Thiel Owners

Unsound....
Not petty at all regarding my misnaming the Thiel eq.  Part of my pair's provenance, as related to me by the fellow member whom I bought them from,  is the possibility that Jim himself handled the eq when it was sent back for a very minor service. The route you suggested just doesn't work  - we went over everything and decided I'd give it back for a full refund and I'd get the amp instead. 

So so far as "old iron" goes...does a Conrad Johnson  MF200 qualify?  I had this going as well through my ARC LS 3 ss preamplifier - noice, indeed!

Even though Jim eschewed the class d category I'm still forging ahead with the Primare amp, which will undoubtedly have me looking for a nice tube preamplifier - a set up I'd used before with the 3.5's. That was a Pass Labs X150.5 with an ARC LS 2 pre - perhaps the best I had.  C'est la vie ... But the Thiels remain. 

TY oblgny

unsound...
Funny,  I'm not getting that CJ "warmth" from the 200 as much as I did when I had the MF2100 a few years back,  but then I was also using a CJ preamplifier - I forget the model number - that,  I think,   imparted that perception of warmth.  I've been hooked on Audio Research for my preamplifiers ever since.  For me they seem to mate well with just about anything I've hooked up to it,  the only exception being a Musical Fidelity amp which was so colored it makes a CJ look like its black and white.

As the contributors to this post know,  "Thiels reveal" - everything in the chain associated with driving them.  I'm SO bloody sorry that I sold my Pass Labs X150.5 I can't begin to tell you.  Unfortunately the price has pretty much skyrocketed new/used or refurbed - double what I paid Mark at Reno Hifi for mine currently!

As my previous post documented I returned the Primare because I could not use it with my Thiel's eq.  I NEVER return anything.  I was offered a pair of Paradigm Prestige 95F's from my dealer at a silly price,  and though very tempted I refused.  

The only way I will part with these is when someone can pry them from my cold,  dead hands!

^Not at all surprised that the AR pre imparts less warmth than the c-j pre.
I too am a Pass fan. Perhaps you might enjoy Pass's previous products: Threshold. Which were reputed to be used by Jim Thiel when developing these earlier Thiels (& Pass used Thiels amongst others then too). Good examples should be considerably less expensive than more recent Pass Labs. Keep in mind that these older amps might need some refreshing: caps, bias, etc..