Charles1dad, I can't and won't discount Stevecham's listening experience, but he's the one that first provided measurements to support his position. I respect that he also offered this objective argument to his position. After all, without it; it all just becomes unsubstantiated opinion. That is not to say that subjective opinion is not without merit, and that includes his as well. Bear in mind, that I also offered similar subjective opinion with similar, if not quite identical gear. Furthermore, the OP's experience has suggested that under-powering these particular speakers was less than satisfactory. FWIW, based upon the posts here on Audiogon most seem to agree with Thiel, the OP, the usual technical arguments and my experience too, rather than Stevecham's.. If Stevecham is happy with his rig, power to him, but the OP is seeking advice and I opt to provide mine too. Speaking of which, what are you providing?