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Vintage Amps for Thiel 1.5

I have a pair of Thiel CS 1.5s that I love for their clarity, imaging, and tonal balance, but sometimes I wish they were a bit more dynamic in the mid bass.

I have been driving them with an old Sony TA-1150 (35w rms, 150w dynamic into 4 ohms), that sounds great but I worry may not have enough power. I usually keep the volume control at around 1/3 - 1/2 and rarely feel the need to go above 1/2, so is my amp powerful enough after all? Is the lack of kick drum punch just the limitation of the Thiels' 6.5" woofer?

Or would I get better punch with a higher watt amp from the '90s? What would you recommend for around $500? 

Bryston 3b? Creek 5350SE? Carver?
aalden
aalden OP
3 posts
 
I have a sub low-passed at 50hz, so they pick up around where the Thiel's leave off. I don't want to mess with their phase with bass management. If I can get more punch with a better amp, I may skip the sub.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I want to stay solid state, so I'll keep a lookout for Pass and Bryston. Would a Bryston 2b be good enough? Those seem to be in my price range.
roberjerman
2,086 posts
 
A Bryston 2B will work well at a bit lower average SPL level. Also depends on your choice of music. Mahler will need a lot more power than, say, Kind Of Blue!
marqmike
676 posts
 
I had a sumo polaris and athena (run in bypass mode mostly) on my 1.2's. They were an amazing match. Better than krell ksa 50, rowland model 1 and 5, and a couple of threshold units I cannot remember. Of course that is in my system. What was better to me in just a couple of ways was a audio research classic 60 and arc ls-1 pre I had for a little while.  A little different speaker than the 1.5. You could try the sumo polaris or andromeda or an ampzilla amp for SS. All are really good. I wanted to try a muse amp which I thought may be very good also at the time but never did.
jafant's avatar
jafant
10,525 posts
 

aalden

Feel free to join us over on the Thiel Owners thread. I would like to read more about you and your Audio journey. Good advice as above.


Happy Listening!

aalden OP
3 posts
 
I did a little more research and learned that Jim Thiel used Bryston amps when building and exhibiting his speakers. So even if there are more exotic or euphonic amps available, I think a Bryston 3B would be a safe pairing.

Would it be worth it to spend a little more for a 3B-ST, or is the older 3B close enough in sound?
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