Which separates for 7.1 B&W Matrix, turntable, TV?


The initial responses from my other post said to go with separates, and just make them easy to operate for family members. To recap the environment - a sunny open 19x14 room with all B&W speakers - Matrix 803 fronts (2), Matrix 805 rear surrounds and center (3) and DS6(wall mount) surrounds. I wired 2 pairs of good grade silver wire to each of the (4) surrounds, to bi-wire them if I so choose, and I have the massive B&W ASW 850 sub. My speakers are done!

Now I want to upgrade my electronics - an Onkyo TX-NR 900 and matching SACD/DVD player to higher quality gear in the 200wpc and higher range. The HT unit will be used by family when I'm not there, so simple operation is a must.

My bud Sasha (Worldys)- a veteran of this forum and audio / HT suggested I look at Krell Showcase, Classe and Rotel, and the good folks on this list suggested Bryston for separates or Arcam AVR 350 for integrated. But Krell's showcase is only 135W and I'm hearing that separates are much better and that the B&Ws LOVE mucho power. I know I'm going to spend $5K or more, but $10K and more is really pushing it (although "accessories" like power management and cables may take me close to $8k or $9k).

I'm still playing with a final budget, but, after looking around, I don't believe I can afford McIntosh, and it doesn't seem to be a good sonic match for B&W anyway. How do I drive these classic speakers well without selling my firstborn to pay for it, or being disappointed with the quality?

Oh, (not included in the above budget) I'm also looking for a good quality turntable so I can pull my LPs out of storage, and a 50+ inch TV that will work well in a big sunny room with ceramic tile floor. Suggestions?
celt16
I was adding things up in my head. I thought about TV's and amps I'd like and it was easy to blow the 5k budget just on those.

Seems like you might want to consider giving your speakers (at least the front three) some serious power in a 3 channel amp.

Keep your Onkyo gear for now and let it run the amps and power your surrounds. It also may have a built in phono stage too.

If the onkyo has phono stage, use it and spend as much as you can on the table, couple that to a decent cartridge. My experience is it all starts at the table first. Get that as right as you can afford first. As a side note, a table also may make quite a showpiece in your room.

Then you still have to afford a Video Monitor (TV) and a system controller to make life easy for everyone.

All of these thing could eat up your budget easy. Only you will know what's important to you. That's why I might just use the Onkyo for a processor still as you can always change it out later. It gives you more money to work with to get better gear that you need now.

If you really need more modern processing, take a look at Yamaha's RX-v2700. 140 watts to power the surrounds, video processing and up-conversion for all video sources to HDMI (that new T.V. will love having it), phono stage built in and stellar H/T processing. It's a great unit and will be value packed as a hub. I actually have one and i sounds amazing.
Thanks Sailfishben - I think I confused you - I meant that the TV and turntable are NOT part of the electronics budget - you have me very tempted with the Bryston units ... I have not owned separates before ... if I kept the Onkyo as a proc / pre-amp, and bought 2 Bryston amps, does their power accumulate onto the 110W provided by Onkyo, or replace it? In other words, if I add 300W to the fron 3 channels with Bryston, do I still have just 300W or 410W (300W + 110W)? I might be able to swing them used, but new they are out of reach.
Pre-Amps:
Anthem AVM20/30
Krell Showcase 7.1
Parasound C2
Sony STR-DA9000/7100Es Receiver (good power and dacs)

Amps (from expensive to cheap):
1) one Bryston 4B ST/SST for M803
one Bryston 9B ST for Center, 2 rears and 2 surrounds

2) One Proced HPA2 for M803
One Proceed Amp5 for Center, 2 rears and 2 surrounds

3) One Aragon 8008 BB (ST) for M803 or cheap Acurus A200x3 for front 3
One Acurus A125x5 for Center, 2 rears and 2 surrounds

4) Krell or Anthem amps...

Good luck
Celt16,

I may have responded to another posting, but if you have a 7.1 system, then I would only consider a PrePro with DPLIIx and / or Logic 7. According to the Krell website, the Krell Showcase you mentioned has DPLII, but not DPLIIx. Problem is DPLII only supports 5.1. DPLIIx supports 7.1.

I would add the Integra Research RDC 7.1 Prepro, and the Gemstone power amp, for consideration.

Thanks
Bruce
I have the B&W Matrix 802s3 was running them with B&K EX442 sounded great but upped to a Classe DR25 much more transparent. An older amp but great anyway, 250/ch. B&W owns Classe now so a good match. I use an audioresearch tube pre, LS-7, Tara labs biwire. for 2 channel For 5.1 try the B&K 5x200 w /ch amp