Build me a killer Rock/Metal Rig for 1K

David, very sorry to hear of your circumstances, but I hope the audio divestiture is the greatest of your troubles.

And now for something *completely* different ...let me suggest something off the wall (my specialty) ... I don't know how important aesthetics are and if you are handy, but what about making a DIY powered sub to take much of the Thiel load off the amp, then go with a tube integrated or separates (which should then have ample power)? Given your not-huge room size, I wouldn't think the 89 dB sensitivity is the key issue. Don't know the impedance curve of the Thiel's but wouldn't the most severe dips be in the lower frequencies? You could make something like a sealed Shiva alignment with a Parts Express plate amp for a touch over $200 - which may be less than the margin between acceptable go-it-alone amps?

Just a thought.

Unsound,
Are you sure about the impedance figures? That would be the first speaker of which I've heard that had a completely flat impedance curves - most drop at least 10-15% (usually much more) from nominal to minimum. Some M-L stats go down to almost 1 ohm. A flat 4 ohms and 89 dB/W-m is not a very tough load. I agree that I wouldn't normally want to integrate a sub ... but the $ differential to get a powerful stable amp that does it all into a portrayed very difficult load got me thinking about how to tame the load instead. If the mountain won't come to Mohammed ...

Unsound, I don't disagree with anything you've said. This is going to be a temporary, stepping-stone solution to get some music playing. [David, I don't mean to refer to you in 3rd person as if you're not here, but I don't know if you are here ;-)] If David is eventually going to get to a balanced system, and buys cdp, pre, and amp for $1k, my guess is he's not very happy with any of them, and certainly none of them survive into the 'permanent' solution. Frankly, my first thought is to sell the Thiels and then buy a complete well-balanced system, but it sounded like David was reluctant to part with the last/cornerstone of his system, and I can understand that. Disregarding that, I thought about a cdp with variable output direct into an amp of reasonable quality. A 'powerful, clean amp that can handle a steady 4 ohm load' is not that rare nor pricey. I'm thinking something SS like a McCormack 0.5, Belles 150A, or Citation 5.1 - with some patience, all can be had around $600-700 used. That leaves $300-400 for the cdp. This won't be the last word, but a couple reasonably good choices with line level output control are the Newcastle 980 and the H-K 8550. The amps still have up-side potential, and bought at the right price all this will resell easily.