Krell FPB-400cx vs. Pass 350.5 for Thiel 3.6

I power my CS6s with the 400cx and feel this is a synergistic match, having tried previously the 300cx (not enough oomph for the 6s, so I immediately upgraded to the 400cx) and Bryston 7BSTs. The Krell had noteceably more dynamic kick than the Bryston and sounded sweeter and more tube like. I know some of you are thinking, "yeah right, Krell and Thiel as tubelike...," but I own tube equipment too and know this from exeprience. Safe to say that in the 6 years I have had the 400cx and the CS6s I have not once felt a desire to change the power amp.

I wish I could comment on the Pass as this is supposed to be a very good amp (Jim Thiel approves of Pass).

The 400cx should provide excellent performance with the 3.6s as their electrical characterstics are close to those of the CS6. Let us know what you decide to do.

I don't think you could go wrong with either one. Those two, in that order, would probably be my top two choices.

I have not heard the Krell myself, so can't comment on that. I had owned the Thiel 3.6 for over 8 years paired with an ML #333. At that time, I had been contemplating about upgrading the speakers. But I was having some problems with the ML#333, so I traded it in for a brand new Pass X350.5. I got to hear the Pass X350.5/Thiel 3.6 combo for a few months (before I sold the Thiel 3.6 and purchased a pair of Verity Parsifal Encores).

I had the Thiels dialed in pretty well from feedbacks I had received from others who are familiar with Thiel 3.6s. Several of my close friends who are familiar with my system were pretty amazed when I first hooked up the Pass. (fresh out of box brand new, not broken in yet) All the improvement you listed above + deeper and tighter bass. It was an eye-opener for me! I was fairly confident that I had driven these Thiels to its "max". And I thought the change of amp would just be more of a lateral move, or the changes would be just minimal.

A friend who has been using the #433 in his system came over to hear the Pass that first week. He went home and put his 433 on Agon, and bought an X350.5 that weeekend.

I had seriously thought about keeping the Thiels for few more years after hearng the combo. But at that time, I really wanted to try different speakers.

On a side note, as much as I liked the Thiel 3.6, I am really glad that I moved over to the Verity Parsifal Encores....

FrankC