Respectfully disagree on Thiel being harsh/bright/"too" detailed, etc. . .
Just got a used pair of 2.2 for $500 on Ebay to go into a family room just for background music - I was just looking for a decent rep. speaker which wouldn't be offensive. Just to be used for background music.
Upon arrival I plopped them down in front of my Wilson Duettes in a dedicated listening room and played them for about 18 hours before listening carefully at all. No proper set-up, no spikes, just placed directly (inches) in front of my Wilsons. Ran them with ML amp and Audio Aero Capitole CD direct via its balance, variable analog out to the amp.
If these speakers (Thiel) sound bright to somebody I would contribute this to the individual either not knowing the difference between "detail" and "brightness". There are many people who prefer less detailed speakers with any sharpness to the music being rolled off and many of the highs being rolled off. There is nothing wrong with wanting this. The best speaker and sound is different for everybody and that is fine. Listening to live music (unamplified), horns and percussion in particular can frequently result in sounds that are "bright" to many peoples standards. This results from many things; personal preferences, our hearing smearing the "loud" sounds, too high a sound level and the environment. However, this is still part of the music, naturally produced. When a speaker reproduces these affects that occur on the recording they are reproducing the music (ie. recording) accurately with the proper detail. Speakers and electronics that reduce/eliminate these sounds from the recording when being played in our homes are not reproducing the music/recording accurately because they can't or are designed to roll-off "undesirable" artifacts of the music/recording. Some people want this, some don't.
Detail does not equal brightness. Brightness is a completely separate sound from detail, they do not go hand-in-hand.
Thiel speakers, in and of themselves are not "Bright" or "Etchy" - at least based on my very limited experience with them. Perhaps other components or source material can send music/signals to them that are bright, but the speaker (mine) itself is not.
I also would like to state that I disagree with the statement that Vandy's use cheap components, are not well made and are "low-fi".
Vandy's and Thiels have some differing characteristics to their sounds - one is not good and the other bad, just have some differences. Find what you like and support it. Thiels don't do everything perfectly, but then again I have never heard any component that does everything perfectly.
