B&W 801 separate amplifier just for bass drivers

Swap out the 23.5 for the Mark Levinson 431 or the 432 and enjoy the bass.

Thanks for your recommondation

432 is a very good amp and would solve the problem. Unfortunately I will have to spend 15'000$ for this device as prices double on the way to Europe. So ML is really on the way to fall out of the market here. I guess Harman has shifted the brand's focus on car hifi and cheap Chinese electronics (named ML and soon to come!!).

Andi

P.S.: Bye bye ML

so, why not consider other amps. Does it have to be Levinson? what about Audio Research 300.2, BAT VK600, McCormack DNA-500, Krell FPB?
can't you seel the ML and get a used Krell FPB600 on Audiogon, for example?
I think you may encounter a problem with the 2 different amps like that driving these speakers. You may get a timing issue where the bass will not be always on time with the rest of the spectrum. I don't think you'd like that. My advise is to go with a single amp or a monoblock configuration. This is more rational than using Rotel along with Levinson. What I would do, if I wanted to drive the 801s properly, I'd get one strong amp or a pair of monoblock amps. The 801s can not be underpowered and this is important.

You can use two different amps -- as long as their input sensitivity is the same. I can't recommend specific products as I don't know the cut-off frequency of the mid-highs.
Of course, we assume your preamp has no trouble driving two parallel loads?

Thank you Adp1

You're right. I strongly evaluate other brands. But I still have a prejudice concerning Krell caused by older designs that sounded harsh/bright/brute.

Have they musically improved a lot in the last 10-15 years?

AK

AK, I've heard FPB series amps some time ago and didn't find them harsh. It depends on other equipment as well. McIntosh and Classe amps sound quiet nice with B&Ws as well.

Thanks Audp1

Which of the Amps you name should I try first? What are your favourite products?

Andy

I heard N801 with Classe and Mac equipment. I thought they sounded very smooth with Mac but had a little more life in them with the Classe. If your taste in music is mainly classical and jazz, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend McIntosh. I beleive the amps I heard were MC501 monoblocks. Unfortunately I can't recall the Classe model but it was one of their bigger amps.

When using different brand amps you have to consider the gain will be different. How can you control that ??

I used four channels of my CAL MC2500 on 30amp dedicated circuit and I'm very happy with the sound.

A few weeks ago I borrowed a Adcom GFA 555 and a Hafler TA 1600 power amps from a friend. I bi-wired them to my 801's, Hafler on top and the Adcom for bass. The Hafler has adjustable outputs, so finite adjustments can be made for interesting results. The room is a whole lot cooler and it's a lot of fun tweaking. I bought a used Adcom 555 here and bridged both into mono mode. The bass is even better.

The adjustable outputs on the Hafler is a really cool feature and may be something to think about when putting a bi-amp set-up together.

Good luck