Upgrade for Thiel 1.6 - Or a waste of $$

Perose - You're on the right track. The RSX-1067 offers a full analog bypass mode (which I use) but I'm sure it's not the ideal path.

I've read up on Arcam's AV8 @ AV9 but not the others you mentioned.

Wish there was a good integrated that allowed for dual use...Is there such an animal?

A dumb question, but wouldn't "relieving" the Thiels of lower freqencies (that they were engineered to deliver) change the true sound and performance of the speakers? And not in a good way, either.

I've used a bypass with lesser speakers but I was under the impression that it was more or less a gimmick meant to make mass produced audio sound/preform better.

Thiel's own sub offering uses an inline filter that doesn't change the signal to the mains....I'm pretty sure.

Hardly a "gimmick". Relieving a driver from this stress, reduces compression, allows for greater dynamic range and if the subs are seperately powered, allows the main amplifier to work with less stress. This may be more so with typical class A/AB amps which may be able to maintain the preferred class A bias longer. All in all it may change the true sound and performance in a good way. Thiel offers both active (more expensive), which is what would allow for the above, and passive filters(less expensive), which would not offer all of the above mentioned advantages. Balancing all this can be tricky, but, Thiel seems to have found a unique way to make it easier than is usually the case. This may all be academic, as I don't think your budget contraints will allow for this option.