At first, these ceramic drivers were produced exclusively for new Backes & Müller products, but a few years later Bernhard Thiel stepped out of B&M and founded his own company, the original Thiel GmbH in Homburg, Germany. His loudspeaker units – only tweeters and midranges at this time – were distributed quickly in the audiophile world and gained a very high reputation for their sonic virtues. Very soon, these drivers were used in many of the – top of the line – high end loudspeaker boxes of today’s world.