Thiel 3.6, what will drive them best?

Well, I have found an amp that should last me for quite a while. I am picking up a B&K EX442 Sonata from fellow Audiogoner Sac. He's great to deal with.

The amp is rated at 200wpc at 8 ohms and 350wpc at 4 ohms. I am told and have read it has a "tubey" sound and will therefore help round the forward highs of the Thiel's.

It is the best compromise I could come up with at the moment. I realise it doesn't quite follow the power doubling rule from 8 to 4 ohm but I won't be pushing the Thiels that hard.

Thank you for all the advice,
Ron

Well, I'm moving on from a B&K EX442 Sonata to an Aragon 8008BB. This should be quite a jump considering that the Aragon is a double mono amp with 2 1.1KVA transformers and doubles power from 200w at 8 to 400w at 4ohms. I haven't seen a figure for 2 ohms but I'm sure it will knock the socks off the B&K.

Anybody have any experience with this amp speaker combo?
I think I'll ask this in another post,

Thank you,
Ron

Classe DR-9

A Sony TA-N80ES works fine with mine. The pre-amp is the matching Sony TA-E80ES. At 4 ohms, this amp is rated at 270 wpc and has "dynamic" ratings down to 2 ohms. They typically range from $500 to $900 used.

Of course, I'd love to get another N80ES and used them in bridged mode as monoblocks.

The Vintage Knob has a nice writeup:

http://www.thevintageknob.org/SONY/sonyes/TAN80ES/TAN80ES.html

Actually lately the N80ES has been selling for less then that- usually $250-400.

Its a buyers market for just about everything these days...

Mark