Thiel Audio
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| Company type | High performance audio equipment manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Audio |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Founder | Jim Thiel, Tom Thiel, Kathy Gornik |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee |
Key people | Jim Thiel; Kathy Gornik David B. Griffin current Chairman of the Board |
| Products | Audio electronics |
| Website | thielaudio.com |
Thiel Audio is a privately held high performance loudspeaker (hi-end audio) manufacturer founded in Lexington, Kentucky, but now based in Nashville, Tennessee. Thiel Audio products are distributed to over 30 countries spanning the globe. All products by the founders were designed and built in their 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) facility located in Lexington. The former president of Thiel Audio was Kathy Gornik, who was also the chairwoman of the Consumer Electronics Association. The Lexington location is now a service center. All manufacturing is done in Nashville.
History
Past History
Thiel Audio was formed by three college friends: Jim Thiel, Tom Thiel, and Kathy Gornik, who started in 1976 with equipment in Thiel's garage on Georgetown Road in Lexington. Thiel Audio was formed with $25,000 borrowed from Thiel's parents, Gornik's parents and some friends. Jim Thiel graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1968, majoring in physics. Thiel Audio first exhibited at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1977, which is the year in which the company is often cited as being founded.
Tom Thiel is a skilled woodworker, and would build the speaker boxes. Their first hi-fi product was a two-way speaker with an equalizer to give it high-quality bass response. Jim soon realized that he would need someone to do the sales part of the business, so he asked Kathy Gornik who lived in Washington DC to sell them there. She agreed and sold over 2,000 speakers in the first nine months. Jim Thiel and Gornik were considered to be good partners due to Thiel's excellent engineering skills and Gornik's good selling skills.
In March 2006, Thiel unveiled the Thiel CS 3.7, a high performance speaker in the Middle East, an event hosted by Emirates Computers, one of Dubai's leading technology companies.
In 2007, Thiel Audio announced that it would offer its high performance line of loudspeakers in Crutchfield retail stores, the Crutchfield site, and through their catalogs. At the time, the primary lineup that Thiel was to offer through Crutchfield was priced from about $990 to $5,450. Thiel's products in general range from about $990 to $6,450.
In 2012, Thiel Audio was sold to a private equity company in Nashville, and later that year, Gornik was replaced as president of the company. Since the purchase, Thiel has had three CEOs.
Jim Thiel died of cancer on September 17, 2009.[1]
Recent History
The company was acquired in November of 2012 by private equity investors, and today is on a path to become a dynamic American entertainment company, with a fresh, yet time-tested approach to delivering enthusiastic, life-like sound through stunningly gorgeous loudspeakers that feature the highest quality components and the latest acoustic technology.
THIEL speakers use the finest components and assemblies, exceptional production quality, precise calibration and quality certification in order to reliably obtain acoustical consistency and balanced performance at all listening levels. Our sound is magnificent from the lowest bass to the highest treble. The design, component-build and layout placement of speaker drivers ensures the best sound dispersion and seamless transitions. The result is a highly efficient, controlled sound with a flat frequency response and extended bandwith, which means you get to experience both intensity and intimacy as you feel the presence of the music in every corner of the listening area.
THIEL Audio's future holds out even greater promise than its former legacy, with new products aimed at discriminating audiophiles and music enthusiasts. The company is restructuring and will be introducing new products commencing in June 2016 during CMA Fest in Nashville and at CES 2017. The company will also be introducing AURORA by THIEL, it's ultra- HD live concert streaming studio in Nashville, TN in June of 2016.
Awards
Thiel Audio has won many awards, including the International Consumer Electronics Show Innovations Design and Engineering Award, for which Thiel has been honored 22 times, and the Image Hi-Fi speaker of the millennium award in 2000. Thiel has also won BizRate's coveted "Circle of Excellence" award seven times.