Well, seems I have somewhat of a problem: can't manage to bring myself to sell old gear when I "upgrade." So, years later, it comes to pass that (1) I have enough "extra" gear lying around to build a full second system, (2) the wife leaves on a 3-week business trip around the world, and (3) I decide to gut the home office and see if I cannot put the extra stuff to use.

So, the operating theory is "deskside" monitors for a computer. Does it make sense to use full-sized, floor-standing speakers with an ultra-near-field computer set-up? Honestly, not really. BUT, if you were hell-bent on trying anyway, I figure, what better than Thiels...right? What, with their concentric mid/treble arrays, all of the business end bits are pointed right where you want them with a coherent point source, and you can just pretend that those 8" woofers are just uncommonly-well-integrated, stereo subwoofers, sharing a cross over...? In theory...? Moreover, since I have recently come to terms with the fact that I will not be able to properly set up, acoustically treat, or otherwise maximize the room with the rest of the gear in it -- maybe ultra-near-field is has some promise in otherwise minimizing room interactions, blah, blah....

Anyway, a picture's worth a thousand words, so there you go. Believe it or not, it sounds a lot better than I ever expected. But, then, my expectations were quite low. In sum, the whole idea, from first inclination through execution, just made me laugh. A lot. So I wanted to share.