There's good news for owners of Thiel loudspeakers manufactured between 1977 and 2012. Coherent Source Service of Lexington, Kentucky, will provide Thiel warranty and non-warranty service for customers worldwide. The company has been founded by Rob Gillum, who worked with Thiel for over 30 years and eventually became Director of Manufacturing.
Drawing from a stockpile of parts for legacy Thiel models—nearly all relevant parts are said to be available—Gillum will utilize his training in what has been described as "every aspect of service and manufacturing including driver build, crossover building, and cabinet finishing." Full speaker and cabinet restoration services are also available, with prices based on condition. In addition, upgrade kits for Thiel CS2.4 model are available, and include "boutique" capacitors for the speaker's passive networks and outriggers and stabilizer pins from the 2.4SE series.
For those unfamiliar with the history of the company that three college friends, including Jim Thiel and Kathy Gornick, founded in 1976, Thiel did quite well until Jim Thiel died of cancer in 2009. After that, faced with changes in the brick-and-mortar audio retail landscape as well as consumer tastes, Gornick sought investors who could help take the company in new directions. Although she had hoped to stay onboard, at least for a while, she soon parted ways with Tennessee private investor David B. Griffin, who took control of Thiel at the end of 2012 and appointed Bill Thomas as the first in a series of CEOs.
Not long after the sale, at the Venetian Hotel at CES, Thiel's new owners invited a large press contingent to a press launch in a standard size hotel room. In the midst of a caffeine-charged din, the company attempted to introduce a surround system consisting of small, low profile, lower cost models that, to these ears struggling to hear, sounded audibly inferior to Jim Thiel's designs. It is fair to note, however, that Tom Norton liked what he heard from the Mark Mason-designed Thiel TT1 speaker when he reviewed it in September 2016.
The company struggled for several years, with many management changes, until, unable to secure additional funding, it closed its doors early in the New Year.
To Thiel owners, this may have seemed the end of hope for service on legacy models. Happily, Gillum has stepped into the breach.
"Thiel loudspeakers are a big part of my life," says Gillum in a just-received press release. "I am passionate about the brand and the care that went in to the design and manufacturing of these fine speakers. I look forward to working with all of the Thiel customers out there who love music and helped make the brand such a success."
Coherent Source Service, LLC, is located at 763 Newtown Pike, Suite 130 Lexington, Kentucky USA 40511, about one mile from the old Thiel factory. You can reach them at rob@coherentsourceservice.com. Tel: (859) 554-9790.
