Chad, maybe it is a matter of language usage, but I have heard the Thiel CS2.4 driven by a Bel 1001 Mk V amp and the sound was bright and exceptionally revealing, but not harsh. This is the combo owned by my former college roommate. He plays classical piano and the sound of the Thiels playing his own recordings sounds surprisingly close to the real thing. In an acoustically-deader room than his, the Thiels could be tonally dead-nuts accurate.