Yes, indeed, my budget theory got shot through the roof! ;^) What did it for me was auditioning amps. I had my old Adcom GFA-555II with me for a reference, and what I found was that stepping up to a $2,000-3,000 amp had some benefits, but still, there were some things that the old Adcom did better than these amps. Once I heard the Enterprises, though, the difference was shocking. Not to name names, but compared to another manufacturer's $3,000.00 amp, they beat it in every category, and significantly blew it's doors off in imaging and soundstage (which are important to me). Then, I did a head to head, in my home comparison versus a modded Edge NL-10 (retail of over $12,000), and the Enterprises also beat them handily (to my ears, at least).
I think that once I heard just how good my 3.6's can sound with excellent amplification, I didn't want to go back to anything else. That, and an unexpected inflow of cash helped out. :^)
FWIW, my favorite amp at close to the $2,000 mark was actually the Theta Intrepid driving just the Thiels. That "little" Intrepid just amazes me. It doesn't have the depth of soundstage, or the detail of the Enterprises, but it is very balanced, quite capable in the lows, and has very good width of soundstage.
Tom.
