Amp for Thiel 2.3s. Anyone use Classe with them?

First off, I would think that the W-5 is going to pair up very well with your Thiels, and I would not think that a shift to Classe' would be a huge difference. More of a side-step than an upgrade, but perhaps a sonic signature that is more pleasing to you. When I went looking to upgrade amps to drive my Thiel CS3.6's, my shopping list included Classe', Moon Audio, Krell, Theta, McCormack, Bryston, Edge, Pass Labs, and a few others. I listened to as many of these as possible (though not Classe'), and to my ears, the Theta Digital amps were by far the best pairing for Thiel. Talking to Shari at Thiel, she said that for the last couple of shows, they have used Theta Digital amps, and they are thrilled with the response. Talking to Theta, they use Thiels (including 3.6's) some some of their benchmarking, so it seemed a good match. I ended up with Enterprise monoblocks for the 3.6's, and an Intrepid for the HT. A two channel Dreadnaught II is a fantastic amp for your 2.3's.

Good luck, Tom.

Thanks for all your informative replies. I have only had my Thiels a short time and each day they seem to sound better. Another factor is that I posted this message after I listened to them in my system for the first time and it was late at night and I was very tired. But now a couple of days later they do not sound nearly as bright. In fact they are quite stunning. Probably the piece that could be improved in my system is my cd player which is a Pioneer Elite PDF19 301 disc player.
I may also look at speaker cable improvements

I have had alot of speakers but now I have found the speaker family I'm sticking with. Should I ever upgrade it would be to a CS3.6, CS6 or even a 7.2.

Thanks again for your input!

Cheers
Brent

Hi! I use a Classe ca301 with my Thiel CS6's and find it to be a good combination. I do use a Joule Electra tube pre-amp with mind and the highs are very nice in my opinion. I have heard nothing but good news on your Sim amplifier and would be surprised if that causes you any concern.One thing that made a smooth difference in my system was when I purchased some MIT speaker wire and interconnects.I like to spend my money on speakers rather than wire but when I finally tried the MIT it was worth it.Funny though, I do not like this wire when using my Aerial 8's instead of the Thiels.I have been a long time Thiel owner and as your last letter stated,I think you will find the sound grows on you!

Sometimes, you just never know!

Brent,

Yes, replace that CD player ASAP. There is no probably about it.

I have a NAD S200 stereo amp driving my Thiel 2.4's. I was previously driving it with an Arcam AVR200 receiver. What a difference - a rather flabby bass tightened right up!

I am now going to upgrade my interconnects from Kimber 4 to Kimber 8's.

The retailer I bought the Thiels recommended Theta or the NAD as two options (the Theta Dread II being slightly better though 2-3x more expensive) so I am sure Theta is a great pair up - even though it was way outside my budget at the time.