I will openly admit that I'm out of practice since my baby just turned 8 BUT since we're talking classic diapers, I'm sure the application is the same.
My fave prefolds and flats were from GMD.
http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/
LOVED the red edged ones. Totally my faves and lasted through all four of my kids.
I also loved flats and totally found them absorbent enough as the baby got older. Simply required additional folding or layers. I would just add in more absorbent layers on the inside if additional absorbency was needed. Hemp was one of my faves for trim absorbency.
That said, I loved variety and my cd'ing was never comprised of just one type. I had multipes of all of them.
And used the different systems at different times.