separates for BW Natilus 804?

Hi. I have a pair of old 802 matrix 2.These speaker are real pigs to drive.Like you my biggest problem was my budgit.I was able to buy an Arragon 4004 Mk.2 amp.,this is a 200w per chanel best and still it was not musical to my ears. Asluck would have it the dam thing quit on my and as luck would have it again my friend just happened to have a Chord 600 amp., which is only rated at 125w per ch..What a difference! I've also have had a Bryson 4B st in the system with very good results. One other thing, once you settle on the amp. I strongly recomend you re wire your system with Analisis Plus oval 9 speaker cables and interconects. They are a stell and sonicly as big an upgrade as the amp..I bought the Chord.

thanks for your responses. I am getting the idea that I can "have it both" for a reasonable cost if I keep the Harmon kardon 500 (85 watts, ok for HT) and add a amp. So now I really need to figure out what will match, how much to spend and what is the quality in that range. Say I have a $1000 to spend, any more suggestions?

I also have b&w 804s with 603s & 2 602s for a center channel. I think a solution for you could be anthem MCA-5 200w per channel,with any mid priced receiver you can use as the pre amp,the MCA-5 I have seen around for 700-900 new and I know that their are alot of hometheater receivers with decent front ends for short $ but look around good luck

i have a pair of n804's. great speakers!! i started with a c-j. the speakers have such a wonderfull sound i opted for the speed and accuracy plus bass definition of solid state. i also love to keep things as simple as possible. so i tried several intergrateds. it's good to have friends in your hobby. i ended up with an incredible amp to match these speakers the mark levinson #383. this combo will knock your socks off. good luck.

A Denon is a good choice if you go the receiver route. If your budget allows, you could buy a receiver with L+R pre-outs and add a separate amp for the front channels (also have flexibility to buy amp now or wait until you have the money). For the front L+R speakers, you would be using the receiver as a preamp only. This would give you reasonable HT and superior 2 channel listening. Good luck.

I own a pair of Nautilus 803's and i can promise you that to
run your 804's with a receiver would be a terible sin.
Feed you 804's with a nice clean amp just as a test drive and see if im not right.
jmo Lee Ross

Joeb - I have B&W CDM9NT's that I am using with a Sony STR-DA777ES. Many would say a receiver does not do the B&W speakers justice, but I tell you that I rarely turn up past "1" and get great musical response. For HT, have to crank it up to about "2.5" but still fits the bill. I'm sure separates would yield a "higher-end" sound, but, as one also faced with monetary restraints, I believe a receiver with B&W's does an outstanding job. Enjoy.

Seperates is the prefered way, but it really depends on what your budget is. And that amount would be?? I would assume since you listed 2 series of speakers this is for a HT system? If so then you might be limited to a reciever by your budget. It starts to get really expensive to do HT with separates. ( thats why I still have 2 ch. ) good luck.