How different between B&W 804s & B&W 805s????

I have heard the MC6900 driving both and it is a good match either way you go. Both the 804 and 805 are nice speakers. There is something to be said for the two way design and I would not agree that 3 way floorstanders are always better than bookshelves. That is not to say that I recomend not getting the 804. You said you already have the 805 but I would A/B the 804 and 805 at a store carrying both. Audio "memory" is very short lived any other comparison (listening to the 805 at home and the 804 at a vendor) is not coing to help. Also, by listening to both in the same space you will at least have the same acoustic environment in which to make the comparison. Listen to them driven by a mcintosh amp. Keep listening - more than one session - until you know the answer.

Ngocdj: I run my main system with an MC402 and, for my ears , there is Mcintosh, and then there's everything else. You mentioned the MC6600. One thing to check on is whether Mcintosh uses their autoformer with that model. I know that Mcintosh did, at some point in the last few years, sell an amp that did not use their output transformer or 'autoformer' . It is my opinion that the sound you get from the mcintosh amps is influenced by the use of that autoformer - This I have not verified mathematically - mainly because I do not know the electrical specs of the autoformer and have not bothered to find out. Personally, though unsupported in this matter by any analysis, I would stay with a unit that uses the autoformer. Just something to think about.

Blackstonejd: Nice post. First, the 602S3 was a great speaker - I have a pair in my second system and I would not part with them. Second, I agree that the 803S is a large improvement over the 804. Indeed, the next step up in my opinion is not the 803D, which I found to have poor integration between the drivers, but the 802D. As to the driving electronics - absolutely agree. B&W's like current.

Vikaschhariya: I run a pair of 803S' with a macintosh 402. I compared a number of amps (however not any Marantz models) and nothing came close to the mac for my tastes. However, I herard little, if any, difference between the 252, the 7000 integrated, and the 402. In pushing the 803s' to their limit I could get the power guard lite to flicker on the 7000 and 252 - which did not happen on the 402. Speakers are a matter of taste- I like the B&W sound and compared the 805, 804, 803S&D, and 802 - and from my perspective the 805 and the 803S were the best of the lot. The main difference I noticed between the 803S and the 804S was the 803S sounded better at low spl levels than the 804S. While his goes against the conventional hype - I did not like the sound of the models with the diamond tweeters; if B&W currently had their metal tweeter in the 802 model I would have went that route. Good choice on your speakers - let us know what amp you choose.

Brianmgrarcom : No I did not get a chance to hear the MA6600. I did listen to the 6900 and found it a little lacking in power, i.e. turned on the power guard easier than the 7000 or 252. Kind of an interesting experience actually. The store that had the 6900 apparently had an ac power feed with poor contact or some other deficit - it is the only time that I saw the room lights dim anywhere, other than due to high inrush current at power up. When the 6900 drew enough current to get the 803S to about 105 db Spl (and yes I do carry an spl meter with me when auditioning speakers) the room lights dimmed. Now I know from putting a meter on the 402 that about the most that is drawn at those spl levels is 6 to 7 amps - which never causes dimming lights or any other unwanted effect and I run the system off of 40 year old wiring.

However, I will say that the, to me, the 6900 sounded pretty much the same as the other mac amps. From my experience the macs have a different sound than other solid state amps - probably has to do with the inductance of the autoformer - I know mac says they are accurate and the specs are incredible - but for whatever reason, they do sound different . Obviously, I like the sound and would not go elsewhere. By the way - nice system - I run the C45 rather than the C46 but it was a tough choice between the two. How are those watt puppies? What is your descriptive take on those as compared to the B&W's (any model) and what music genre ?