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Give up on Thiel 3.6 or try another amp again ?

These speakers sound amazing sometimes, especially on small-scale, well recorded material (regardless of genre).

I tried a PS Audio HCA-2 and an Aragon 8002, neither of which sounded particularly good. I'm now driving them with a pair of 90 wpc Quicksilver mono tube amps. I know this is against conventional wisdom, but I like them more than the previous amps as long as I keep the volume moderate.

The problem is that the speakers don't open up and bloom as I turn them up for either large-scale classical or rock music, but rather get hard sounding. It could be the small room overloading, but I suspect it's the amps running out of steam.

Ideally, I would have an unlimited budget to power these speakers with a huge, clean solid state amp. Sadly, I have pretty much no budget at all, so I'd have to sell the Quicksilvers to finance a new amp. This would leave me with $1200 or so for a good, high current, high wattage amp.

I was thinking a used Parasound A21 might fit the bill, but there aren't a whole lot of other options in this price range that seem optimum.

Truthfully, I am starting to think it would more make sense to explore other used speaker options; as nice as the Thiels sound at times, they may simply be too impractical given my financial constraints. Perhaps a pair of Vandersteen 3A signatures or a new pair of 2ce Signature Mk. II? Perhaps the Gallo 3.1s?

What would you do if you were me?

btw, the rest of the system consists of a Quicksilver linestage and a Rega Saturn CD player. Thanks!
jonathan1257

Showing 1 response by a_hayman

a_hayman
43 posts
 
I'm driving my 3.6's with a pair of Rowland 201 monoblocks, and I'm very happy with the combination. Speaker cables are 3-foot Analysis Plus Oval 8's. I listen to classical music exclusively, including solo, chamber, and orchestral; the sound is clean, transparent, and focused. The system is very unforgiving but accurate -- the better the recording, the better the system sounds.

My room is 13 feet wide by 21 feet long; the speakers are 8 feet apart, about 5 feet from the back wall, and about 2.5 feet from the side walls. I have them toed-in slightly, and my listening position is about 11 feet away. I found when I first set the speakers up that placement was very important. Having them too close to the back wall robbed them of impact, made them sound muffled and anemic, and prevented them from "opening up". Pulling them out to 5 feet made a huge difference.

Try experimenting with placement; you might be surprised. Good luck!
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