Not quite sure what the first response is supposed to indicate, but it doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement, so let me try.
Properly set up Thiels are not bright - this is a myth, in my opinion, dating to back to older Thiel models, and also based on the facts that:
1) They have flat response characteristics and wide dispersion, making them more revealing of source and room imperfections than a lot of competing high-end designs, and they should be placed far away from side-walls (along the long wall firing across the room).
2) They are first-order crossed-over, phase-coherent designs, meaning that the listener will hear too bright sound at closer than optimal listening distances. Expect this if you try to listen closer than about 9', and 10'-11' is better.
3) Many Thiel models have featured loads that are pretty current-suckingly low, and will not show an amp that isn't up to the task in the best light.
4) Thiels can be, for a combination of the above reasons, particularly ruthless concerning wire when fed through mediocre speaker cables.
5) Because of their relative popularity and realistic pricing for a high-end product, a lot of them are set up out there in the real world, by non-audiophile "spec's first" types who are attracted to their impeccable engineering, without the care and feeding they require to show what they can do.
6) They are clean and transparent as hell - that is, without cabinet or driver resonances, phase hi-jinx, or subtly euphemistic roll-offs or plumped-up parts response-wise - so they are not prefered by the beauty-before-truth crowd when it comes to playing a lot of flawed recordings.
Having said my piece as a 2.2 owner about *that*, I did audition the 1.6s, and liked 'em a lot. System was: Linn Ikemi CD or Marantz 14 SACD > Bryston pre > VTL ST-85 or C-J MV-55 (mine) power > via Transparent cables, heard both with and without a subwoofer (don't remember what kind) in a pretty large main room at a dealer's, using both his and my disks. The speakers were positioned relatively widely, slightly toed-in, and I sat appropriately a little farther away than an equilateral distance.
My overall impressions, gathered from about 90 minutes of listening spread between two different visits, were:
1) It did much better in a room that was technically too big for a little floorstander this size than it had any right to, going loud without strain, and giving that elusive "fills the room with sound" liveliness even at low volumes, something my more reserved 2.2s don't do (could this have something to do with the 1.6's newfound high sensitivity?).
2) Though it can't give you the real bottom bass, you probably won't miss it much in a moderately-sized room, because what's there is extraordinarily natural and complete-sounding in every way save for extension. Amazing bass tunefulness, dynamics, and transparancy for a 6 1/2" driver, and it even gives a good impression of physicality.
3) The soundstage is huge - big huge. And totally, completely detached from the speakers. Very full images everywhere, deep & 3-D. Image height that I didn't believe from such a shrimp. The incongruity between the size of the speakers and the size of what you're hearing can be almost funny.
4) Coherence and smoothness in the extreme. No artifacts I could lay at the feet of the speakers. Very unified, refined, and convincing, which makes for low listening effort.
5) Very naturally voiced, it is as uncolored as you would expect, but not as dry or clinical as some past Thiels have tended a little towards. Versus my larger 2.2s, the 1.6s don't have quite the bass extension of course (but mated very well with a sub), and may also possess a little less sparkle and air (copacetic with the lighter-weight bottom), but the heart of the sound gets out of the box better than mine can manage. These sound quicker, too.
6) You would also expect high transparecy, and you won't be disappointed. Details pass through these things like a breeze through a screen, but nothing is uduly highlighted. Transient articulation is exceedingly clean.
Basically, I heard them do nothing wrong. It goes, therefore, without saying that I heard them in a particularly good set-up. But it is surprising to go into a shop and hear a $2,000 speaker, and not think to yourself, well, I can hear this or that going on or being lost. They won't give you the slam or startle of a bigger speaker, but they apparently can give you just about all of the other really important stuff, including what some smaller stand-mounted's can in the get-out-of-the-way department. Compared to my 2.2s, the 1.6s sound more open and enthusiastic, and just as honest. At their low price, it's possible some dealers won't take the time or effort to set them up or show them properly, but treated like the thoroughbreds I think they are, it's hard to imagine a speaker of their type sounding much more accomplished than these little monsters. Definitely worth checking out, and a great value, it seems to me.
