Thiel Audio - Excellent Customer Support

[wrf 5,230]

I recently managed to destroy three (out of six) drivers in my Thiel 3.6 speakers.  Lets just say that a system installed in a back room, powered by a mk II and controlled by a Logitech RF remote is an accident waiting to happen when listening from the other end of the house.

 

Turns out I destroyed both mid ranges and one tweeter.  I pulled one of the mid range drivers and nearly passed out.  The solder joints looked like they were done by a three year old.  Looking closely, you could see where the speaker was previously wired with solid core wire - now clipped off.  In its place was some funky stranded wire poorly soldered to the speaker lugs.  WTF???

 

I opened up the other mid range and found the same thing.   I opened up all the drivers. Somebody had completely rewired both speakers with that funky stranded wire.  Funky because there was some kind of plastic core that the strands wrapped around.  That made stripping and soldering a challenge to the three year old that did the work.  Same bad joints on the crossovers.  One connection on the binding posts broke upon disassembly.  Good grief.

 

I checked the Thiel web page.  Got some kind of strange temporary page saying they were making changes.  Uh Oh.  Called the phone number.  No announcement that you have reached Thiel.  Just some nice piano music and a beep to leave a message.  Oh No!!  I left a message.

 

Within a couple of hours I got a phone call.  Ultimately I talked with a gentleman named Rob in Kentucky.  Rob listened to my story.  Expressed shock at the rewiring and patiently walked me through all the things I should check  Resistance values at various points on the crossover.  How to get the crossovers out of the cabinet.  How to get the wiring out of the cabinet.  What the wiring should look like.  Even told me what damage to look for in the cross overs - and they WERE damaged.  All this off the top of his head.

 

Bottom line is that Rob is rebuilding the drivers (replacements not available).  He is also providing new wiring, binding posts and ID plates.  He helped me compile a parts list to repair the crossovers and provided instructions on how to mount some of the parts to avoid future damage.  He is even sending some silver solder to use in reassembly and some drawings to make sure I don't screw up the wiring.  All the parts are drawn from left over Thiel stock.  WOW.

 

Turns out Rob was the Director of Manufacturing at Thiel.  I was telling him how nice the cabinets looked inside.  He then explained to me EXACTLY how they manufactured them - right down to some of the angles they used on the CNC machine to make sure the glue flowed correctly.  He figures he probably made my speakers!

 

There is a box of drivers and parts on its way to me from Kentucky right now.  It will keep me out of trouble for several days.  It wasn't cheap.  It's not a cheap world.  In fact it cost quite a bit more that the speakers will be worth - especially considering what I paid for them.  But they were without question the best speakers I've had.

 

Hats off to Rob and Thiel Audio.  Thiel is going through some tough transitions.  It's not easy making a buck in high end any more. Best of luck to Thiel and a big Thank You to Rob.

 

A few photos below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[peck555 366]

Good luck with the repairs

[UncleMeat 1,174]

Wow, sorry to hear about the blown speakers Wayne; those MK-II's can pack a punch! Thanks for posting your positive experience with Rob at Thiel, customer support like that is getting very rare these days.

[BillWojo 542]

That speaker wire with the strands of copper and the plastic core sounds like the crap that Monster sells for speaker wire. They claim it has some magical properties with the plastic core. Well if they can make claims I can to.

I claim that the plastic core is used to make the wire look fatter and look to be a larger gauge wire while in reality it is a way to save a lot of expensive copper on there part.

My claims are made with an engineering background while there claims are made by there marketing department.

Another strike against Monster.

 

BillWojo

[wrf 5,230]

Followup.

 

I finished up the Thiel 3.6s a while back.  Rob at Thiel rebuilt the drivers and sent me enough parts to rebuild the crossovers.  He also sent some official Thiel wire the replace the funky stranded stuff.  New ID plates and binding posts were also on the menu.  

 

They sound fantastic.  But....  a couple weeks ago one of the rebuilt mid range drivers failed.  IT WASN'T ME!!  I have been babying these guys because of the stupid amount of money and work I put into them.  I contacted Rob and sent it back to the Thiel mother ship.  The driver had a weak joint where a wire had broken.  Rob fixed it for free and had it back to me within a week.

 

Here's a photo of all the failed cross over components.  Some of the ceramic resistors were open.  In addition to the failed and fried components, I replaced all the electrolytic caps.  Following Rob's advise I also arranged the components on the cross over to avoid caps leaning on hot resistors.

 

 

[chiroacademy 852]

It's great when a company stands behind their products with great customer service. Hats off th Thiel

[Charlie 18,866]

It's great when a company stands behind their products with great customer service. Hats off to Thiel

 

Absolutely! Just looking at those photos made me cringe.... 

 

[peck555 366]

Glad they are up and running again

[Papajoe 221]

Hi WRF,

I see that you read my previous post. The dealer is blaming the amp as the cause of the damage. He is running a TFM 42 with a Carver CT 17 pre. I have added more info on my post. Could you, please, send me the name and phone # of the Thiel service center.  I have read on the web that the damaged tweeter and midrange was a common occurence.

Thanks,

Papajoe

[loner_t 2,571]

Hi WRF, I don't know if you read my recent post;

 

I think he did. See this WRF post on your thread. 

[wrf 5,230]

Hi WRF,

I see that you read my previous post. The dealer is blaming the amp as the cause of the damage. He is running a TFM 42 with a Carver CT 17 pre. I have added more info on my post. Could you, please, send me the name and phone # of the Thiel service center.  I have read on the web that the damaged tweeter and midrange was a common occurence.

Thanks,

Papajoe

 

I responded in the original post. 

[Papajoe 221]

Yes, he did and thanks for the info. I am glad that a member of the original Thiel family took up the reigns on repairing the speakers. Kind of reminds me about Rita at Carver.

 Papajoe