Hi,
Generally speaking the B&W 801 seems designed with solid state amplifiers in use driving them. They dip to 3 ohm impedance at some frequencies and have a difficult phase angle in the mid bass region. So it appears that they need a high current transistor amplifier.
However in some cases actual use provide outcomes not predicated by measurements and specifications. There are likely some tube amplifiers that could successfully drive this speaker (the VTL 450 mentioned above by vegasears). With tube amplifiers it is most probably a case by case proposition. No question that some and possibly many tube amplifiers may struggle with this particular speaker load.
My suspicion is that most owners of these speakers drive them with high current transistor amplifiers given their load characteristics.
Charles
Generally speaking the B&W 801 seems designed with solid state amplifiers in use driving them. They dip to 3 ohm impedance at some frequencies and have a difficult phase angle in the mid bass region. So it appears that they need a high current transistor amplifier.
However in some cases actual use provide outcomes not predicated by measurements and specifications. There are likely some tube amplifiers that could successfully drive this speaker (the VTL 450 mentioned above by vegasears). With tube amplifiers it is most probably a case by case proposition. No question that some and possibly many tube amplifiers may struggle with this particular speaker load.
My suspicion is that most owners of these speakers drive them with high current transistor amplifiers given their load characteristics.
Charles