Thiel CS3.6 Amp


I currently own an older Bryston 4B amp driving Thiel 3.6 speakers in a room 12x25' that opens into a kitchen & dinning area. The rm has poor acoustics with a lack of bass. The bryston and thiels sounded good in a previous house with plenty of bass. I listen to allot of 2 ch music, but am planning on setting up a surround sound home theater system with an outlaw audio (990) processor and Rotel 5 ch amp (585) to drive the center and back speakers. I am looking for a velodyne DD12 sub and a thiel center speaker. I would like to upgrade the bryston amp with a used up to ~$3k amp to improve the 2 channel stereo listening. I am considering a Mcintosh mc352 or a classe amp. Any opinions or recommendations.
128x128dal0wol
The Mac, Pass, or Classe's should work well with 200 watts. Which is best is a matter of taste, but they should all drive them well.
Thanks for the info. I am currently using a passive pre amp (electronic visionary system) with the Bryston 4B amp. I have never used a regular pre amp. I am hopeing that a Velodyne DD12 sub will help bring back the bass. Any thoughts on what a normal preamp vs the passive preamp would do to the sound? The Bryston is ~ 200W a channel. The Mcintosh MC 352 is ~ 350 W a channel. I am wondering if the Mac would drive the 3.6 speakers better with a warmer sound?
Dal)wol, I'm not familiar with the Bryston, but I would be suprised if a passive could drive typical SS amps well because of their typically lowish input impedance (the Bryston might be different) - a weakening in the bass region is typical of an impedance mismatch. Even when ideal (I've used K&K SB 102 and Bent Tap)I've always come back to an active tube preamp - more lively and dynamic. I would expect that a tube pre would work well, preferably with a lowish output impedance to drive the Bryston. A good tube preamp for driving lowish amp imepdances is the Dodd Battery Preamp, which is one of the pres I currently use after having owned the CAT, LAMM, and Joule preamps -- a great preamp for the money and being off the grid (like a passive) is a plus. Good luck.
I am using Classe Cam-350 to drive my Thiel CS6s and find it very satisfactory.Previously I had tried smaller amps that just would not warm up the Thiels now I have a great sound.