Upgrading from Thiel 2.7 to Sonus Faber or Focal???

I really liked my 2.4s. Only sold them because Jim had died and I kept overplaying them and needing new drivers. Sadly always an issue with Thiels (hence all the positive comments about their customer service).  Really glad their CS dept survived the company.

Sounds like you'll just have to get the SFs and keep the Thiels.  

Might be worth getting REW, a UMIK-1 calibrated USB microphone, and doing a frequency sweep of your room. 

That it took me *so* long to take this step and was a huge mistake.  For $100 and a bit of mental effort (REW is free), you can see exactly what the frequency response of your speakers looks like.  It is very possible that you are not hearing all of the bass the 2.7s are producing due to standing bass wave patterns in your room. 

I spent so much time trying to get more bass out of my Coincident PREs with different amplifiers and the whole time it was just my room (and speaker/listening positioning) causing a 12db dropout at 40hz.  There are no downsides to taking the time to do this in your room.  If you're playing in the price range at which you're looking, it's a necessity.  I was so stupid for not listening to the advice of others who said the same.   

P.S.  I had 2.4s and also wanted more bass... eventually added a Smartsub, but still wasn't totally satisfied.  I suspect it was due to the above issue.  I switched to high efficiency Coincident Super Eclipse IIIs.  28Hz vs. 35hz bottoms vs the Thiels, but a lot more bass in my room.  Probably because of the side facing woofers changing the standing wave pattern...

Great thread with lots of helpful and productive discussion. A few additional thoughts...

If you arent even going to use dsp, taking measurements of your system to see where you are at is really helpful to achieving better sound

My only experience using dsp on my main speakers wasn't positive.  I had a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 and turning on the room perfect just made my speakers kind of sound "blended" for lack of a better word.  I think I'm extra sensitive to the time domain changes produced by frequency manipulation and so I've avoided any DSP or EQ unless I'm dealing with subs.  I just say this because some people associate the measurement process with using DSP and it should really be more viewed as a way to learn about your system and how its interacting with your room.  Invaluable in my estimation.

However, Cal you are exactly correct :) I need to work on my room.

As you can see on my system page, I actually don't have any room treatments at all.  I probably should, but instead just built a four-sub distributed bass array based on Duke's Audio Kenesis Swarm.  It's more useful for dealing with standing bass waves than any kind of room treatment.  Setting that up was what finally got me to spend the big money ($100) and measure the room.  

Anyway, @samzx12 have fun in Cinci, and get a 5-way for me on your trip out.  Hope you love the SFs.

Overheated the aluminum and bent (or even ripped) it. But I was also having periodic dance parties...