I was trying out the Belles 350 Amplifier at a store and the Salesman was playing the Amp with the 803's. I thought that the apeakers sounded nice.
kevyo |
The Belles is a great amp for the 803's also the Pass X-250 works well with my Matrix 803s. What is the rest of your system like and what is your budget? Stay soild state amp with some current. |
It would be hard to beat a Krell KSA 200s, a true classic with superb bass control and sweet mids-highs. They are sometimes available on the used market for $3000+-. These amps maintain value and will drive virtually any speaker. They are beautiful to the eye and the ear. |
If possible you should audition the Jeff Rowland Concentra II, I believe you would be impressed. It is rated at 150 watts and should do well; Using the Concentra with the 804N's currently. Just my opinion, Charlie |
I have a rega planet cd player. Budget for amp is around euro 5000 [US$5400]. I will probably also upgrade the cd player in the near future.
Thanks, Robert |
I've heard the Belles, I would think it would do a fine job with the 803s. Whatever you do, find a way to try any amp you're interested in yourself for a few days. |
First any Levinson, they sound GREAT with B&W. Very smooth in the highs, which mates well with B&W, great mids and very good bass. Followed by Pass same reasons as ML, and Bryston. Krell is another good choice. Stay away from tubes. B&W Nautilus speakers have beautiful mids and the bass needs SS. The highs are strong and accurate (some people hear this as bright) with the right cables and room placement they are inviting. Peace and Good Listening, Pat. |
Pat,
I see you have the levinson 383 integrated, this is actually one of the amps i am considering [but haven't heard it yet] although i'm afraid it will be quite expensive in Holland. I listened to the Sugden masterclass integrated amp [class A] and had 2 problems: [1] the sound was a litle bit too warm, full bass but a little bit too much compared to mids and high and [2] mids and high were not sparkling enough [piano, voice], seemed to in the background of the 3D image. Did you come across these "problems" and did the levinson solve them?
further info: my listening room is 6.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 meters [21 x 15 x 8 foot]
thanks for your help, Robert |
I have to disagree with Psjulian, I find Levinson gear to be too polite and uninvolving with the B&W Nautilus series. Intellectually I understand it but it does not pull me in and make me want to listen to music. As far as integrateds go the Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista/Nu-Vista integrateds work well with the N803 and I have been told that the BAT integrated also is a good match. I have yet to hear an integrated that can really complete with descent seperates (I've been told that's why Pass Labs does not make an integrated). |
BAT will make you B&W's boogie. |
OK, guys, thanks for your support! The thing is as follows: i thought i wanted the N803 speakers, i had them at home on trial for a week [together with Sugden Masterclass amp]and didn't like 2 things. First i found them too warm, too much bass and too little mids and highs. Especially voice and piano weren't sparkling enough. Secondly i found them a bit timid, laid back. Then i [again] compared the N803 and N804, now with more listening experience and found out that i actually liked the 804 better. My "problems" with the N803 were solved with N804. The N804 and N803 are really different speakers, they look the same but actually had different design teams wworking on them, resulting in different sounds. Also i auditioned the N804 with an accuphase integrated amp E-212, which is a better fit to the warm B&W speakers than the also warm class A Sugden. I earlier auditioned the Sugden masterclass integrated and the Accuphase E307 and found comparable in terms of detail, depth etc. So as it looks now i will go for the N803/E307 combination. God, i'm so happy that i finally found something i truly like, all the other systems i checked out [a lot] had nice aspects but were not what i was looking for.
thanks again for your help, regards, Robert |
Don't forget to use a good speaker stand with the B&Ws. My matrix 3s sounded very good to me until I built a home made base that was much wider than the speakers, load them up with heavy sand bags with good spikes and but a bag on top of the speakers, they became sooo mcuh better than I ever thought. The only problem is now I wish I had better speakers to do this to. |
I just listened to a Rowland Concentra II last night on my friends N803s and it is by far the best amp he has had on his system. The sound was very defined and involving with great detail throughout the range. He has owned ML383, BAT, and others and we have had my Rogue 99Magnum and Plinius SA100 MKIII over too and these have been trounced by the Rowland. We laughed about how this is a VERY synergistic match, you really should hear the Rowland.
The rest of his components are Electrocompaniet CD player and AZ silver ref MKII IC and Audio Tekne speaker wire.
I know his amplifier hunting days are over. |
Kabouter,
I have been wondering how an Accuphase amp might mate with my N801's.
So to your ears, the Accuphase sounded neutral? I might just like Accuphase amps if they truly are neutral. My impression through "reading" posts and mags was that their product had a more warm sound.
Any thoughts? |
