Metal, eh? Sweeten the Thiel beast inside your cage, eh? Forget bright sounding solid state gear with Thiels, obviously. Can you tolerate neutral gear with the Thiels? If not this maybe ultimately the wrong speaker, IMO. But given your situation you'll have to make them work. So we need a lush solid state amp, then. A tube amp with the testicular fortitude you crave will be over your budget. But there is lush solid state to be had. The best example I've seen is an Audio Alchemy OM-150 amp. Figure $500-600 used for one with both external power supplies. You'll probably need both. Lush midrange and a bone crushing bottom end. Class A up to 15-20W, 150W into 8, 250-300W into 4 (depending on who you ask), stable into 2.
Parasound also has some powerful amps in this price range, and they're decent, but a little colored in their sound. I'd forget adcom and rotel for this task. I prefer 6550/KT88s for metal, and adcom is very much the opposite of that. You might also look at B&K. I think they have a Reference 2220 that isn't too bad. Not sure what it goes for used, but it's like $1k new, so it might be close to the Audio Alchemy. Other brands I liked metal on were Classe (CA201?) and a McCormack DNA. But those are probably too much, even used.
As for the preamp. You're not gonna find a remote control tube pre, and stay under budget. Especially after budgeting for a muscle amp. The matching audio alchemy pre amp (DLC) wasn't bad. ($125-250 used, depending on what power supply). Sort of transparent for the $$$. Personally I'd just get the amp first, and try a discman with volume control directly into the amp. See how you like it. That may be good enough.
After for the player. I'd be tempted to try a DVD player with volume control or even a discman. It depends on what you have on hand. That would someehat eliminate the need for a line stage preamp. If you're after SACD, your best bet is a Sony 500V or CE775 changer. Figure $100-200 depending on if you can find one. I haven't heard them, but they are reported to the somewhat warm sounding. So they shouldn't suck too bad. :-) but if you get one of those, you'll need a line stage for volume attenuation.
Feedback? (pun not intended).
Parasound also has some powerful amps in this price range, and they're decent, but a little colored in their sound. I'd forget adcom and rotel for this task. I prefer 6550/KT88s for metal, and adcom is very much the opposite of that. You might also look at B&K. I think they have a Reference 2220 that isn't too bad. Not sure what it goes for used, but it's like $1k new, so it might be close to the Audio Alchemy. Other brands I liked metal on were Classe (CA201?) and a McCormack DNA. But those are probably too much, even used.
As for the preamp. You're not gonna find a remote control tube pre, and stay under budget. Especially after budgeting for a muscle amp. The matching audio alchemy pre amp (DLC) wasn't bad. ($125-250 used, depending on what power supply). Sort of transparent for the $$$. Personally I'd just get the amp first, and try a discman with volume control directly into the amp. See how you like it. That may be good enough.
After for the player. I'd be tempted to try a DVD player with volume control or even a discman. It depends on what you have on hand. That would someehat eliminate the need for a line stage preamp. If you're after SACD, your best bet is a Sony 500V or CE775 changer. Figure $100-200 depending on if you can find one. I haven't heard them, but they are reported to the somewhat warm sounding. So they shouldn't suck too bad. :-) but if you get one of those, you'll need a line stage for volume attenuation.
Feedback? (pun not intended).