2. amps-preamps
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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
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
Newbee and Chuck are right. I had thought your room was larger than it actually is. You are supposed to sit a fair distance from the Thiels for them to sound their best, and while they don't go much below 40Hz in frequency response that's still a good deal of bass for a smallish room. Experimenting as Newbee suggests is a good idea. I like the Thiels, and in the right room they're pretty good speakers, but they might not work at their best in your current room.
dill
2,525 posts
 
Your room is way too small for those speakers.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
I ran the same speakers for many years, in various rooms. Your room is too small. Perhaps something like Thiel's SCS's might work.
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Oh maybe it's meters?? I haven't seen room of that size. It seems to be closet or some study or something in feet...
Really strange.
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
As long as you can sit about 8 feet away from the speakers, I you should be able to get pretty good imaging and phase coherency.

My friend used to run 2.4s and 3.7s in a pretty tiny room.

Having some room treatment helps too.

For those offering suggestions, he's been gifted the speakers so that isn't going to change. I'd still see if he can get a bigger room but 10 feet length wide still seems OK.
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