Upgrade for Thiel 1.6 - Or a waste of $$

The Acurus is certainly up to driving your Thiel's, but, other than what it can do in the lower registers, I don't think you'll care for it with the Thiels. There is a conrad-johnson MF 2300 currently up for sale here on audiogon with an asking price of $1000. I don't know the seller or anything about his particular amp, but, I think you could be very happpy indeed with this combination and stay close to your budget. Good luck!

Hardly a "gimmick". Relieving a driver from this stress, reduces compression, allows for greater dynamic range and if the subs are seperately powered, allows the main amplifier to work with less stress. This may be more so with typical class A/AB amps which may be able to maintain the preferred class A bias longer. All in all it may change the true sound and performance in a good way. Thiel offers both active (more expensive), which is what would allow for the above, and passive filters(less expensive), which would not offer all of the above mentioned advantages. Balancing all this can be tricky, but, Thiel seems to have found a unique way to make it easier than is usually the case. This may all be academic, as I don't think your budget contraints will allow for this option.