Preamp for Thiel 1.6's

Geh7, although frequently classified as Mid-Fi, the Rotel 1095 is a very good amp that should be able to drive your Thiels fairly well. The 1.6's require some power to sound their best, and IMHO the preamp and amp together should sit slightly on the warm side of neutral for these speakers.

Consequently, if you'd like to just get a preamp, I imagine it should sound pretty good. I don't know your preamp budget, but I'm assuming it's less than the cost of the 1095 new. A preamp from Rotel is an obvious choice, but you can consider other possibilities such as Classe, Marsh, Electrocompaniet, Cary (tube), BAT (tube), and Musical Fidelity. This is by no means a comprehensive list.

I think the best question to be asking right now is, "What is your listening preference and how does your system compare to that right now?" If it's just fine, then don't do anything. On the other hand, if you feel that you have deficiencies with certain types of music, for instance, then that may assist us in making recommendations.

Michael

The best combination with Thiels I've heard yet is a Plinius preamp / amp combo. Of course, that is well beyond your price range but you could easily get a Plinius 8200 integrated amp that might do just the trick.

What is your source? If you're complaining about some harshness with rock, it's possible that this originates at your source components, and that the Thiels are just being ruthlessly revealing (which is generally what they do).

If harshness is your complaint, assuming the source is not to blame, than I agree that a tube preamp might be the way to go. Some of the options at that price range include used Cary, Audio Research, Consonance, Conrad Johnson, Audio Mirror, Quicksilver, Marsh, and too many others to list.

Is there a way that you could, say, borrow a preamp from a dealer to try it in your system and see if that might be a potential solution to your problem, or if the problem lies elsewhere?

Also, I would make sure that you optimize the positioning of your speakers before making any final determinations on the upstream electronics. (Do a search on Google for speaker positioning.)

Michael