Ok I can give my perspective. I am a long time Thiel 2.4 owner. I bought them as dealer demos super cheap and only planned to use them as a stepping stone to something better..... well 10 years later I still have them but added two JL E112 subs (treated the whole room too) and used JLs built in crossover with good results (55hz-ish crossover point in a large room).
Anyway I have also tried to “upgrade” a few times. Below are my quick thoughts on things I have demoed or spent time with. I would add wilson audio to your list too. The Sabrina fits well with what you want. Sasha 2 and Yvette used would be great too. Sophia 3 has great strong bass and are a good deal used now but have a hot top end that is edgy.
-Sonus Faber Olympica III and Nova III (classe front end). They are very good. I really like them. They are warmer in the bass than the Thiels. The bass is more round and less flat maybe. Impact might be blurred more on the Sonus Saber but hard to say. The mids have about the same tone to them (a hair thin, not chesty). The highs seemed better to me on the Sonus faber. Very detailed and never harsh. Very nice speaker but I tagged out due to the lack of grills (I have two small kids....) are they better than your Thiels? Probably not but you will probably like them better if you are tired of the Thiel sound. I would keep your Thiels. You will want them back some day. All in all the new Nova 3 is an under rated speaker and at $13500 I thought it was a good deal. I would like to hear what you think of them after you demo them. Soundstage ultra has a good review of them.
-focal 1038be (never heard the Sopra), arcam front end. Bass is flat and has power but is tuned lean similar to how revel tunes their speakers in the bass (they sound like they measure to me...). The mids are much more alive and vivid than the Thiels and the tweeter is great but stands out a bit. These are very much “hi-fi” speakers. A little edgy but make for a great demo. They lacked dynamics a bit for my on hard hitting music and I like the Sophia 3’s bass much better.
-Kef Referance 3. I hate these speakers. The bass sounded very heavily reliant on the port. It sounded very one note to me. The mids lacked dynamics (drivers too small?). Highs were a hair better than my old Thiels but the current focals laugh at them. It reminded me of a sub satellite system. They had good sound stage though no better than the Thiels. I never got lost in the music. Pop music sounded good on them with the heavy low one note bass...
-wilson Sabrina. Not a long demo so not much commentary. They are tuned on the warm side of neutral. Have good detail and tone, never edgy. Reminded me of the Olympica 3 honestly. Worth a listen.
