Help choose best amp/preamp combo?

I have a pair of 805's and love them.  I have a NAD receiver hooked to them and its pretty warm.  Its my HT system but does sound awesome.  

Rotel and B&W do business together, but I don’t think they a particularly good match, any more than Krell is (yeah, that’s my opinion).

Given the usual tonal balance of the B&W nautilus line, I’d say you probably need genuine tone controls such as from a DiracLive or miniDSP type of solution. This being Audiogon no one wants to hear that, so let’s stick with the really expensive options.

Parasound amps are very neutral to a touch warm. I lived with a pair of the A23s and really liked them.

If I had to change the sound with changing equipment I would say change your preamp. The Parasound P5 should be skipped in favor of the P7 or JC2 if possible. Neither is a tube pre-amp but the P7 is neutral and open without actually being warm or cool with built in bass management. If that’s not warm enough, try out a modern Audio Research, Conrad Johnson (old or new) or any other tube pre.

I would experiment, but of course doing so in your system if at all possible is what I would try.

Again, back to solutions that are pretty expensive for the benefit, Wireworld speaker cables will also warm up the sound and help perceived imaging. Stick to the low to midrange cable for the warmest options. The good news is I think a place like the Cable Company will lend them to you.

Of course, something else that will affect the perceived tonal balance is room acoustic treatment. The more mid to high frequency damping you have, the more it will lower the perceived treble and warm up the sound, as well as improve imaging. GIK Acoustics is a great place for products and advice. 


Best,


Erik

Thank you for very good advised Erik. I just check out the in put impedance from 2 amp + 1 preamp below: Parasound a21: 33k unbalance , 66k balance (xrl) input impedance and input sensitivity 1 volt. Rotel RB1582 MK2 (just bought not try yet) input impedance : 12k unbalance 100k balance (xlr)and input sensitivity: 1.9 volt (Rca) 3.0 volt (xlr).my Emotiva xsp1 input impedance: 50k ohms.my question is how come all input impedance from 3 unit are all different? And are they effect to sound quality or performing?Which amp is matching with my Emotiva preamp?

The differential input impedances of amplifiers is a product of their design and what brings this on is beyond my scope of understanding. I do believe that this differential, in consideration alone, has little value in determining which amplifier is 'best' for a particular system.

What is of most importance is that the ratio of the amplifier input impedance be at least 10X (some say 20X) that of the output impedance of the driving preamplifier. What is the output impedance of the preamp? It is likely that it is low enough that the ratio would be met by all the aforementioned amplifiers.

I agree with those who suggest trying a tube preamplifier. Hope you enjoy the Rotel amplifier. 

One other thing to try of course is the treble control.  I would try turning it down a couple of notches.  This depends on how it's implemented though. They aren't all shaped the same.

Usually any impedance over 10k is considered high and acceptable by most preamps.  The more sensitive preamps will start to roll off high frequencies as the amplifier impedance drops or the volume control is changed.  Look at a couple of reviews at Stereophile. In the measurements you'll see this effect.

No modern solid state amplifier should care however, and many if not most can tolerate down to 600 Ohms.