Tubes with Thiel CS-3.6's? has anyone had success?

I had a CJ Premier 11a driving my Thiel 3.6's and loved it. I only sold it because a friend made me an offer I could not refuse. I ended up buying a CJ MF2500A and I must admit the bass is better with the power of this ss amp. But the 11a was pure magic in the mid and high end and I often times wish I had it back. I have been considering looking for a pair of CJ Premier 12 or 8 A's. I too do not listen at extremely high levels and the 11a seemed to have enough punch to drive the Thiels quite well.

Chuck

I had Thiel 3.6 speakers that worked really well with an Audio Research VT-100. you may want to consider the ARC integrated although more than 50 watts really would be best.

In my opinion, you are not going to get the most out of your speakers trying to use the amps you list. They just cannot supply the current and control these speakers need. If you want to go tubes, IMO you'll need to stay with more powerful models that use larger power supplies and output transformers, and with at least four or more higher-power variety output tubes per channel (probably twice that if using lower-power variety output tubes). To me, this pretty much rules out tubed integrateds, and I think these results will obtain even when listening at low-to-moderate volumes. I say this as a CS2.2 owner who has tried both moderate- and higher-powered tubed power amps (C-J MV-55, VTL MB-185 Sigs.) - and those Thiels aren't even as demanding (impedance-wise and in woofer size, though their sensitivity is similarly moderate) as yours, and my room where I used the smaller amp was also much smaller than yours. Even my newer, larger room, in which I was really forced to move to the higher-powered amps, is not as large as yours is. Also, keep in mind that your speakers are very revealing of amplifier quality, not just quantity, and the lower-priced models you mention will not be shown to their best advantage by speakers which really want top-notch amplification, not just plenty of it.

I use a pair of Wright-Sound WPA3.5 (2A3) amps with my 3.6's. No problem filling up my room, and no problem at all with the sound quality. I listen mainly to classical (string quartets, small scale orchestral, and jazz).

But - I have a CAT preamp (high gain) which does make a difference over conventional gain preamps. My room is about the same size as yours, has carpeted floors and drapes. So a 50 watt amp shouldn't be a problem.

Hey, anything will produce a sound, but I don't expect that sound would be for me. You're honestly the first person I've heard of running these speakers with a low-powered SET - what else have you used? (Unless you're having us on, that is... ;^)