Driving Mrs. 3.6

Krell and McIntosh are great choices, VTL and tubes I can only wonder, nothing beats tubes and anlog. Any Threshold owners out there wish to chime in? How about Classe' stuuff?

After many amps, I ended up with the Krells for my Thiels. I have however heard the thiels with the Mcintosh 1201s, and if or when I decide to change they are the front-runners. The VTL tubed monoblocks are very good with 3.6s.(heard them once) Also all three Ayre amps I have heard (with the 2.4 and 7.2) were very nice. (V-5xe, V-1XE, MX-r) Lots of choices, all good, but the Krell and Macs have been my favorites.

Hi Max Pain, you can check out my system....I use Mcintosh 501's. I chose them over several contenders, it ultimately came down to them and CJ 350. My musical taste sounds similar to yours and I will not own another amp. The are solid from top to bottom with a beautiful midrange. They give my Thiels all they want!

I think the sound anchers make good sence, Gundam, had suggested using them to support the speakers. I currently have tip toes (spikes) under the 331, and the 3.6's. Would sound anchores for an amp platform warrent the money spent? I know that Gundam and I have also talked a good deal about room treatment as well, Which I feel are all as important if not more than cables. However what I currnetly need more of at the moment is a bigger amp. The 331 is 100 wpc, Thiel suggest's a min. of 100 watts and I am expearancing the reason why they make that suggestion.Don't get me wrong the 331 does a great job but has it's limits, the Thiels soak up the power, they can be difficult to drive during demanding peaces, and I don't want to damage a driver. My biggest issue is whats out their to bring me to that next level in amps. I love tubes but find SS to be a more feasable for a listenenr such as myself, at this point and time. I well however take soundanchors into account,becuase I need a better platform any way. But for argument sake wouldn't a slab of marble or even dense wood do the trick?? I can see where SA would lock the 3.6's more tightly to add stability, there fore tighter mids. I've been dying to here the Pass 350.5 but have been unable to locate a dealerclose to home,Ive contacted Pass and they'll e-mail once they've found a dealer closer to home, they're restructuring US dealers. hopefully soon.

Also see GundamF91's link for more info.

thanks again

I had just posted my experience driving the Thiel 3.6 here:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1194288042&read&3&4&

If you are interested for more details, I will gladly share with you what I had shared with the other guy. The short of it is get the X350.5!

FrankC

I had the 3.6's and drove them with a 27, then a 333, and, finally with VTL's. If you like the 331, you'll love the 333. Plenty of power, but adding a Sound Anchors stand to the 333 greatly increased clarity and bass slam. I ordered the stand with the upgraded casters, just so I could move the beast easily, though it would probably have sounded even better with the spikes.
Before you switch amps, you might want to change cables, especially if you're going to stick with a Levinson. I first drove the 3.6's with a Levinson 27 and actually like it a lot, even though it was less power than the 333.
I switched from solid state to tube and found it to be more musical, but that's another argument.
I would advise, when you get to the cables, to try newer Transparents. Smooths out the highs that sometimes makes Thiels sound a bit bright.
I liked those 3.6's a lot, and that Meridian is a real sweet piece.