SF Power 1s with Thiel CS 2.3s Enuf Pwr?

HELP....10 days with no responses. jts

I have gone Through 2 amps -a classe cap 150 which does great job with with the thiels and a bryston 4 B which I used with the cap150 as a pre amp only sound was better with the classe /bryston combo, I'm sad to say. The Thiels just are power hungry . the more power the more they open up. I now have a meridian 557 which pushes 300 into the 4 ohm load of the thiels. Theres a fullness of sound I was not getting before. Side note I have my rig in a huge room now. I was perfectly happy with the classe in a smaller room great feel almost tubelike.

I have a pair of Thiel 2.3's. They love alot of power. The only tube amp that sounded good was Audio Research Ref stuff about 200 wpc. I ended up buying new pass labs gear x-150 and x-1. They sound awesome. I read an old sterophile article stating that tubes; in theory, double the wattage to the speaker. Not sure which issue will email you if I find it. You can also use a good tube pre-amp with a solid state amp (great combo).

Im feeding my 2.3's with 400 wpc into 4 ohms from a Bryston 4b-st, no looking back. While I was waiting for the Bryston to arrive, I briefly (VERY briefly) tried running the Thiels off of a 60wpc Yamaha. It was a real bad idea. Not only did it sound awful, but I was terrified that someone was going to get hurt. Your best source of advice, however, will be Thiel itself. You can get the e-mail from their website and they are very good about getting back to you with great advice in a couple of days. There is a good chance that they have had some experience with exactly the combination you are asking about and will be happy to share. I do know, however, that when they recommend 100wpc, they mean into 8ohms--so, for all intents and purposes, their recomendation is for an amp that will present 200wpc into a 4 ohm load (which essentially all the their speakers are). In effect, the Thiels thrive off of high current amps, something for which pure wats is sometimes only a rough surrogate. Tubes, I think, can somehow change the equation and shouldn't be ruled out just because you're considering Thiels. (Ok, I am now hypothesising beyond my means, shoot Thiel an e-mail, they'll give it to you straight). Best of luck.

I can't really answer your question, I'm driving 3.6's with a Classe CA200 with no problem, they go plenty loud with great bass response. I would be leary of using a 55 watt tube amp unless you listen in smaller room and music that's not real dynamic. Hey, what cables are you guys using, I'm currently using a double run of Kimber 8TC/MIT ic's.