greetings. i have not read all the way through all the posts, but if you are looking for a great amp with Thiel, i have had great success with matching my 2.7's with the new PS Audio BHK amp. It can handle anything and has a wonderful sound. it replaced a really nice Marantz silver reference amp, and was a good improvement. if anyone reading this is interested, i do have a set of Sound Anchor speaker stands for Thiel speakers (either 2.2 or 2.4). please feel free to let me know if you are interested