Help me select an integrated amp for Thiel CS3.6 speakers


Room is 25 x 25 and fully carpeted. The speakers are in the corners -  this cannot be changed.

Looking for suggestions for an integrated amp that will work well with this speaker. Looking to spend around $2500 but will go to $4000 if it makes sense to do so. This obviously removes the higher end Pass, Luxman, Levinson etc from the discussion.

Two on my radar are:
1) Rotel RA-1592
2) Parasound Hint 6.

They both have plenty of watts and bluetooth for apple/tidal/ connectivity. My source will be streaming or buying a streamer at some point.

I am planning on buying without being able to audition unfortunately.

Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks.


epz

Showing 2 responses by golfnutz

Honestly EPZ, you should consider selling those speakers (assuming you’ve purchased them already). The real issue here is the size of your room (25’ x 25’ speakers in the corners only). As others have mentioned, you need a high current amp to get them sounding their best (CS3.6 are 2.3 - 3.0 ohms minimal for almost the entire frequency range). At minimum you would be looking at something like a Pass Labs Int 250, and that’s over your budget ($7K used). Look for better speakers to suite your room (high efficiency, with higher impedance than the CS3.6). Than your choice of Integrated Amps will be much easier, and affordable.
I have my doubts about the Hint 6 being able to drive the CS3.6 speakers properly in a 25' x 25' room. It's only rated at 160 and 270 watts into 8 and 4 ohms. The Hint is basically the same as the Halo Integrated.

From Sterophile's Halo review:  "Fig.19 also shows that the amplifier offers low levels of distortion into the two higher impedances, but begins to stress out into 2 ohms."

Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/parasound-halo-integrated-integrated-amplifier-measurements#POek...

It won't be long before the OP is looking to upgrade....

Also, the Hint has been priced as low as $1600 on the used market already. This is entry level stuff, the CS3.6's deserve better than that.

Something like Parasounds JC1's would be more appropriate in a room that size ($4k used).