Intergrated Amp suggestions for B&W 805d4

my 805 D3s were happy with a Rotel. Very happy with a Hegel 590.  

I recommend the Luxman L-509X.  I own one and I haven’t read any bad reviews, but you know your ears are the final court of arbitration.

Peachtree Nova is a great matck

What wattage is considered high, how do find this out as it’s not spelled out in the specs most of the time?  Cheers

Since all watts are not created equal, I was hoping to read some opinions related to this subject.

Sorry if already mentioned and I missed, but, if you can find used anywhere available to you, an Ayre AX-5 or AX-5e (not the newer 20 series) The original AX-5, to my ears, for ultra detailed diamond speakers like the B&W Ds and the Raidho diamond speakers, is a perfect match - with a beautiful balance of musicality and a most natural presentation of detail and dynamics.

To me, some of the newer models, ie the Ayre 20 series and others, are overly dark and detailed, to the point of sounding a bit cynical, If you can find, the original Ayre integrated, AX-5 or a Bryston 4B, sst-2 (power amp model before the cubed) with a tubed pre. would be a very nice match for your B&Ws.

Best of luck.......Jim

duckworp

219 posts

03-27-2022 at 11:25am

I had 804D with Naim amplification and I agree it sounds a little harsh. I demoed a few amps. The best that went with the 804D was a Vitus RI100 (now called RI101) for a clean but smooth sound. One stage further were amps from Luxman, whose sound is very warm, almost tube like. The Luxman lost some of the detail that the Vitus brought however.
Both were far better than the Naim 552 pre with a 250 power amp.

It is interesting that the Luxman C-700u / M-700u and Vitus RI-100 sound better than Naim NAC 552 / NAP 250. I wonder how the Luxman integrateds say 590AXII or 509X would compare to the C-700U / M-700u separates. Since you mentioned the Luxman separates did not sound as detailed as the Vitus RI-100, I presume the Luxman integrateds will sound even less detailed than the Vitus.

I have not listened to any Vitus amp before but the Luxman L-590AXII is very impressive, sounding astonishingly refined and detailed although it’s just an integrated amp. The L-590AXII actually sounded more refined than the Naim NAC282 and NAP 250DR separates which I also own when matched to some Marten speakers.