What amp for Thiel cs3.5's?

I've owned a lot of Thiels and a lot of different amps.

Here's the hard truth

If you only wanted to spend $500.00 on an amp you should have bought different speakers.

I don't think you'll be happy with anything less than a Classe 301 to drive those beasts.

Personally I think the Classe 401 would be a perfect mate!

Oh and be prepared to lay out for some good cabling too. If you ever want to truly enjoy those speakers, I mean really here them sing your going to need some high grade cables. I'd start saving for some Reference MIT cabling (ref 350's min.)

I'm not trying to discourage you. I just know first hand what it takes with those speakers. If you have to you can purchase something to get by for now but later your going to have to pay the piper for great sound.

Good luck

It sounds like you're out of your league with these babies. The plain ole truth (again) is that $500 is not going to buy you much in the way of power and quality; which these babies require. The 3.5s are killer speakers and deserve better than what $500 will buy....peace, warren

I do think that you have at least one viable option in that price range. I would suggest that you pick up an Adcom GFA-555II. It is 325w per side into the 3.5's 4 ohm load, and should power your Thiels quite well. Some folks don't care for Adcoms, but to my ears, their older bi-polar designs are really great amps for the money. Check out the archived reviews on Stereophile.com. Another advantage of the GFA-555II is that if you pick up a second one, you can run them each in bridged mono mode, putting out 850w into each Thiel. This is exactly the configuration that I use with my CS3.6's, and I find it to be quite satisfying.

Hope this helps, Tom.