequencies. Had I used a generic external crossover, or no external crossover at all, obtaining these results would have been difficult or impossible.

Conclusion

While the SC4S and PowerPoint 1.2 speakers are very worthy of consideration for music listening, their sonic strengths make them especially suited to home theater. Their placement flexibility also means they are ideal for integrating into difficult rooms. Even so, the real star here is the SS3 SmartSub subwoofer. I’m not going out on a limb in stating that it will rock your experience of movies and music with bass that’s deeper, cleaner, and more tuneful than that from most other subwoofers. And the PX05 crossover helps make system setup a breeze, especially if your processor or receiver doesn’t include automatic room-optimization software.

A final word of advice: If you buy an SS3, getting it into your house and system will be a heck of a lot easier if you plan ahead for its delivery!

Manufacturer contact information:

Thiel Loudspeakers
1026 Nandino Blvd.
Lexington, KY 40511
Phone: (859) 254-9427
Fax: (859) 254-0075

Website: www.thielaudio.com

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