Thiel Owners

audio1326

Welcome! Good to see you today. Thank you for citing your System. 
Now, to address your query. Are you considering keeping your system on the Vintage side?  If so, I found Adcom and Bryston 3B ST quite capable. Bryston really shines with an ARC Ref5 SE pre-amp. You already have Straight Wire to round out this sweet combination.

The Panel has a few CS 2.2 fans and owners, stay tuned until those guys chimes in to address your query. I look forward in reading more about Musical tastes.

Happy Listening!

I  was hoping to keep the Denon AVR and use the 2 channel amp to power the main front Thiels for 2 channel and in a 9 channel HT setup. If not much of a difference in sound, I will not add extra amp. Denon will provide over 150 w rms into 4 ohms per specs,

audio1326

if the Denon is made in Japan, you will be able to achieve the set goal. AVR and Receiver made in Japan have quality innards. What genre(s) of Music are you enjoying?

Happy Listening!

anzen

I've posted photos on the virtual system folder .

you will see the original bd. and the work in progress of the coaxial board with 3 Mundorf caps , the board as I am using it now has another mundorf cap and a 15uf ERSE cap on top of the 3 .  You will see the 1uf next to them ,  when you open the VS page count down 19 rows you'll see my Turntable .

audio 1326 - I can comment on some of your possibilities.

I have used the CS2.2s since 1990 in all kinds of applications; I know them better than anything else. They are a target for my upgrade activities, so significantly improved performance will be gotten from them in the future.

At Thiel we had an original Bryston 3B (as well as its successors). I find it somewhat brittle despite its big bottom end. The STs are an improvement, and the 'cubed' series is first-rate.

The Denon is current-limited by definition - it does not double its output into half the load impedance. But as JA mentioned, Japanese made Denons have good bones. And theCS2.2 only drops below 4 ohms for limited time and has a very flat impedance curve, much gentler than later designs. So, it will work.

I like your Adcom GFA555 much better.  The earlier Japanese boards use a higher quality transistor shared with the GFA535. Nelson Pass's designs have simple circuitry dependent on high parts quality. I have two of these amps and the earlier (Japanese) has a distinctly cleaner sound. The GFA555 (straight, series I) can be upgraded by Jim Williams of Audio Upgrades in Carlsbad CA at two levels-the higher using film resistors. The upgraded units punch way beyond their price class. I use a pair in bridged mono configuration as part of my listening and test setup.