Thiel Owners

^Not at all surprised that the AR pre imparts less warmth than the c-j pre.
I too am a Pass fan. Perhaps you might enjoy Pass's previous products: Threshold. Which were reputed to be used by Jim Thiel when developing these earlier Thiels (& Pass used Thiels amongst others then too). Good examples should be considerably less expensive than more recent Pass Labs. Keep in mind that these older amps might need some refreshing: caps, bias, etc..

unsound...
Yeah,  I have seen a pretty good amount of Threshold pieces about the inter-web thingamabob but my skepticism about their provenance has kept me from actually dipping my toes in the proverbial waters.  Price wise they're certainly in my wheel house.

My guys around the corner just told me that they have a BAT VK3 preamplifier coming in soon - not certain of the exact model number - that they'll let me have for about $1k.  I've never had but always wanted to check out their stuff and maybe this is the perfect opportunity to tube front a class d amp!

What this all comes down to is that I am building a new system around my LOUDSPEAKERS - which some people here may think is backasswards...but what the heck.  I moved my Maggie 1.7's out and haven't looked back,  but when I have my original CS 3.5's to my nephew I haven't been able to look forward.  Thiels are THAT good.

jafant,

As I've written before: my CJ Premier 12 monoblocks are driving the Thiel 3.7s very well.  If one wanted more "slam" to the sound, especially the bass, I suppose one could go to much more powerful SS amps or something.  But in terms of the evenness of sound, and bass articulation it's been a great combination.  That smooth CJ sound aligned with the see-through clarity of the Thiels is pretty magical for an "all the detail you could want, presented musically" presentation.