Power for Thiel 7.2

Oops, scratch Audio Research, though they have used them amongst others to demo their stuff in the past.

Thiel's listening room has the CS 7.2 powerwed by a Krell FPB 700cx.
They were powering the CS 2.4 with a BAT VK600SE.
As it has been stated they do not suggest a certain amp to drive their speakers. They only require quality power.

Getting back to the CS 7.2. I've heard them powered by a pair of Levinson 33H and I was amazed at the sound that was coming from an amp that was rated at 150 wpc @ 8 ohms.
I've heard the CS 7.2 powered by the big Mac daddy's 1201, 1200 wpc @ 8&4 ohms, and was not impressed. So from what I experienced do not rule out an amp because it does not put out 600-750 wpc @8 ohms. Audition them in your system and see what works best for you. A lower powered amp might work if you do not listen at high volumes or have a large room to fill with sound.

What do you like Czbbcl?

Thank you Rtnl for your kind advice.

Have had my X250.5 for months now with fairly intense twigging.

Agree with you entirely. I think the weakest link for a pair of speakers like these is certainly the amps. Do plan to try either the 600.5 or the XA100 maybe in a few months.

Biggest improvement was a harmonic tech fantasy AC to tame the esoteric which perahps mated with the metal diaphragms of the Thiels were a bit bright sounding.

O, forgot, also changed to Synergy IIi in the meantime, and this is a much better mate with the X250.5.

I am reasonably happy right now with this combination. Need another power cord for the Synergy, currently using Zu Cable Mother PC.

Thus far, I must say the musicality from using Maggies previously is almost there (yes... hard to believe isn't it...). The Harmonic Tech pushed the highs, improved transients and squeezed even more air around instruments. I hardly listened to music loud and almost always run the X.5 in pure Class A power. But the well intentioned advice on this forum is much heeded and I guess Thiels do need all the juice you can throw at them. Gryphon Encore & XA100 & X600.5 are all the next affordable price range and will try them out hopefully xmas.

Many thanks again, happy listening

Kowkow,

I have been listening to CS6 speakers and have a friend who has a pair of CS7.2. He bought my Pass X350 and when he bought the CS7.2 he tried to drive it with them, while I used an X250 with the CS6. None of the amps worked well, although the X350 was OK with the CS6.

Before this I had a Levinson 331. Outcome is, that the Levinson 331 although it is only rated at 100W/8 200W/4 400W/2 had a better overall control than the X250. Later I had an ML No. 333 which was the best for my taste. (Remember that I am talking baouth the CS6 with is a much easier load than the CS7.2)

The X350 could not drive the CS7.2 of my friend to its full potential and the X250 was not capable to drive even the CS6 correctly. I am not saying that the music was not loud enough, I mean that with complex musical passages in classical music the amp lost its integrity. My friend then swithched to an ML No. 33H and it solved his problem but he needed to build a dedicated AC line for the amps.

If you like the sound of Pass amps, I think you should go with the X600. IMO there is no need to go for the X600.5 version only if your budget allows. BUT BEWARE! THE XA 100/160/200 AMPS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DRIVE THE CS7.2. IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT THEY RUN IN FULL CLASS A, BUT THEIR OUTPUT IS LOWER AND LOWER AS THE IMPEDANCE DROPS...

The X600 is a great amp, but you should also consider the Jeff Rowland Model 8TiHC for example because its high current.

The CS7.2 is a reference speaker and it is wonderful, but it is almost impossible to find the right amp for them besides the X600, ML No. 33/33H, Big Classé amps, or Krells etc. The 33H is very-very conservatively rated at 150W, actually when it was tested it put out an amazing 225W/8 doubling down to 2 Ohms and they were unable to measure it at 1 Ohm because the AC line started to collapse... Levinson gives the output of their amps with both channels driven between 20Hz 20kHz while Pass gives the power at 1Khz (as usual). So as someone has already mentioned it is not only power which is important.

BTW, I currently use the Nuforce Ref 9 monoblocks with great results but I have not tried them with the CS7.2 yet. They have a damping factor of 4000 and rated at 160W RMS, and 350W for 20ms hold time at 8 Ohms. (analog swithching amps you may check them out at nuforce.com.)

Sorry for being a bit too long, but I hope this can help. Happy listening!