Amplifiers for B&W 803D/802D

I have owned Classe and McIntosh with B&W 802D speakers.

I owned a Classe CA2200 amp and CP500 preamp and had it paired with Signature 805 speakers and really enjoyed this system, it was fun. (Unlike Arthur, I really liked the touch screens, a lot.) I heard the 803D speakers at my local stereo shop and it had moments of magic, which led me to purchase the 802D's. Unfortunately I could never capture that magic at my house with the 802D's.

This led me to sell the Classe gear and purchase a Musical Fidelity kW500 integrated amp, which I felt did a better job. I later purchased a McIntosh MA2275 integrated amp which obviously didn't have near the power, but this was a very nice piece, and better sonically. Lastly I purchased the McIntosh MC402 and C46 combination, which I feel was better than the Classe, per your question.

All this said and as mentioned, I never could get the 802D's to sound at a level I felt they should. If you decide to get 802D's, I'd suggest the mono-blocks, whether it be Mac or Classe.

Having heard the 802D's side-by-side with Wilson Sophia II's, at a dealer, I would recommend the Sophia's, although they are slightly more.

Statusnine, your first reply to Audphile1 were excellent questions, as IMO his comments were without merit and didn't make sense. The Pass amps he suggested are NOT mono-blocks, as you state in your second reply, they are two channel amps, just as the MC402, yet they are very good amps as well.

Take the time and go to your dealer and listen to each setup he suggests. You can determine if you really like it or not. Even better would be if he'd let you take home the setup you prefered best in the store to try, but speakers of that size are not always allowed out for loan.

If you go with the 802D's, I suggest mono blocks. Just my opinion.

Audphile brings up a good point about B&W's dipping down to 3ohm territory. The MC402 has 3 sets of taps on the back, 2ohm, 4ohm and 8ohm. Although B&W rates their speakers at 8ohm, you would not want to use the 8ohm taps, rather start with 4ohm; McIntosh recommended this to me when I was using B&W speakers because of the way they behave.
I never tried the 2ohm taps with my 802D's, which I now regret in light of the results another poster in another thread got with his (older) 801's when switching to the 2ohm taps.

I suspect your dealer could get some fine results with the Classe gear he sells; just let your ears be the judge.