Biamping B&W 802 with Musical Fidelity and Bryston

There's nothing scary or hard about bi-amping, and the audible benefits are many. I've been actively bi-amping for years(tube top/SS bottom), but it's much easier with two identical amps. Read this: (http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize031998.htm) It contains tips/facts on vertical bi-amping that you might find enlightening.

Here's a pro amp that some of the contributors in here are in love with: (http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--BEHA500) It sports level meters, gain controls and 250WPC. That should give you the flexiblity to match the highest powered tube amp you can afford, and at it's price- you'd be able to afford much more. Below the midrange crossover point of the 802, any loss of transparency from using a pro amp should be irrelevant

The Bryston would be light years ahead of the Adcom, even though you're only talking about the lows. Are you certain the Toshiba is not the source of the harshness? Do you have an analog source available(TT or tuner) for comparison? Any triode based amp will give you a slightly relaxed top, but- a single-ended amp might not have the power to satisfy your SPL requirements with the 802's(even bi-amping). I don't know how loud you like your music(of course), so that's just speculation. I'm using a pair of modded Cary SLM-100's(98wpc into 6 ohms) to drive my Maggies(86db/1w/1m) and getting about 105db on peaks(without distress), crossed at 250hz(10th order) to my woofers(255wpc). You'll be crossed at a higher point(about 1 to 1.5 oct), but- I'd still wonder about your SPLs with an SET amp(your slope will be nowhere near as steep as mine). How many watts are you thinking about for your top? What kind of listening levels do you like?

Should you find that the bi-amping doesn't alleviate the problem, here's another option: If you open up your 802's: You should be able to easily find the tweeter section of the crossover. There should be two 3 ohm Vishay resistors in parallel with each other, and in series with the tweeter. If you take one out, that should reduce the output of your tweeter by somewhat more than 2db. Hopefully the assembler left enough lead showing for you to simply clip one, so it can be soldered back whenever need be. I'd see if I could find a higher-end CD player to audition before I went to that extreme though. Maybe even one with a tubed output/buffer section.

I'd do the new player, or at least audition one, before any of the other options. I've never had a Rega, so I can't advise you there. I've got a BAT VK-D5, and love it(six NOS Siemens CCa's in the buffer). If your pre-amp is clean, it will convey whatever's fed it, good OR bad. A grainy/glaring/strident signal will be passed without mercy. It's possible you have some poorly engineered CDs, but- more likely that the player is the problem.

That should get you a really good player in the used market(stay away from Sony, they can be bright too, un-modded). The newer VTL monos are switchable to triode mode. I'm certain the 100's were either switchable, or easily wireable into triode mode(about 50wpc into 8 ohms).

A fast slew rate would be nice as well. That will lend more definition to your lower octaves. Actually, between 100hz and 400hz, there's a whole bunch of music present. Baritone thru Soprano, trumpet, piano, cello, french horn, sax, a lot of percussion and harp all have over half of their fundamental tones below 400hz. In other words: If you skimp on an amp to use there, it's gonna mess up a lot of your reproduction. You also have to consider that the slope of you crossover will have the bass amp still contributing to the music for at least another octave above the 3db down point. That means it will affect almost your entire midrange to some degree. If you don't use a well defined, fast, accurate amp: expect your music to suffer greatly. I'm bi-amping, crossed at 60db/oct(10th order) at 250hz, using a Hafler TransNova 9505. It's fully Class A and differential thoughout, JFET input stage and MOS-FET output. I don't know if I could live with it full-range, but it's wonderful as a bass amp. Then again: With a sixty day satisfaction guarantee from Same Day Music on the Behringer A500, I'd have to give it a try at least(could be a pleasant surprise). (http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--BEHA500) Contact VTL and I'm certain they will give you all the info necessary on triode operation of the 100's.

Alexv- Unless your amps have identical gain and sensitivity, your frequency response is going to be skewed. Anyone that understands freq. response will understand that it will be skewed in favor of the section receiving the higher gain. IE: If your mid/high section's amp has higher gain/greater sensitivity than your low's- You'll end up with a "too bright" or "thin" sounding response. It takes very few DB to sound wrong, especially when the disparity leaves a notch at the cross-over point. Find out the power output of the tubed amp you intend to use, and it's sensitivity(IE: 100W output @ 1.75V input) and find a SS amp to match, one with adjustable gain(a lot of studio/pro amps have that feature), or obtain a passive level control to attenuate it (http://www.creekaudio.co.uk/products/product_downloads/instructions/obh22.pdf).