I agree with Carl. First of all, your room is pretty large. Second of all, your speakers are lower impedance. On top of that, they aren't SUPER efficient. You will need a very rugged tube amp with a lot of "guts" to do the job. I would also suggest something on the warm side of neutral if mating them with Thiele's. While some of the big VTL's might do it, the first amp that comes to mind would be the Mesa Baron. If your into rock and roll, you know what a Mesa / Boogie amp is. It's the same company, just a different point of view when making guitar vs. audiophile amps. Otherwise, i would look into a BIG, high current SS amp and possibly a tube preamp. From what i hear through the grapevine, the CTC modified Parasound HCA-3500 will supposedly stand toe to toe with ANY amplifier on the market. These run $5000, which includes the purchase of the amp. My source tells me that they have "embarrased" amps costing $40,000 in direct comparisons. If you've got the cash, i'm sure that they would be well worth checking into. Sean >
do tubes rock ??
I will be purchasing a new amp/preamp setup for a set of Thiel 7's. My musical taste is rock and roll music and I like it loud. I have a small dedicated listening room (20 x 24). I love the warm sound of tubes but am concerned that they will not provide the sound pressure levels I want from the speakers. Am I crazy ??