Build me a killer Rock/Metal Rig for 1K

Good Luck!

Suffer a little.

Save your money.

You need about $2k minimum to do what you ask.

KF

I agree with the posts that say you cannot do what you want with what you have.

Having said that, for what you want you should slay the "Thiel beast" by dumping them and buy Klipshorns. With the leftover money (if you are lucky) and your 1k buy a Manley Stingray integrated amp and and an Ah tjoeb 4000 cd player. This system will destroy your Thiels plus whatever amp and cd player you can get for 1k.

Now you are talking "killer rock/metal rig."

I read'em all; alot of people here have certainly put forth some effort. I'm not going to tell him to bail since he does have to listen to something. The Aragon hifiguy recommends is a good choice. I'm not big into balancing the coloration "du jour" as one person put it--you just need good accurate gear for cheap that can drive your pair of relatively inefficient demanding speakers. A nice SS amp for the Thiels would be the way to go-espeically since you need power. I think B&K and Aragon are generally a cut above Adcom and Paraound. Brystons also another (there's a few over there for <$500). If you insist on having tubes in the system get it in the preamp-- but forget about the remote, its too much a stretch at your budget. For a front end I've owned a Parasound c/dp 1000 and it was a good unit--you could get one for between $100 and $160 used. Parasound doesn't make cd players anymore so you won't find a new one anyhow. It also has a coax digital out so you can upgrade the DAC later. That way you'll have something to listen to and when you upgrade you won't have lost a penny on this initial purchase. SACD is not a great format you might not want to get to caught up in it: a standard CD actually has better High Frequency capability and DVD-A is really the winner over SACD and CD. And with all the varying quality of different DACs it turns into apples v oranges real quick and you don't know what's to blame for the sound. The recordings can dominate it all: a good recording on Metal Cassette tape on a Nakamich dragon could outperform a poor SACD recording. I would forget about the cables too. If anything build some yourself and/or wait 'til later for what you want to do there.

CD Player $100-$150 (w/ digital out so you can upgrade later)
Amplifier $500 (Aragon, Bryston, B&K, Van Alstine,etc.)
Preamplifier $350 (Aragon, Van Alstine, others)

Use 14g cable from either Audioadvisor at $.30ft or check out apexjr.com--there stuff is all under $.50ft too. Pauls equipment recommendations are good too. Audiolab has had some decent budget pieces also. Don't get too hung up on power ratings. Shoot for around 100watts. But the difference between 120 wpc and 160wpc is only marginally audible--especially the way some speakers start to compress at higher volumes and you might only walk away with a 1 db at best with those extra 40 watts depeding on specifics.

I agree with hifiguy, great idea...CALL THEIL, they can tell you...I hear they have good service

have fun

cd

Yeah I have to totally disagree with the gentleman who doesn't agree with BALANCING TONALITY and such with gear! Especially at this price level!! Even ultra high end stuff needs to BALANCE for sound with other gear sonically! From years of working around high end products, that theory of just putting together a bunch of "SONICALLY TRANSPARANT/UNCOLORED" gear doens't every really work out! EACH AND EVERY PIECE has it's own sonic signature, no matter what you do! EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT GEAR IN THIS BUSINESS!...SO total tranaparancy has to be a mystical perceived factor.
I think people do best to Soniclally match up components that MATE well with each other, and BALANCE each other out. The reason people lilke Thiels with Tubes is for this very reason! Thiels often tend to error towards brightness, and tubes tends to BALANCE THAT OUT. Since there's NO TOTALLY TRANPARANT speaker out there, you should match gear for proper tonality. That's the way it is.
As for BALANCING THE SOUND, my years of audiophile experience ALWAYS SUGGESTS that ALWAYS comes down to SYSTEM MATCHING when in comes to compoenents! yes BALANCE is what you're after, with ALL GEAR! THAT'S RIGHT, ALL GEAR has it's own sound and characteristics WHICH NEED TO BE MATED PROPERLY FOR BEST SOUND! There is NO PERFECT GEAR OUT THERE!...IT'S all flawed! And like any relationship, it needs proper balance to work best. End of story.
Anyone who thinks you shouldn't match gear for BALANCE, or coloration or whatever needs to tell me about some system they have, or have heard, WHICH IS SONICALLY NEUTRAL AND TOTALLY TRANSPARANT, AND WITHOUT NEED FOR SYSTEM MATCHING!...DOESN'T EXIST!!! There is NO perfect gear!
As for what Ezmeraldal1 mentioned regarding the Parasound CDp/1000, I used to have that unit in my system for a while and it's not very good! Infact, as a standalone unit, even the little Jolida CD601, Cal audio DX1 and 2, Cal audio Icon MKII, Acurus ACD11,and Rega Planet CD player's are all MUCH better than that player you mentioned! Yeah granted they can't be had as cheep, but for a $100 more you can get most of these used. That said, my DVDA310 is STILL BETTER THAN ALL OF THESE PLAYERS SONICALLY! And you can buy mine for $200 with remote and volume control for Passive set up!!
He will STILL NEED a tube preamp to match with his solid state amp at that budget, and it'll be workable with in a few bucks or so. '
Also, if you likes the Thiels, you should stick with em. That's my take.
Let me break it down again:

Panasonic DVDA310 ...$200 or less
Aragon 4004(or 4004 MKII..even better)...$400-600
used tube preamp in the $200-500 range.

You'll have killer sound, and you can upgrade pieces in the future should your budget allow. For right now however, at that price range, you'll not get better sound from your speakers for YOUR PURPOSES! I garantee it!