It’s a big deal whenever one of audio’s legendary speaker designer/manufacturers puts out a new speaker. More significant still is when a company like Thiel drops a speaker on us that will cost something less than $1K/ea.

Thiel’s SCS4 is a bookshelf speaker that uses a coincident (i.e., coaxially mounted) mid-woofer/tweeter to provide a compact speaker that’s fully time coherent from any listening position. Like all Thiel speakers, this one also uses first order crossovers to provide phase-correct performance.

The low frequency extension of this ported speaker is rated at a robust 50Hz. The enclosure is made mostly of 1” thick MDF, with two internal cross-braces. But the front baffle is made from ultra-rigid cast aluminum.

The metal tweeter was developed for Thiel’s top-of-the-line CS7.2, and the mid-woofer is rigid, shallow aluminum as well and the motor/magnet structures are neodymium. The speaker is shielded so those of you still using CRT monitors can keep this one on your list. The efficiency is rated at a high-ish 89dB, and Jim Thiel claims it will play far louder than he can stand to listen. Thiel also manufactures passive high-pass filters so the speaker can be used with Thiel’s subs. Target shipping date is late 2006, and while the final pricing is TBD, Thiel is sticking with under $1K.ea.

This speaker is being demonstrated with Thiel’s upcoming CS3.7 floorstanders- the SCS4 playing as center and surrounds. Look for further report on how it sounds.