I have to agree with Mapman here. Especially with Thiel's. Thiel's are more demanding of appropriate, quality amplification than most speakers. BTW, I've been using Thiels for 20 years.
The amp is more important than the preamp, and vice-versa.
Seriously, my experience generally supports Mapman's statement, but within a range of amps that accomplish that optimum combo, the choice of preamp will give a profound, perhaps more significant improvement.
btw - I spent about the same on both in my system.
square rooms gives grey sound rectangular rooms give color sound, to my ears. = grey vs. color = diferent harmonics.
no matter if the speaker and amp are the best, the room can make them sound ugly.
power also , needs balance, big room needs power.
but, electronically speaking, speakers, amp & cables are more important than pre-amp. the best pre can only perform as good as your speakers or amp. the weak link its your best.
I see no inconsistency in most of the arguments above. I'm in the "garbage in, garbage out" camp. So I view the pre-amp as being more important than the amp. This presumes, however, all other things being equal. The amp has to mate well with the speakers and the system has to be tuned for the room, or vice versa. So if you have an amp that is suited for the speakers, and if your room acoustics are good, then all things are equal and a preamp upgrade should do more for you than an amp upgrade.
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