The THIEL SCS4 is a high-performance bookshelf speaker. It's the company's most affordable model designed primarily for music. I'd been very impressed by the innovative design and striking sound quality of THIEL's flagship model CS3.7s when I reviewed them in May, 2007. While those 3-way towers did many things extremely well, I suspected that they were simply too much speaker for my room. The compact SCS4s are physically much more like my own speakers. Could less turn out to be more?

Not just another "box" speaker

The SCS4 is a 2-way speaker, but its design is unconventional. A 6-1/2" aluminum cone woofer handles the mid and low frequencies, and if you remove the speaker's grille, the woofer is all you see at first glance. But if you look more closely, you'll spot the 1" aluminum dome tweeter mounted coaxially inside the woofer. This design maintains the proper time alignment for the high and low frequencies, ensuring that everyone in the room hears the sound from both drivers at exactly the same time. It also allows both high- and low-frequency sounds to originate from the same spot, approaching the speaker ideal of a true "point source," for more focused imaging.

The SCS4's coaxially mounted tweeter ensures tight, precise imaging.

Two things you can count on with THIEL speakers are top-quality components and exceptional cabinet construction. Both the woofer and tweeter were designed from scratch by THIEL. The cabinets and driver materials exhibit extraordinary stiffness, which minimizes the unwanted vibrations and resonances that are the enemies of accurate sound reproduction. The cabinet is constructed of one-inch MDF and reinforced with plenty of thick bracing. A quick knuckle rap on the sides showed these cabinets are sonically inert. In addition, the entire front baffle is made of die-cast aluminum to further resist resonance.

My review pair of SCS4s featured a satiny black ash finish (natural cherry is also available). The stylish perforated metal grilles are held in place by magnets. The SCS4s' coaxial design means they can be placed either horizontally or vertically — in an all-SCS4 home theater setup, you could lay the center speaker on its side and still maintain excellent tone and imaging consistency.

Setting them up

I'd first heard the SCS4s in Crutchfield's training room. (Originally a 3-car installation bay, the room has received some acoustic treatments in recent years, but still presents a challenge to visiting trainers.) The SCS4s were paired with THIEL's matching SmartSub® SS1 powered subwoofer and PX05 passive crossover. With a Denon A/V receiver supplying the power, we listened to a few CD tracks. Even in that large room the sound was impressively clean and full. When THIEL asked if I'd be interested in trying out the SCS4s at home, I jumped at the chance.

Carting them over to my house and hooking them up required considerably less effort than THIEL's imposing CS3.7s had. Initially, I simply replaced my beloved ACI Sapphire III bookshelf speakers with the SCS4s: same position and same amount of toe-in. They were spaced 8 feet apart and 8 feet from the center of the sofa where I normally sit. My listening room measures 13-1/2 feet wide by 24 feet long, with a ceiling just under 8 feet. The speakers fire into the length of the room. I placed the SCS4s on the same 24-inch stands I use for the Sapphires (bookshelf speakers perform best on high-quality stands). You can read about the other equipment I used for this review at the end of page 2.

As high-performance speakers go, THIELs are not particularly "high maintenance." The SCS4s impedance is rated at 4 ohms, which means you'll get better sound if you drive them with a high-current amplifier. I'd recommend using at least a high-quality receiver with them. Their ability to resolve low-level detail and present a 3-dimensional soundstage will only be helped by pairing them with good separates. The better your source and electronics, the better these speakers will sound. The SCS4s' coaxial driver placement also means that these speakers are less fussy about placement. You don't have to spend a lot of time moving them around to get great sound.

One other connection note: While many high-end speakers provide dual sets of terminals for bi-amping or bi-wiring, THIEL speakers do not. Jim Thiel's sophisticated crossover networks are designed to optimize energy response and tonal neutrality, and he doesn't want any unnecessary cabling interfering. Instead of buying a second set of wires, Jim recommends upgrading to one set of higher-quality cables.