Scoring on Used Thiels here

beetlemania,

Nice post!

I can tell you that if you were listening to the 3.7s you wouldn't have any reservations about the soundstaging, depth.  The 2.7s I have do fore-shorten depth a bit, but the 3.7s sound just spreads massively, seems to go on forever in terms of depth and width.  That's one reason they are still sitting in my house and I haven't sold them.

I find the same regarding the microdynamics in teh 2.7 as you do in the 2.4.  They really excel in that area and given an aliveness and a sense of the actual changes in effort for a musician, even more than my 3.7s.  I continually note how this plays out in vocals as well, like you mentioned.
The the inflections in a singer's performance are more pronounced and it's that much more like listening to a real person sing.  When I spend an evening going checking out, say, Tidal tracks of various singers I'm continually struck the the sensation that truly unique and different voices are making appearances in my room.

And the fact the 2.7s produce the most concise, dense imaging I've experienced also makes it all the more palpable.  And that's a curious area where our experiences part on our speakers.  I wonder if this was an area somehow improved with the 2.7s (thought dense imaging has traditionally been a trait of Thiel speakers), or whether it is due to how you've set your speakers up.   I find I have quite a lot of flexibility with the 2.7 and 3.7, and can go quite wide apart while maintaining image focus and density (though a bit less leeway with the 2.7s over the 3.7s).

beetlemania,

On the subject of soundstaging:

I've always owned speakers that were particularly good at disappearing and soundstaging.  Which is a bit ironic because my first priority by far is tone in a sound system - the ability to portray beautiful timbral qualities of voices and instruments.  If a speaker doesn't do that, I don't care at all what else it does.  I remember a formative experience with this in the 90's listening to some massive Infinity speakers at a shop in New York, playing some orchestral music.  For the first time ever a hi-fi system reproduced in front of me something like the scale of a symphony orchestra, with incredible depth, transparency and soundstaging "like being there."  Except to my ears what was missing was the beautiful nature and variety of the timbral voices of real orchestral instruments.  It was the equivalent of listening to an orchestra where every instrument had been replaced by plastic replicas.  I quickly learned that without beautiful tone, soundtaging and imaging was a neat trick that would quickly bore me.

But once I'm hearing great tone and find myself compelled to sit and listen, I love great imaging and soundstaging, and "disappearing" speakers.  To that end almost every speaker I've owned or has passed through my listening room has been among the best disappearing/soundstaging acts I've heard anywhere, from Quad ESL 63s, Von Scwheikert,  Waveform, Shun Mook, Audio Physic, Thiel, Hales and many others, on up to my current Thiels and my MBL omnis.

The MBL omnis are peerless for disappearing and creating a 3 dimensional sonic image.  Absolutely spooky, and ultimately the most realistic presentation within their frequency range (that I've experienced in my room and most other rooms).    But the Thiel 3.7s are probably the box speaker that gives them the most run for the money.

Back to the Thiel 2.7s - I love their image density and palpable presence at lest as much for electronic music (a love of mine) as for acoustic sources.  When I go through various electronic music the  ever-surprising variety of sounds, from the tiniest beeps dotting the air around the speakers to groaning upper bass synths vibrating a colum of air "between " the speakers, it feels almost like I've invited aliens right in to the room with me to perform.   Hard to give up once heard.

unsound,

I was big on Dunlavy when they were popular, heard many models, including auditioning some as possible purchases.   The Aletha model (unfortunately not many made as Dunlavy folded not long after introduction) was really something.  It produced one of the most realistic sound I'd heard at that point.   But as you know Dunlavy speakers were always really big, even their "decor-sized" models like the Aletha.
And Dunlavy was a bit more head-in-the-vice in terms of optimizing listener position, Thiels with the coaxial drivers more forgiving.

Re MBLs, rooms etc.

I have a very nice sounding room as fortunately it was a reno done with the assistance of an acoustician. All the acoustic "treatment" is hidden as part of the design, so for instance the ceiling is built down and is actually covered in stretched fabric (you wouldn't even know until you looked because it's so flat), with bass/mid traps at strategic points behind the fabric.  And it acts as a first reflection absorber for the ceiling bounce.  Big shag rug, huge stuffed sofa, and a variety of velvet curtains, thick and thin, which I can pull along the walls as required.  So I can have my room "more damped" or "more live." 

I've recently gone "more live" with my room, even have experimented adding a diffusor at first reflection points.   I really enjoy the added energy and presence and airiness of the more live rooms in some ways.  Though ultimately if I had to choose one, I think I prefer a bit on the damped side (e.g. when I pull my velvet curtain across the first reflection points of the speakers).    This cuts out any wall bounce/room hash and the sound becomes lush and smooth, variations in instrumental timbre more nuanced, voices more fleshy and natural, and the finest details of room and reverb on the recording become apparent - different recordings sounding more different.

I'm trying to add a bit of diffusion to see if I can split the difference.

Anyway, I pretty much anyone who ever thought the MBLs sounded bright, harsh, strident or metallic at demos would not find them so in my room.  No doubt due to the more damped nature of the room.  They sound smooth, easy, yet ridiculously resolving - on a level I still don't think I've heard elsewhere.  I agree with Jonathan Valin who long touted the MBL tweeter as the best, or one of the best, in the world.  It provides astounding clarity yet sounds so utterly "un-tweeter-like."   Sonic objects are just "there."

Back to the Thiel show....and hey, Thiels are pretty good too...:-)