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I had those speakers in my system and would not recommend tubes to drive them and especially not in a room the size of yours (Thiels in general are not tube-friendly speakers). I drove them with both a robust 100Wpc (roughly doubles into 4 Ohms) and 200Wpc amp and the 1.6es opened up more with the more powerful amp. If anything I’d go with a hybrid integrated like a Unison Unico, etc. Just my experience FWIW, and great speakers BTW. |
I agree with @soix . Tube power is not likely to be the best choice for money spent on these speakers. Those power reccomendations are for standard 8 Ohm power ratings with the assumption that the amps can double down with impedance. As a bare minimum in a small room I would suggest ( as 3 Ohm ratings are the exception ) 200 Watts into 2 Ohms, and in a room of your size; double that or more. The power rating into actual impedance is more important than the 8 Ohm rating. Be leary of amps suggesting "stable into X impedance". Such a statement only means that the amp won't go into oscillation when presented with such a load. It does not suggest power output or distortion levels there. Thiel CS1.6 loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com These are lovely speakers for smaller rooms. You can probably get more from larger Thiels in your room. |
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I have owned 03A's and CS3.5's. I once had a lengthy phone conversation with Jim Thiel on what were appropriate amps for his speakers. He specifically recommended Threshold class A amps. He stated tube amps were not accurate. Thiel's are hard to drive because of the low impedance. Jim Thiel was very smart and a true gentleman. |
I have owned 03A's and CS3.5's. I once had a lengthy phone conversation with Jim Thiel on what were appropriate amps for his speakers. He specifically recommended Threshold class A amps. He stated tube amps were not accurate. Thiel's are hard to drive because of the low impedance. Jim Thiel was very smart and a true gentleman. |
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@uthlidian Here are a couple of suggestions: Willsenton R8 and Muzishare X7. If you can stretch your budget a little more, look into the PrimaLuna EVO 100 (amp or integrated). There are a number of favorable online reviews about these amps. Also, search Kevin Deal’s (Upscale Audio) discussion about the EVO 100 and explanation of tube watts versus SS watts on YouTube. Ok, these are all manufactured in China, but very high likelihood, so is the smart phone in your pocket. I’m not familiar with those particular speakers, but there’s a very easy straightforward way to find out if either of these tube amps can work for you. Don’t rely on my opinion or anyone else. Order a Willsenton R8 of Muzishare X7 on Amazon, try it with YOUR speakers in YOUR room, and if you don’t like it, send it back within 30 days for a full refund … no B.S. “restocking” fee or anything. Upscale Audio allows a 60-day in-home trial, again with no restocking fee if you return it. What’s not to like about that? Anyway, all the best, and happy listening |
I have the Thiel 3.6's and their low sensitivity and low 2.5 to 3 ohm impedance makes it a challenge for a tube amp -- but the one saving grace is the impedance is flat throughout most of the frequency range. Tough to find an excellent high power tube amp with speaker protection without spending a fortune. I ended up designing and building my own tube amp using the KT150 tube in ultralinear and triode. For speaker protection, I used a circuit breaker power switch tripped by high plate current from tube failure, loss of fixed bias or speaker terminal short, plus a time delay heater warm up. I had a custom single tap 3-ohm output transformer rated at 70 watts (down to 27hz) wound by Jack Elliano at ElectraPrint. The amp uses balanced inputs only, with no phase splitters -- just a pair of 6SL7 mu-followers to swing the signal to the output tubes. Works extremely well with the 3.6's doing a decent job at the low frequencies and the overall dynamics preserved. I still use the Mark Levinsons when power is called for but for a lot of softer music the 60 watt KT150's fit the bill much much better |
My experience with Thiel’s, is they need power, and if not they can sound cold and light. Aerial Acoustics speakers are the same; they need a big amp to open up. I’d look for the biggest solid state amp you can afford… that has quality. I’d say look for a Pass X250 but I don’t think you will find one for $2K. Parasound A21 might be a nice amp. |
For low impedance loudspeakers there is only one tube power amp I would suggest: the Music Reference RM-200 Mk.2. The amp was designed specifically for low impedance loads, a job at which it excels. Do a Google search and read all about it. Reviewed by Michael Fremer in Stereophile (in both original and Mk.2 iterations), residing in the mag’s Recommended Components list Class A Tube Amp category for many years. I don’t know what you mean by "vintage", but the RM-200 was introduced in 1998, the Mk.2 version a little over a decade later. It typically sells used (of course) for around $3000, a real bargain. I’ve owned ARC, Atma-Sphere, and Music Reference tube power amps, and have settled on MR for my remaining years. They’re all great, but for low impedance loads the RM-200 is the one to go with. IMO, of course. Power output is 100 watts, and from just a single pair of KT88 or 6550 tubes per channel! The Atma-Sphere M-60, in contrast, uses 8 output tubes (16 for a stereo pair) to produce only 60 watts, and is not well suited to low impedance loads. $3000 is 50% more than your $2000 budget, but $2000 is unfortunately just not doable. Save up, or sell something else!
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I have owned 03A's and CS3.5's. I once had a lengthy phone conversation with Jim Thiel on what were appropriate amps for his speakers. He specifically recommended Threshold class A amps. He stated tube amps were not accurate. Thiel's are hard to drive because of the low impedance. Jim Thiel was very smart and a true gentleman. |
I highly doubt your going to find a tube amp that can drive your speakers and be under your budget. There is not many hi(ish) powered tube amps out there let alone vintage ones below your budget. Then there is the re-tubing your going to need to do with used tube amps. I say that after buying dozens of used tube amps over the years and almost always you need to re-tube, specially in this budget range. And to get a tube amp with the power you need is not going to be cheap to re-tube. probably half your budget alone. If I was you I'd save for a while if your hell bent on tube amps and then consider, optionally is something like the wilsenton amps from China not a bad amp I have owned one. Second find a quality SS amp and drive it with a tube preamp. hybrid set up would give you the best of both worlds as they say. something like a Schiit Audio Freya+(tube) as a preamp and a used SS amp would be close to your budget. |
@glennewdick +1 |
I have a Muzishare X7 driving VonSchweikert vr4jr 89db effiency rating. Drives the speakers just fine at my 75 db listening levels in a large room. Bought it on Amazon just for kicks...after hearing people say a tube amp of this caliber would not drive my speakers. A year later i am still enjoying it. Try it...liberal return policy...you may be surprised. |
I don't have CS 1.6s, but I have been using Manley Stingray push pull amplifier for over 20 years with 4 different pairs of Thiel speakers including CS 1.9 and CS 3.6 (which I guess are the closest to CS 2.6 with very nice results. In fact I tried other more powerful solid state amplifiers for either of these speakers and result was worse. In general, Thiel speakers sound nicely with tube amplifiers, with an open and real soundstage, quite clean. |