Preamp for Thiel 1.6's

Both of you are on target with your thoughts and questions. Budget is flexible, but let's say 2k. Jazz and piano sound good now, but rock can be a little harsh. I do have a second zone hooked up very conveniently with the Pioneer, but I do not want that to limit good choices for the main system.
Thanks

I would agree that Rotel is a lot better than people give them credit for. I own a pair of CS2.4 and I have found them pretty easy to drive... not what I would have thought...

But anyway I have tried a few amps now and I really like the new bread of class-D amps with Thiel. I would keep your Poineer and get a good integrated amp with a home theater pass through. The way you could upgrade your amp and preamp that the same time and still have the Poineer running the second system with the pass though.

A brand I have really liked is Wyred 4 sound. I would give the STI-500 a go, read the review and see what you think, a steal IMO at $1,999.

Tube preamp.

FWIW, despite lost of dealers pushing them, I've never cared for the Rotels with Thiels. IMHO, there are much better choices for not too much more money. YMMV. I do think most speakers and the especially Thiels benefit from a quality amplifier more so than a preamp. The tube pre suggestion might be a good one, so long as it works well with your preferred amp.

The best combination with Thiels I've heard yet is a Plinius preamp / amp combo. Of course, that is well beyond your price range but you could easily get a Plinius 8200 integrated amp that might do just the trick.

What is your source? If you're complaining about some harshness with rock, it's possible that this originates at your source components, and that the Thiels are just being ruthlessly revealing (which is generally what they do).

If harshness is your complaint, assuming the source is not to blame, than I agree that a tube preamp might be the way to go. Some of the options at that price range include used Cary, Audio Research, Consonance, Conrad Johnson, Audio Mirror, Quicksilver, Marsh, and too many others to list.

Is there a way that you could, say, borrow a preamp from a dealer to try it in your system and see if that might be a potential solution to your problem, or if the problem lies elsewhere?

Also, I would make sure that you optimize the positioning of your speakers before making any final determinations on the upstream electronics. (Do a search on Google for speaker positioning.)

Michael