Thiel Owners

The number of watts doesn't mean everything for Thiel speakers, what is much more important is the current capability of the amp therefore it is better to have 75 watt of pure class A into 4 Ohm than 600 in class AB.
I'm sure a modest Sugden SPA-4 would do better compared to a big 600 watt Krell on the CS 3.7
Refinement is what you have to look for more than the amount of watt with Thiel speakers.
I'm not saying big amps are bad because many of them can sing very well but there are some alternatives.

ronkent,

Wow, another person with both the 2.7s and 3.7s!  Looks like we are in a similar scenario.  Though I've decided to sell the 3.7s.

I'm just trying to decide whether to sell them myself, or accept a nice trade in price from a local dealer for another pair of speakers (Devore).
I wouldn't be giving up my 2.7s which I intend to keep.  And the Devores are almost hilariously at odds with the Thiels in terms of design.  But there's many ways to skin a cat as they say, and I enjoy having access to more than one speaker sound.

Thieliste, No, what’s important is that the amp is capable of delivering the power into the actual impedance load. Note how some amps will blow a fuse with just 1 channel running into such a load, never mind both. Or that sometimes an amp is not even tested into 2 Ohms. Guess why?

 Some so called Class A amps decrease the percentage of Class A bias output as the power increases into lower impedances.

With most typical speakers (like the 3.7’s), as the impedance drops so does the sensitivity.

 400 Watts into 2 Ohms might seem excessive, but consider that is comperable to 100 Watts into 8 Ohms.

I’m not suggesting that you need a 600 Watt high current amp (advantages aside); your room and desired listening levels will determine that. Just that Thiel’s minimum recommendation calls for close to 400 Watts into close to 2 (!) Ohms. I recommend getting an amp that is not regularly on the verge of it’s limits.

 Given that an amp is capable delivering it’s power into a given impedance, it depends on the circumstances as to whether or not more power or more refinement is better. A more refined amp regularly driven into clipping would sound less
 desirable and potentially be more likely to damage a speaker than a smooth running less refined higher powered amp. While unto itself Class A can be desirable, it’s just one consideration amongst many in determining the the overall quality of an amp. I’ve heard Class AB amps that sounded preferable to some Class A amps regardless of power output. And visa versa..