Amplifier Recommendation for B&W Nautilis 804

Thanks for all the feedback. Actually, the weight or bass is great on some recordings, but a little week on others, so I'm not sure of a speaker problem for my tastes. I think I'm going to try a little harder driving amp, like the plinius, maybe classe, and maybe bryston.

Anyone heard the 804s with a Bryston or Classe?

I heard Classe with the CDM7's. Classe Yanked them around by the nose. I didn't see the need for dual bass drivers that the CDM 9's use. B&W was using Classe Omega's on their snail so maybe B&W likes the synergy.
I disagree that B&W has "the British sound". Spendor, yes. BBC monitor's also. I don't think British sound means weak in the bass anyhow. Not if you compare B&W to Spendor. From what I've read, B&W made the Nautilus to be neutral and to be used in European homes with solid plaster walls. Sheetrock walls used in US looses bass.
Sam Tellig was right IMHO that B&W bass is unbeatable. It is very accurate. Something you can't get with underdamped bass. But it tends to be quick with little overhang hence the feeling of little bass. B&W choose small excursion on the bass for better linearity/less distortion. Active speaker bass is better but for passive designs B&W is pretty good. Better to have too little up to just right bass vs. just right up to overbearing bass IMHO.
Karls, I think, had an excellent post last year describing how a 6" bass driver cannot be effective over something like 75-80 dB. A larger or double 6" was good for 90 dB. I'm going by memory so don't quote me exactly.
I didn't find Classe, Bryston, or Plinius (why do people recommend Plinius so much anyhow?) to be neutral. But that may not be your goal. Krell would be my first recommendation if you want more punch. The new A3.2cr also is more krell-like but tends to be bright. Sort of the smiley-face equalization. It may measure flat in M-F spec sheet but sure doesn't sound flat into real-world speaker load.
Otherwise suggestion for a REL sub is excellent. B&W rolls off pretty evenly and a good sub up to 40 hz would help a lot.
Also have you looked into putting speaker more into the corner? N804 has such wide dispersion you can put them 9-10 feet apart and stil not have center image breakup.

BAT VK-200

Jeff, don't know if you're still amplifier shopping, but I just started feeding my N803's with a c-j MF2500A. Absolutely stunning results. We are immensely pleased because it does *exactly* what you said you wanted: musical bass with slam *and* control, very fast and detailed microdynamics. It also eliminated the last vestige of graininess from our system. Lousy digital recordings are still lousy recordings, but they're no longer painful.

Dealer demo MF2500's go for about $2300 or you could get an MF2500 used for about $1500 and have c-j upgrade it to "A" status for another $500. Strongly recommended.

Jeffsel,

Agree w/ all the people posting above because EACH one has recommended a power amplifier that is "brute" in terms of current sourcing/sinking capabilty. I own the 604S2 speakers from B&W & from my experience these speakers NEED a "brute" to power them. They "sing" when the volume is turned up a bit(evidence).

So, whatever you choose make sure that it has lots of lower volume level current sourcing capability. You are probably not going to exceed 50W from the amp so make sure that it can source ample current at that lower level. Obviously to buy a "brute" with some finesse will cost you money! This, IMO, is WORTH it 'cuz the more clean your power amplification, the better the N804 is going to sound.

If you satisfy these 2 criteria the N804 should sound very nice indeed (even tho I agree that you should have gotten the N803 or N802 right from the start! Budget is always a concern so just enjoy what you have).

Give it lots of clean power & it will delight you w/ its sound. B&W uses 4th order x-over ckts & this screws up the impedance curve ruling out the littler amps. My 604S2 says 90dB SPL & I thought that this would require a decent amp but I found that I really need a very good amp! The 90dB SPL had me fooled!

Agree with Cdc in that Plinius is not neutral to my ear - atleast not the SA-100 Mk3. The SA-102 might be better but I have not heard it. However, the SA-50 (50W/ch BUT class-A) might sound better than SA-100 Mk3.
Some of the bigger Parasound amps can source large currents. Their Halo seems to be more refined & on A'gon they even seem to be reasonably priced used.
No one has mentioned Pass Labs X series amps. They are expensive but the N804 will thank you.