2. amps-preamps
  3. 1352437950

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
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
I have used Bel Canto REF1000M (Class D) and Electrocompaniet Nemos (A/AB) as well as Plinius SA Reference (A)

I thought also heard a friend's Bryston AB amps drive Thiels.

The Bryston had better midrange vs the the Bel Cantos. But the Bel Cantos had better control of bass, very tight. With a tube preamp, the Bel Canto's midrange improved.

The Nemos improved further on the Bel Cantos bass control further with more authority and more meat. The Plinius was better again.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
With the budget you are working I think your money would be far better spend if you focused on getting a good integrated amp. Probably a SS one.

The problem is with Thiel speakers in general, and certainly the ones I drove (not your), SS amps can make a bright sound which can be unbearable to some listeners. Class A amps can sound excellent but you can't buy good Class A amps withing you budget. I found Threshold's SA3, a 50Wt amp, outstanding with my stuff, but that was $3000 new 15 years ago and they still sell used if you can find them for $1000+.

I would try to find an integrated amp which doubles down from say 100wts per channel in 8 ohms to 200 wts per channel in 4ohms (indicates high(er) current delivery, and which has a reputation for having a tone on the warm side of neutral. If I had to compromise on that I would give up a little on the current demand but not much. With any luck you might find one within your bugdet and then be able to find a good CDP.

You are, in a way sadly, coming up against making some serious compromises with speakers that don't like compromises. Good luck............
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Some good thougts from Newbee.
bighead63
53 posts
 
I have these speakers and picked them up off craigslist for not a lot and use them for a 2nd system.

They are very coherent which is a huge plus on them. The down side is they don't dig as deep as other speakers but they image very well.

I have them in a 12X14X8 room and it works well. Running it off a simple integrated amp that pushes 100 watts and a CDP and it works well.

They do have some top end sizzle and I did run them in my main system (VTL tube monos and BAT tube pre amp) which helped a little bit but still had the high end in tact. Room treatments also does help. I was planning on doing a restore on an old tube integrated I own and run it off around 80 watts tube power from 6550s.
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