B&W 801 separate amplifier just for bass drivers

Swap out the 23.5 for the Mark Levinson 431 or the 432 and enjoy the bass.

Thanks for your recommondation

432 is a very good amp and would solve the problem. Unfortunately I will have to spend 15'000$ for this device as prices double on the way to Europe. So ML is really on the way to fall out of the market here. I guess Harman has shifted the brand's focus on car hifi and cheap Chinese electronics (named ML and soon to come!!).

Andi

P.S.: Bye bye ML

so, why not consider other amps. Does it have to be Levinson? what about Audio Research 300.2, BAT VK600, McCormack DNA-500, Krell FPB?
can't you seel the ML and get a used Krell FPB600 on Audiogon, for example?
I think you may encounter a problem with the 2 different amps like that driving these speakers. You may get a timing issue where the bass will not be always on time with the rest of the spectrum. I don't think you'd like that. My advise is to go with a single amp or a monoblock configuration. This is more rational than using Rotel along with Levinson. What I would do, if I wanted to drive the 801s properly, I'd get one strong amp or a pair of monoblock amps. The 801s can not be underpowered and this is important.

You can use two different amps -- as long as their input sensitivity is the same. I can't recommend specific products as I don't know the cut-off frequency of the mid-highs.
Of course, we assume your preamp has no trouble driving two parallel loads?