Been driving mine with a Bryston 4b-st for about three years and it works just fine as far as I am concerned. There's been a lot of chatter about driving Thiels here over the years -- some folks swear by Krell, while some will tell you to avoid the combination at all costs -- so I guess the main thing to take away from it all is that it really is a pretty subjective call. Some will say that the Bryston-Thiel combo tends to reinforce the tendency of both to lean towards the clinical, but I don't hear it that way (but then, I am running a very warm CDP (Meridian 508) and a tubed preamp (Rogue 99 Magnum)). I almost dumped the Bryston for a Plinius SA-100 recently (still kinda wish I had given it a try) but remian pleased with the Bryston and, as I am sure you know, their customer service is good and that warranty is the best in the business, bar none. (Got my Thiels used, and, in their prior life, they had been fed with a pair of Bryston 7b-st's -- would have been nice, but far more power than I'd ever need for my room and usage). Classe is often recommended, also.
The Thiels are current demanding, though. Although I haven't had much first hand experience with it myself, the prevailing sentiment seems to be that, in order to get the best out of them, you can readily make use of at least 200wpc from a solid state amp that runs A/B. With tubes or a pure class A solid state you could certainly get away with a lot less, but the key is to have plenty of available current to make them go. There are more efficient speaker designs that the mega-power amps are severe overkill for, and then there are less efficient designs that give the mega-power amps a reason to exist -- the Thiels are among the latter.
You can almost build things up in layers to achieve the sound you want, and only you can decide what that sound is. I began with the Thiels because I liked their sound, added the Bryston for the warranty and power requirements, threw on a tubed preamp because I wanted to warm things up a bit, added a tubed CDP for a little more warmth, went all silver interconnects to put a little zing back in, added a power block for a little more low-level fullness, retubed everything because I could, replaced the preamp alltogether for an all around improvement in clarity and detail, ditched the tubed CDP for the Meridian to add in more detail and bass control while retaining all of the lush warmth, an on, and on, etc. It's been a continuously evolving path through which I am both figuring out what I like and, hopefully, continuing to nudge things in that direction. I couldn't begin to guess whether where I've ended up is anywhere near where you want to be headed.
As far as some magical combination, there really is no such thing. Likewise, those who may claim that you absolutely HAVE to use X or avoid Y are, though 100% correct subjectively in terms of chasing their own dragons, ultimately splitting hairs among almost negligible minutia and likely taking things too seriously. The Thiels are pretty nice speakers -- give them enough current and they'll sound pretty good. Other than that, you've got a few too many moving variables for me to make any guesses -- other than one: do you need Transparent wires? Of course not. Maybe someone wiser than I can tell you how to get it all 100% perfect on the first try but I, not believing there is such a thing, can only encourage you to enjoy the ride.
