Wilson Sasha, SF Amati Anniversario, Thiel CS3.7

James63, to answer your question "The Watt Puppy 8s (Sasha?)" - The Watt/Puppy 8 and the Sasha W/P are different. Sasha's are the next generation of the W/P.

Wilson speakers do a great job of revealing your electornics and cables. IMO they sound very Hi-Fi-ish and unpleasant with solid state. I heard the Sasha's on tubes and they were very good, I later heard them with solid state and didnt like them.

You might also want to listen to the Avalon Indra - very nice.

My guess is you will prefer the Amati or Sasha's over the Thiel, but some of that might be the electronics you are hearing.

Good luck-

Wilson speakers do a great job of revealing your electornics and cables. IMO they sound very Hi-Fi-ish and unpleasant with solid state.

That very much depends on electronics. Wilsons sound great with Pass XA or Dartzeel SS amps. Those are just two combinations I personally tried, but I bet there are many, many more available.

That beeing said - the best I have heard was the combination with a SET amp. Not because Wilsons need tubes to sound good, but 'cos SET amps IMO sound better than transistor amps. Of course, YMMV.

SET amp for Wilsons? I thought they are quite tough to drive. Speaking of SET amps, I forgot to mention in my original post that I will be listening to the Sasha, Amati and Thiel CS3.7 using the Avantgarde/SET combo as my benchmark because they have made the biggest and most profound impression on me thus far. A SET amp is ideal for the Avantgarde because of the latter's sensitivity rating of 104dB with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms.

I will also audition the Avalon Indra but I'll have to take a one hour plane ride to do this. I will be listening to the Indra together with Spectral DMC-30SS pre and DMA-360 monoblocks. Yummy!

Looks like you are in for a good time. I am looking forward to reading your impressions.