Vader, i'm simply basing my comments on what i've heard and experienced. I also took into account the scenario ( price range and associated components ) that the poster suggests.
None of the Thiel's that i've heard have had any type of "slam" to them whatsoever and have always come across as being noticeably bright sounding. Don't ask me for models as i couldn't tell you. Source and amplification were all of good quality, so i know that this was not a problem.
As a case in point, their latest and greatest "inexpensive" speaker, which was completely redesigned from the ground up, still has these traits. Keep in mind that this speaker, the Thiel 1.6, retails for $2000 and can't even do 50 Hz with ANY type of authority. It starts sloping off like crazy at 100 Hz. It is 10 dB's down at 60 Hz. Since you quoted JA as a "fan" of Thiel's for R&R reproduction, i'll use him too. On page 95 of the September Stereophile, JA stated that the 1.6 lacked bass, needed mid-bass reinforcement, was "treble dominant" and "will not be very forgiving of ancillary components" and pulled twice the current of many other designs. To me, this sounds like a speaker that would be hard to match to other components in terms of tonal balance and power requirements.
The fact that you are getting "slam" out of your Thiel's is probably due in a large part to the amp that you are using to drive them. If you take into account that the person that posted this thread is looking at Rotel & B&K backbone components, i would not expect them to get the same bottom end out of any Thiel that you are experiencing with yours. Couple the lack of bass with an overtly bright treble response that Thiel's tend to produce and the typically horrible digital recordings that most rock & roll bands end up with and you've got the potential for high SPL ear-bleed's with a complete lack of bottom end drive.
I did take notice that the bands that you mentioned did happen to have pretty decent ( not brittle sounding ) recordings though, so if that is all that you listened to, i can see how you might not find this to be a potential problem. Personally, i've got WAY too many digital recordings that don't sound nearly that good or fall into the "good sonics" category to not think about this aspect of system assembly.
I think that i've made my point pretty clear as to why i stated what i did. Obviously, we've got different opinions on this one. As with all of my comments / suggestions, i recommend that the person trust their ears when looking to buy a product. After all, nobody here is going to have the same exact system, acoustics, personal preferences, etc.. As such, all we can do is share our thoughts and experiences, good or bad. From there, each comment is worth only the value that the reader places upon it. Sean
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