What amp for B&W 803 MATRIX S2 fronts for HT only?

Baraowski - depending on age/condition, i [personally] tend to look at speakers 3-5 years old at 50-65 cents on the dollar...depending on warranty, seller is pvt or dealer, etc. Past that, definitely seeking 50 cents to 35 cents on the dollar up to 10 years. Beyond that, it is much more about condition, re-coning, etc. good luck.

My set up is old. B&W cdm1's front and 602's rear. My center tweeter broke that is what started me looking. My rooom is a dedicated HT room. about 25' by 25' but i use the other half for billards. I have Large commercial grade JBL's for stereo listening and they are amp't by themselves. I have a pioneer elite 92txh that have "pre outs" for addtional amps. I know the aps for the 801's need to be big and bad and will cost lost of $. I was hoping tofind some used stuff to make it work. I believe that these speakers are designed WAY more for listening 2 channel. what who be a great price for the 801's?

hi Baranowski

The B&W 801s are a great, great speaker...part of the 'legend' of B&W. The key is you will really need 2 things (among other things) to get them to sound right. Huge power to drive the speaker and particularly to control the bass, and room. not necessarily a huge room, but certainly not a small second bedroom.

If you have a very, very high-current amp with large power reserves that is well regarded for driving power hungry speakers and particularly is known for good bass control, go for it. It is a special speaker. And relative to many SOTA speakers it actually costs a lot less even brand new.

Again, i would have thought the high-powered Classe, SS McIntosh (not so sure about tubed Macs given some may feel they powerful but not quite voiced to be as 'damped' in the bass as some SS amps are)...these are good options among many for you to consider.

again, given the cost differential on second hand market, if you have the room and power, i would certainly say 'go for it!' :)

If this is *just* for HT, then do you really need floorstanders if you have a good sub? What is the rest of your setup?

other options? what about if i got 801 nautilus?

If you're not trying to spend too terribly much, you might try to go after an Adcom 5802. You should be able to find one for ~$800. They'll plenty of power for the 803's (or any other speaker for that matter). They're smooth and detailed without but don't really get overly bright. I think it's a great match for the tonal balance of the Matrix 803.

If you do go for the matrix speakers - post up a review - I'd be interested as I still have my CDM1NTs for my setup and am very pleased, still, with their performance for both HT and music in my hybrid rig.

I actually like the older Matrixes quite a bit. I think you will find the 803s provide you with a much bigger soundstages which you might well enjoy. The also will continue to use up whatever additional power you throw at them from your new amps. If it were me, i would definitely go for the 803s. good luck.

I ment the bi-amp. my elite allows for this. but also allows for seprates. I like the "older" amp and more bang for the buck ideas. That is more of what I am looking for. although my hearing is not all that good, I would still like quality. The "used" market is great for a buyer now and I thought it was time to change out my CDM1's for somthing else, although these speakers are a few years older than my CDM'S I have been told the MAtrix 803's series 2 would be a "VAST" improvement over what I have. Any thoughts or comments on the change in speakers?

I like using higher dedicated power amps for your 2 front speakers (ie, as you suggest, using your pre-outs into the new amp). The B&W guys also own (and use) Classe Audio with their stuff. To a degree, they probably do voice them togehter a bit...just makes commercial sense...and the high power reserves of Class would suit the B&Ws well which can take high power (and use it to good effect).

Do you mean bi-amp or bi-wire? To bi-amp them you need an active crossover and two separate power amps. To bi-wire, you simply run two pairs of speaker wires, one pair to the high frequency drivers and one pair to the low frequency drivers. Both pairs come off the same set of amplifier outputs. The crossovers in the speakers determine what gets fed to the tweeters/mids and what gets fed to the bass drivers.

Parasound amps work well with B&Ws (I have used them on bothe 804s and 803ds) as they have a good high output current capability.

I would look for used versions of the HCA series, as these are good bang for the buck. The later Halo series are nice too, albiet more expensive.