I have auditioned many speakers over the last decade such as Apogee, Martin Logan, B&W, Wilson Audio and a smattering of other high-end designs, but none have moved me as much as the Thiels have. I initially bought a pair of 3.6's about 6 years ago and never grew tired of listening to music with them, but when I had the chance to step up to the 7.2's I couldn't resist.
If you have read anything about these speakers then you'll know that they are practically a window into the recording studio and very sensitive to upstream components. Garbage in, garbage out, and don't even consider buying these if you aren't able to get an amplifier with a very high current capability. I've paired my speakers with Classe' Audio's CA-400 amplifier, CP-50 preamp and their DAC-1 D/A converter with amazing results.
The 7.2's ability to recreate the musical event is almost spooky. I almost feel like if I got out of my listening seat I could reach out and feel an "invisible man/woman" standing in the room. The bass is also amazing. I have heard speakers that go slightly lower (I say slightly, because there isn't much lower to go than 23Hz) but I haven't heard a speaker with a more accurate representation of string bass, bass drum or anything that can play in the lower registers. When you first listen to them you might think that this is debatable until you put in a disk that has some real bass in it. For me my eyes were opened while I was listening to James Taylors' "Hourglass" CD song #4 "Gaia" and at about 4:10 there comes a strong bass drum that literally made my jaw drop. But even better than its prodigous amount of bass is its ability to reproduce the human voice. JT's voice is realistically soothing and I'm sure that you audiophiles out there are tired of hearing about Diana Krall and Patricia Barber, but their voices through the Thiels are like a soul massage easing away all of the cares of your day.
Another plus with the 7.2's is that when you turn the volume up they don't sound strained like my 3.6's did. The sound doesn't so much as get louder, but just...fuller... for lack of a better word. If Jim Thiel has something better up his sleeve, I couldn't imagine what it could be. I simply love these speakers.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 14,000