Any Thiel CS3.6 owners?

I am new to the “audiophile” scene building up a modest system, but experienced it for more than two decades through an “audiophile” (my late father in law), what I learned, is that you put two audiophiles together, there are three opinions

In the end, it’s what matters to you, how you hear things, music, listening area,... and if you have the $ to experiment. Although the general online and in-store consensus is that in order to “tame” the Thiel you need a powerful Tube amp, the original review by Stereophile used another solid state amp from Mark Levinson, Nb 23.5 (must $23.5K).

 

Thank you for the Sterephile link...I read the entire article. I get your point completely. So far, most of my upgrades have yielded great bumps in SQ, so that's why I was paying close attention to the numerous comments regarding my less than ideal pairing of speakers and amp. If getting a better paired amp would provide another bump, I would be tempted. I think a nice tube amp is in my future, but I may wait a bit and just go for one of the highly regarded Mcintosh amps.

 

@Jrr , as I am building my modest 2 components (Audirvana/Mac Mini, MHDT Pagoda DAC, UR Simply Italy Int Amp) system for my donated super old 1985 ProAc Studio 2, here are my thoughts:
- I am convinced to get the best of the CS3.6, you need “musical/warm/soft” sounding Tube amps (although there may be some $$$ solid state winning combos)
- It is interesting that no one here mentioned the Mcintosh MC275 amp iconic design brought back from 1961 or the new MC252 integrated amp hybrid design, my feeling is that they are under-powered for the CS3.6 . Can’t comment on their amp sound signature.

Given your comments that you feel your current setup isn’t an ideal match, I don’t think anyone can quantify the improvement in SQ by changing your amp but I am convinced from all the forum residents experienced opinions and local specialty stores that there will be ! (Resistance is futile)

PS: now the WAF came into effect when I mentioned potentially selling the CS3.6, as she likes the looks more than her dad’s ProAc... so I may have to keep an eye for used amps mentioned here for those difficult Thiel’s (I now have a donated preamp Spectral DMC-15)

 

Thank you for the heads up on the Mcintosh's. That's a lot to spend if there is a chance they won't be beefy enough, and everyone seems to agree they need a lot of power. They definitely sound far better at mid+ volume, so you really need that power. Thank you so much.