2. amps-preamps
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What amp for B&W 804?

I presently have Mcintosh MC7270 with a Prima Luna Prologue 3 pre amp. I traded my prima luna amp for the Mac thinking I was taking a step up. Not so. My present system sounds strident and thin in the mid range. It doesn't have the rich sonics that i expected. I have been told by an audiophile (I'm a amateur) that the Mac is not the amp for the B&W's. My question: What amp does fit the B&W's? Say in a price range of $3 to $4 thousand. I am not anxious to spend money, but I sorely want a stereo system that is a plessute to listen to. The Prima was good but not great. Jnorth
jacknorth1178
dwhitt
347 posts
 
best for the b & w.....rotel, bryston, audio research....
jlamb
150 posts
 
B&W were paired with Classe gear at my local shop (that eventually moved toward home theater and recently went out of business). I seem to remember that B&W acquired Classe...both the N803 and N804's were very good, but out of my league price wise at the time.
myopia2
2 posts
 
Classe is correct but if you want to save some dollars, try Anthem. There statement amps sound great.Both A and P series.P2 meaning 2 channel would be awesome or A series(less money) I am currently running an A5 ( 5 channel.at $2400) with a set of Matrix 802 series 3. I have never heard them sound as sweet as this. Cabling is an issue as well, I found that cables made a huge difference.I tried Monster 1000, Audioquest Cobra, MIT avt1, but the best was Transparent Musiclink Plus and Super. The supers expanded the soundstage immensely. Super is the way to go.
glenalan
65 posts
 
Being a past owner of B&W804's I can say that they are quite transparent and sound remarkably better with good quality electronics (not necessarily expensive ones) with at least 100 watts. I wouldn't classify the 804s as a rich sounding speaker but rather neutral, lean, and clean sounding. In comparison the 803s with its larger cabinet is warmer and more full body sounding.

I've used Jeff Rowland 201 (250w), Rotel RB1090 (380w) and even the Leben CS600 (Tube Integrated 32watts). Both the JR and Rotel amps provided very good bass definition and control with the JR amp sounding more refined overall. The Leben with its lower power sounded surprisingly good particularly in the mids and highs albeit less bass impact.
musicnoise
377 posts
 
Moving from the mac in the direction of classe or bryston will exacerbate those effects that you found unappealing when you moved from the prima luna. If you liked the prima luna sound, move back or move to any tube preamp that is touted as being warm. What you are missing is the type of harmonics added by the tube distortion.
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