Best amp for Thiel 3.6 speakers?

I have owned a pair of 3.6's for quite a while. The bad rap they get for "brightness" is because they are very resolving - what you hear is the equipment behind them and not the speaker. Unfortunately, they require state of the art amplification to sound their best; and that's their downside - pairing 20+k worth of gear to a $4200 speaker doesn't add up. Your best bet is somewhere in the neighborhood of used Mark Levinson such as the 23.5, 27.5, 33(4,5,6) or Spectral, C-J MF**, Aragon, Forte, Pass Labs, Bel Canto - good quality SS. Pipe these up with MIT cabling (don't go overboard, the cheaper MI330/MH750 pairing is more than enough), keep them 9 feet apart (no toe-in), 10 feet away, and 3 feet from the back wall and you will be quite happy.

My 3.6's playmates are the Levinson 20.6 mono's, CAT pre, Theta Va, CEC TL-1 and MIT Reference cabling. I chose the 3.6 with this setup because of all the speakers I auditioned, the next runner up cost $15K - just not worth it for the (noticeable) difference in sound. (At least in MY room).

I'm driving my 3.6's with an Aragon 8008BB, and it sounds fine. It is also rated at 200 watts/channel, and, like the Krell, doubles its output power into 4 ohms. It's a lot less money than Krell or Levinson amps, though.

I have my 3.6's toed in so that you can just barely see the inner surface of the wood cabinet; that was the advice of the dealer where I bought them. I have them 7.5 feet apart, 3 feet from the back wall, 2.5 feet from the side walls, and about 10 feet away.

For what it's worth, the rest of my system includes the Denon 1650AR CD player, the Bryston BP-20 preamp, Pro-Silway II interconnects, Analysis Plus 0val 9 speaker cable, and the ExactPower 2000 AC correction system.

Good luck!

A couple years ago at CES Thiel was paired up with the then new McCormack DNA-225. The speakers were the seven point somethings(can't remember exact model), so if Thiel felt there were synergies between their speakers and McCormack electronics and the 225 had the juice to drive the sevens(sounded pretty damn good to these ears), I would think they might be worth auditioning for the 3.6s and may save some $$$ versus other alternatives. Personally I'd be looking for a used DNA-2.0LAE, but that's another story. Best of luck.

Tim

I bought a used Krell KSA-150. The speakers they used to to demo the amp was the 3.6. It was outstanding! I was very impressed how well they worked together. When they took the amp out it was replaced by a Aragon 8008BB it was a good match also. I liked the Krell better.

I juice mine with a Classe CA-301. I agree with GS556 on the MIT cables. I started with 750 shotguns and 330 interconnects (balanced). This made for some very good sound. Then I went to 770 twin with 350 ref. twin interconnects and a MIT ref AES/EBU digital cable. This made for great sound. I also agree that Thiels are revealing and must be set in front of some decent gear. Once everything is right they will knock your socks off. Be sure you give them lots and lots of power, you won't be sorry.