Thiel Owners

You might consider a Belles amp.  Perhaps the Soloist 1 integrated even.  They have a full, tuneful and robust sound to me that would mate quite nice with Thiels.  However, as a previous Thiel owner, I'd go with a solid state amp, think Levinson, Krell, Conrad Johnson, BAT, Classe or Belles.  Then add a tube preamp which will help to flesh out the sound from the Thiels.  As Thiel's Kathy Gornick was once quoted as saying, " I never heard a Thiel speaker that didn't sound better with a tube preamp."  For cables, go Straightwire, Transparent or MIT.  Keep us posted and enjoy your Thiels.....they're worth it.  Best.

jafant...
I played the CJ MF200 for a few hours yesterday and I can say that it's a pretty impressive amp for its age.  CJ doesn't offer a power rating into a 4 ohm load like my Thiels,  but with 200 watts into 8 ohms I will assume I won't be stressing either.
Anyway,  I'm currently using an ARC LS 3 solid state preamp,  and it may be only my aural imagination but I am not getting any of that "warm" CJ sound - which is a positive.  (Not that the warmth of CJ equipment ever bothered me.)  I thinks its more their preamplifiers that impart that trait in many user's opinions.  (I've had other CJ amps and preamps as well.)

I also have a Classe preamp...model number eludes me right now,  and THAT imparted warmth.  I'll be hooking that up and comparing sometime this weekend.

Overall the CJ and the ARC preamp are a good match.  I heard excellent low end response from my Thiels at a very moderate listening level.  I sit approximately 10 feet away from my speakers so that's a good thing.  I use Ginger Baker's "Cyril Davies" cut off of his most recent release "Why?" as a canary-in-a-goldmine reference since it has dynamics all over the place.  I then use some New Orleans jazz - if an amp can render this and that well its a keeper!

PS:  I got the amp for under $700...

Thanks! dar57, carmenc, and oblgny-

very insightful intel indeed.  Keep me posted & Happy Listening!

jafant...
I'm also thinking of raising my Thiels a few inches higher than their bases situate them currently.  I read much about Maggie 1.7's here and used similar information to good effect when I had those.  (I love Magnepan,  too.)

MHO:  Thiels are Maggies with more bass...

I don't know if that will improve anything sonically,  but it will certainly help in connecting different cables to them.  I doubt it will suffer anything,  either.
My local store just became a Transparent dealer which saves me a 50 mile trip - maybe even money!   I do suggest using spades on the speaker connections since their location and that little tunnel to run them through can be a nuisance with banana connectors.

use the Vandersteen manual to pick locations. very similar design philosophy w Jim. ignore the tilt, taken care of for you w sloped baffle, but the slope creates the limit of the 9-12' ish sweet spot. just design trade...