Best amps for B&W N801's 50 music / 50 theater

You need a lot of juice to drive the N801 and would avoid tubes for your application. I have heard the N801 driven both with a Levinson 336 and a pair of 33H and they are both a very good match. If you went the 33H route, you would need to find a pair on the used market and even then, I am not sure you will hit the $10K price point. One thing to keep in mind is that you must have sufficient current available for these amps (dedicated 20 Amp line for the 336 and 2 dedicated 20 Amp lines for the 33H). Otherwise, you will starve the amp for power and they lose their punch.

Sounds like your setup is something similar to mine. I also have B&W Nautilus 801s as main L/R speakers, but I use Matrix 801 S3s as rear surrounds, with Nautilus HTM-1 as center speaker.

I have given up on using a two-channel amp to drive two speakers. I found that bi-amping has given me the best results. It seems that the absolute power rating per channel of an amp does not affect the sound as much as dedicating two channels of amp power to each speaker. That was true even with Class A 2-channel amp on two speakers, versus bi-amping two speakers with 4-channels either from a two 2-channel amp, or from a 5-channel amp. I learned about bi-amping from my audio dealers, who highly recommended that I try it out, and now I am fully convinced of its merits.

I now use a Krell KAV-1500 (5 channels x 300watts/channel) to drive my N801s, a Meridian 557 (2 channels x 200 watts/channel) for the HTM-1 center, and a JBL Synthesis 650 (5 channels x 130 watts/channel) for the B&W Matrix 801s. All I can say is that this set up sounds pretty phenomenal. Total price of the three amps is less than $7K, with the Krell purchased new, and the other two amps purchased in mint condition on Audiogon.

As Slartibartfast mentioned above, you will get even better results if dedicated 20 amp lines are used though.

Good luck in your search!!!

I have a Belles 350A for my N802s.
>1000 Damping Factor
www.powermodules.com
Under$3500
Contact Hwdsound@aol.com for a price.
My rears are N804 with bridged Belles Soloist OCM 200s and a bridged Belles OCM 800 for the HTM 1.
The 350A is easily able to out-shine them all with ample power.
In your system you could have 3X 350As and be under $10K

Don