Some people don't prefer the B&W 800 series with the diamond tweeters as they are usually heard at dealers who also carry MacIntosh or Classe.
Unless they are hooked up to Mac 501 monos or Classe CAM 400 monos and at least bi-wired, they can sound constrained and you'll never hear what they are capable of.
I listened to these amps with my 803D mains and wasn't entirely satisfied. The speakers, however, woke up when connected to a Spectron MK2 that has 600/watts of power and I've never heard them sound so good whether at low or medium volumes.
The B&W 800 diamond series are tough to drive as their nominal impedances of 8 ohms drop to 2-3 ohms during play and only a few amps are stable at these impedeances. The Spectron is stable down to 0.1 ohms.
I also have them shotgun wired with Mont Blanc speaeker cables and they sound better with speaker wires that are at least bi-wired.
My 2 cents.
Unless they are hooked up to Mac 501 monos or Classe CAM 400 monos and at least bi-wired, they can sound constrained and you'll never hear what they are capable of.
I listened to these amps with my 803D mains and wasn't entirely satisfied. The speakers, however, woke up when connected to a Spectron MK2 that has 600/watts of power and I've never heard them sound so good whether at low or medium volumes.
The B&W 800 diamond series are tough to drive as their nominal impedances of 8 ohms drop to 2-3 ohms during play and only a few amps are stable at these impedeances. The Spectron is stable down to 0.1 ohms.
I also have them shotgun wired with Mont Blanc speaeker cables and they sound better with speaker wires that are at least bi-wired.
My 2 cents.