Recommended integrated for B&W 802?

Devsung:
The Matrix 802 S2 need current drive for dual woofers, voltage drive for the fabulous mid, so the amp/integrated has to have muscle. But, these speakers are also quite efficient and can be driven well with 30watts or so. But, as the speakers are "monitor" class, they will not forgive the entire audio chain. For, e.g. if your source component/s are not upto the mark, The B&W will show it. The same stands for preamp, power or integrated. The common complaint is that it sounds harsh and bright. This speaker is far from that. This speaker needs huge care. I own the Matrix 801 series 2 and Matrix 802 series 2 and mostly use the 802 in a room of size 13 x 14 ft (smaller than yours). After searching for the so called "correct" amp for these speakers for the last 7 years, yes, Krells, Levinsons, Rowlands, Audio Research, Chord, CJ, I've found the PassLabs "Aleph" range of amplifier to best suit this speaker. But, caution - there are 2 types of Aleph amps. One with only 2-stage amplification and the other with 3-stage amplification. I can strongly recommend the Aleph 5 (60 watts per channel) stereo pwr amp for your requirement although I use the Aleph 1.2 rated at 200watts monoblocks. The reason why I feel the 60 watter is a good match is because the 200 watts monos heat up like hell and incase you are in a hot climatic region, its going to get very difficult to listen to music. You can find Aleph 5 in Audiogon under $2k, more towards 1.5k and this in my opinion is a superb match to the 802s. Interconnects I use are ofcourse Cardas "golden reference" with the same as powercords. Should you require any help, pls do not hesitate to get in touch.

I second Arup's suggestion for the Aleph. On the other hand, there are other excellent suggestions in your short-list.

In another vein, pls let me state the obvious: the machines suggested DO sound different from one another (regardless of their capacity to drive the 802s) -- so DO give your musical tastes top priority!
Example: IMO, the Aleph has an "all-rounder" sound -- but that's my set of ears...

Good luck!

Thanks! FYI - they are Series3 802Ms. Musical taste is almost 100% classical, majority of it is digital. The rest of the system is certainly not up to par with the speakers thus the desire to begin moving up the components as budget allows. Again, the system was an older set of Luxman 150w SS separates with a Philips (900 series?) player. At the time, the Philips was highly rated as a budget player with an excellent transport and thus could be easily upgraded later with an outboard DAC (or so I was led to believe). The speakers were biwired with Audioquest cables (would have to doublecheck which model) and AQ interconnects. Thanks again for everyone's help. I'm excited to have stumbled across this forum.

I have these speakers and have used them with the Bryston 4b/Bp 20 for years. Then I upgraded to the audio Research VT100 MKII with LS 25 MKII preamp. This is the amp for these speakers. Powerful tuneful bass, liquid mids and natural highs. This combo is expensive though. Every audio salesperson and audiophile I talked to before I bought the amp told me it wouldn't work not enough current for the 802s. This all turned out to be very wrong. You have to try out the amp before you commit to it. Thats what I did and now I have one of the best sounding systems that exists.