Tube + SS bi-amping B&W 803 D3s?

@emergingsoul A pair of McIntosh MC451 would be my dream for it but is a little pricier than I want to go. I’m sure your system sounds absolutely amazing though!

@052rc ​​@eurorack — Thank you both for the well-reasoned feedback. It’s a consideration but would be a very tough pill to swallow. Plus I love my turbine heads! 

The mixing of amps is indeed another variable, but I don’t think I’d go as far as to say it almost never sounds right.  It depends, and it certainly can sound right...and even better, which is what makes it enticing to try.   

The crossover frequencies where the amps pass off the signal, gain matching, polarity shifts, and the characteristics of the amps themselves come into play.  You might hit the setup on the first attempt, or at least may find some satisfying improvements, but if not there are still a lot cards that can be played to dial it in.  Tube rolling can make a notable difference, but the real changes can  happen if you opt to start bypassing passive crossovers and implement active crossovers or inline filters.  

Point being, you won’t know until you try.  If you’re willing to make the effort, there are some spectacular potential results to be had.  It doesn’t have to happen all at once to be a fun and successful endeavor.  One step at a time.  

My bi-amping started with two identical modified Dyna/VTA stereo amps  in a vertical configuration...one on the left, one of the right, and it improved the separation quite a bit, and the clarity somewhat compared to a single stereo Dyna/VTA 70 amp.  It still had the bass that a modest tube amp driving a 4 ohm load offers, so later on I switched to a horizontal setup and added an integrated amp to handle the woofers, while the tube amps fed the midbass and tweeters.  That led to me bypassing the passive crossover of the woofers and adding an active low pass crossover, which allowed me to adjust the crossover frequency and vary the gain....a notable improvement in bass and overall clarity to the tube amps and midbass/tweeters too.  The next step was to install an inline high pass filter to the tube amps to eliminate their responsibility of producing the bottom octave or two to the midbass...another very notable gain in overall clarity to the whole frequency range above that (~60hz).   All in all, it is considerably improved in several areas compared to just a single stereo amp....at least in my case.  Different situations, and likely different approaches required, but the potential remains if you wish to pursue it. There are typically solutions for every perceived issue. You’ll learn as you go, and can take it as far as you want to.  

@052rc the B&W tweeters can always be tamed down. Macs have a handful of hybrid bi-ampable amps.

@andrewmland try to demo AGD amps if you are spending in that ballpark. It's solid state but I hear the input section is tuned to sound like tubes making it the best of both tubes and class D but without the noise and replacement cost of tubes.

@andrewmland 

I have to agree that mixing amps is not a good idea, its a nice idea and kind of tantalizing to fantasize about.

If your dead set on this approach then I would at least stay with Mac equipment. Better chances of getting them to match.

My system is tri-amped, lots and lots of wires, I went with ARC pre and Pass amps. Also using an outboard electronic x-over.  BTW I've been through three sets of amps to get where I'm at (took about 35 years!).

I am not familiar with all the Shitt equipment and their silly names, but they do make an equalizer that several people in the forum use to excellent success.

Good luck in your quest.

Regards,

barts

Before you buy anything else, try no toe-in on your setup. My 803 D3 sounded bright when toed-in towards the listening seat but became significantly warmer after eliminating toe-in and facing the speakers straight ahead.

Also made the soundstage wider. Winner/winner!