Jim Thiel 1947-2009

Jim Thiel of THIEL Audio was one of the pioneers of American hi-fi, and one of its biggest names, ranking up there with Henry Kloss and Paul Klipsch. Jim co-founded THIEL in Lexington, KY in 1976, and was instrumental in the development of time and phase accurate designs with the use of sloped baffles, coaxial driver mounting, and phase coherent crossover networks.

Over the past 30 years, THIEL has racked up 55 international accolades, including 22 Innovations Design & Engineering awards, 6 Absolute Sound / The Perfect Vision Editor's Choice awards, and combined 11 Product of the Year awards from Stereophile, Electronic House, and Stereosound Magazines. Jim's final design is the CS3.7, which continues his tradition of pushing the envelope with a revolutionary flat-ribbed coaxial midrange and tweeter array. An interview with Thiel about the speaker can be found here.