CAV-50 and 804 Diamonds

I second Jimmy2615, as I own 804s (not D) with ARC LS25 + 100.2: a very good match.
just one among many others, OK, but I think a good SS power amp, with a tube preamp if you like tubes, may be what to look for.

(nevertheless I must confess that I'm willing to try an ARC D115 that my bro could borrow to me: a fist in a velvet glove... curious to see if this could be even better)

OP-
if you enjoy lesser powered power amps from CJ, check out the Classic 60. I heard this power amp mated w/ the CJ ET-3SE pre-amp on B&W 802D speakers. And it drove the hell out of those speakers! A very powerful, little amp, if you will. I was very impressed to say the least. Happy Listening!

I'm surprised so far we don't know your room size. As Boband mentioned the B&Ws need power. Perhaps they'd be OK in a small room with your CAV-50. But since you say it is not a good match I would look to solid state. I owned these speakers and loved them. I had them paired with an Audio Research 100.2, a used amp that can be had for about $1500 used. Also, what is your preferred music? If you can afford these speakers and another $2-3k of wisely spent amplification I would agree to keep them. I only sold mine because of small children and the loss of my dedicated listening room. If you have a medium sized room (>150' squared) or bigger I would get at least 100 w/ch and a high current amp at that (one that doubles down its power).

I had a CJ preamp and when I changed to solid state I had to make sure to get something that was really good in the treble. Those CJs will spoil you and make most solid state sound really bright and etched in the treble

for most B&W speakers one needs a powerful SS amp. For a nice tube amp one should have some really nice efficient speakers. Vintage Klipsch are nice- Fortes, Cornwalls. I say vintage because you can save some money if you do that. I got some nice vintage La Scalas and an amp from Petery-Hedden in Indiana. I live close by. There are so many speakers to select from. I would recommend speakers requiring a minimum wpc of 10 and sensitivity of 89db or greater. I have a Jolida JD202BRC amp that is like the CAV 50 in power and tubes, etc. Maybe not quality, but ability to drive speakers. Mine does fine with some RF-62IIs and also with some Advent 6003s. I like the 6003s best. In all these years I have not found anything I liked better, or well enough to replace at a big cost. I sure do like the cornwalls, but those are big. Legacy makes some nice speakers. PSB makes some decent speakers. For those B&W speakers you need a 150 to 200 wpc SS amp. Give the folks at Petery-Hedden a call (on the net) and see if they have any nice vintage speakers.

Agree, CAV-50 with B&W 805's YES, 804's NO. I had both these speakers with the CAV-50 and this is my experience.

Vinny

The CJ CAV-50 is a wonderful, sweet little integrated amp. As you suspect, however, it is not a good match for the B&W 804s. If you love your speakers you will need a new amp, and that probably means SS to mate well with the 804s. What kind of music do you listen to?

But before you do that I would try your CAV-50 with a pair of more efficient speakers. I would suggest something in the JM Reynauds or Triangle line, but there are lots of options. I recently heard your amp played through a pair of Tekton speakers and it was very good. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.

If you liked your tube sound but want to find a better match to the B&W's I would recommend the W4S STI 500. I have the ST500 on my N802's and it is excellent (and not just for the money).

I had a similar issues (my sweet sounding crystal clear amp went all grainy and hard sounding) with a Audio Research CA50 and B&W 805s's. The bottom line is they just do not work well together. I ended up swicthing to a McIntosh 2275 and all was well. The CA50 is now happily driving a pair of AR S310HO's with Sequerra Ribbon Tweeters with no problems.

CAV-50 may sound better than Krell integrated unless it's one of the newer Krell's made less than 10 years ago.

Thanks, that's what I thought. I'm looking at the Bryston B100 SST or the Krell integrated.

The CJ CAV-50 is the 40W per channel Ultralinear integrated.
To get it "up to par" with speakers worthy of diamond tweeters you need to sink in major $$$ to redo the power supply.

Do you want to stick with Integrated amp or go separate?
The only integrated amps I can think of that matches the class of 804D would be a VAC Phi or upgraded Avatar.
Otherwise a highly modified Jolida JD502 might work.