Does a Class D amp match well with Thiel Speakers?


I am considering purchasing either the the Thiel 2.4 or 3.7 Speakers. Definitely, I would appreciate the feedback.
tommy2112
Sam, you're welcome. Hope I didn't come across as some kind of "ARC know-it-all", merely that since I use a 150.2 with my Maggies, I have a vested interested in ARC's "Class D" amps! I'm also consistent with many of the other posters in this thread in that I too use a tube pre amp (in my case an ARC SP-8) in front of the SS amp, so while I don't have experience with the Thiel speakers, my general experience and choices seem in-line with the others.
Class D is the first place I would look to power Thiels well.

I use an ARC tube pre-amp with my Class D amp and power and current hungry OHM speakers and find that to be a very effective combo.

Not all Class Ds are equally tube preamp friendly. Ones with higher input impedance (60Kohm or higher)are the safest bets.
IMHO class D is not the way to go with Theil speakers. Have any of you folks with Thiels or any other speakers that need lots of clean power and will play down to 1 ohm heard the Sanders Sound Systems class AB Magtech amp. The Magtech amp can be auditioned free for 30 days. Check out the Magtech at www.SandersSoundSystems.com. Also check out the review on the Magtech amp in Feb 2011 issue 210 of the Absolute Sound. I personally feel that you could spend 5 or 6 times the price of the Magtech price and not get any improvement in sound. The Magtech plays the music as is with no colorations. It is a real sleeper.
Soundlock makes a good point.
Jim Thiel, starting in 1988, while developing the CS5's discovered that, by using bass drivers that drop precipitously in resistance, that this had a side effect of pulling more current from the amplifier--acting 'almost' as an equalizer on the bottom/bass region.
I have not discussed this, but it seems plausible, AND if Jim said it to be true, I don't need much else to bolster this opinion.
So...with that said--an amp with lots of balls, doubling as the impedence drops more and more, as they do get into the 2 ohm region with the THIEL 3.7--should mate well with a 'Krell-like' bass performer. I don't ascribe to the Magtech amp, as I haven't heard it...yet, he's right on the mark in his assessment. THIEL's need current.
As a side note--one very hard earned lesson by Jim that year was, that virtually everyone exaggerated their current delivery on the amplifiers--very few did what the manufacturers claimed.

Good listening...

Larry