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

Showing 2 responses by rlwainwright

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-