I've been gifted a pair of Thiel CS2s


So, I'm starting with the speakers first. :D

They'll more than likely be sitting in an 10' x 8' x 9' (height) room, which hopefully is big enough for them.

Since, as I understand Thiels crave a lot of power,
I'm looking at amps that will double down to 4ohms.

My budget is probably about $1000 for both the amp (or integrated amp and a pre-amp.

I'm currently looking at Aragon 4004.
I'm wondering if this will be "too much" power,
as I live in a condo and it seems a number of sellers are selling the high power amps because they are downsizing.

Anyhow, what would be a good matching pre-amp for the Aragon 4004, in the $500 range?

I've also considered:
< $500 amps: Acurus, Anthem MCA2.

$500-$750:
Rotel RB-1080, PS Audio HCA2, McCormack DNA 0.5, Anthem MCA2 (here as well)

$750-$1000:
Bryston 4B (but it sounds like the ST or SST would be better, but more costly), Conrad Johnson MF-2200, McCormack DNA-125.

I've been reading a lot and learning some.

All opinions welcome.

Thanks,
Mike
mrfarnham
When I first got into this hobby, it was listening to a pair of Thiel CS2s. I think they will probably work OK in your room, and I think the Aragon would work fine with them--I heard them with that amp, an NAD 2200 and a Rotel amp. The better the amp, the better they will sound (my CS3's sounded really good with a Krell KSA 50 Mk II), and in a room your size I don't think that you need huge amounts of power. I have never heard the CS2s with tube amps, but I did hear 3.5s with them (a CJ Premiere amp) and they were beautiful, so you might not completely rule out a tube amp or integrated. If you do go with the Aragon (and you could get the 2004 as well, if you find one, as I don't think you'll need all the power of the 4004 in that room), the Aragon preamp, the 24K, I think, would be a good match.
I would run them with the McC dna .5 Get the deluxe version if you can-better connectors and wire.
I owned the 4004 and used a Aragon 24k (I think) with phono and outboard power supply. Used them w Apogee speakers. The aragon stuff is nice but I would go with the McC.
Emotiva make some really good, value-priced amps. The XPA-200 would seem to fit the bill for you, 150 watts/ch., $499. And they have a 30 day trial with free shipping to you. Also have a 5 years warranty...

http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/xpa200

-RW-
You can also add Emo's USP-1 preamp and the whole schmeer will be less than $1,000...

-RW-
Don;t worry about too much power. I have used Bel Canto REF1000Ms (1000W into 4 ohms) and Electrocompaniet Nemos (1200W) with my Thiels before.

The higher power gives it the headroom to handle fast dyamics where Thiels excel in.

I believe Thiel uses a lot of Bryston gear when doing internal tests