power amp questions for the B&W 805d

Thanks to you all for the responses. Alot of that stuff you all suggested was expensive!! lol. I decided to go for a McIntosh 6600 integrated as my budget was about around 5k. Figured this would be a safe choice, as they retain their value in case I want to sell later. 200 watts per channel with a built in power guard to protect speaker overload seems like a good idea too. I used the extra cash for silver cables. I moved in a ps audio quintet power conditioner from my home theater for the time being, but will be saving up for something better to upgrade into... probably either furman or richard gray (thanks for the suggestions)

These 805 Diamonds are incredible speakers. I've got them hooked up to an older 85 watt Harmon Kardon amp for the time being... won't be getting the Mac till next week, yet they still sound incredible. The imaging and soundstage is unbeliveably good. Can't wait to get a quality amp in the loop to see what happens!

In the case of "power", the question about how much should be replaced with how good of watts can you get for your budget. There are powerful amplifiers that have nothing musical about them. So, power alone would be a poor guide. Try to get electronics that have equal quality and sophistication to the 805s. I like Tube SET amps that use the KT88 tube. Some push pull models as well. There are also very nice solid state equipment (like the ones suggested so far) For cabling, Nordost is superb. Especially the Red Dawn series & up. Also, Purist Audio would be choice. For AC power centers, consider Tara Labs, Shunyata or Richard Gray. Hopefully your source components will be the very best that you can justify.

I plan on buying a pair of 805 diamonds in the near future and will use an 8 wpc Air Tight 300B amp. The speakers are 90dB efficient.

I worked for a B&W dealer and have owned many. I would say the highest quality amp you can get your hands on...CAT, Air tight, are excellent choices but they are expensive.

Cables I would go with bi-wired 8TC from kimber. Excelled quality and value.

Ken

Classe is a very good choice with B&W. They are shown and demoed together at CES and other audio shows quite frequently. If you decide to go with the classe try to look at the 200 series or higher for best results. Check the system pages their are quite a few B&W owners in the forums. The search button is your friend. As for cables I would lean toward silver over gold plated copper like the MAC Mystic. It is a blend. Also AZ Hologram II or Harmonic tech.