Home Theater Receiver recommendations for B&W 803S?

I’m positive when set up properly the Marantz 8802 will outperform your Denon receiver’s preamp processing section.
It took me by surprise when you said earlier that you preferred the Denon over the Marantz 8802. Hard to believe.

Hiya caphill.  I know you and both love audio and you love recommending and building the perfect system.  But let's not get overzealous just yet.  awilder has just picked up the 8802a and he's already wayyy over budget.  I don't think he's anywhere near considering something like a Oppo 205 OR even a Moddwright Oppo 205 ... or even considering a separate 2-channel preamp.  

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I think our first goal should be getting the Marantz 8802a to work well in his system.  Power cords are definitely a factor, but so is the budget he has to work with.  :)  I suggested the fuse upgrade because it's actually the cheapest upgrade and will significantly improve things.  The power cords are going to be a lot more expensive.  And we haven't even gotten to interconnects.
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@awilder - you mentioned trading your RCA interconnects back to Blue Jean Cable to get some XLR cables.  I just wanted to let you know that I think the Blue Jean "LC-1" RCA cables are better than the two XLR cables they have.  The reason is the LC-1 uses a solid-core 25awg conductor.  Both of their XLR cables use a stranded 24awg or 26awg conductor.

I thought awilder is now open to spend way more than originally anticipated. 
Yup...I think power cord upgrade is a must for both the Marantz 8802 and the Rotel RMB-1585 amp. Especially the Rotel RMB-1585 is a high current five-channel amp. A stock power cord won't do any good and will limit currents needed for the amp. 
Interconnects and speakers cables need upgrade as well. 

Ok,Ok... NOBODY PANIC! CRISIS AVERTED! :)

@caphill I appreciate your enthusiasm! I do have to keep it under control a bit, and definitely want to maximize value. ;) I'm kicking myself for not buying an Oppo before they closed up shop; the aftermarket prices have gone through the roof! 

So...I factory reset the Marantz, and then did the fully Audyssey setup.  I then listened to a few CDs, and a couple of minutes of the last West World episode.

The good news: The boominess is resolved when Audyssey is enabled. I think it is likely due to my speaker placement; my left channel is just a few inches away from a side wall, and about 2.5' feet in front of the back wall/corner...and that corner of the room happens to really resonate bass (I discovered this when doing my "bass crawl" testing).  The reason I have the speaker so close to the wall is that the B&W's clearly like being spaced far apart...and I've maxxed out how wide I can go in my room.  Thankfully, the Audyssey compensated for it, and the lower mid-ranges now sound much more balanced.

So with this speaker placement, it seems Audyssey is a must. (Not sure why this wasn't an issue when listening with the Denon in stereo direct mode, as the speakers were in the same spots...but whatever.)

I compared Audyssey "Reference" and "Flat" modes quite a bit.. The "Flat" mode (which doesn't roll off the highs) had a bit more crispness at the top end. It was especially noticeable listening to Blue Man's Audio; the striking of the PVC tubes had a bit more of a realistic "pop" to them. But I also found it fatiguingly bright... so I went back to reference mode and I think that's a better overall choice.

I feel like the system's starting to sound pretty bad-ass, but yep, it's not quite there yet. The improvement in detail and instrument separation is significant - I've already heard so much more detail in my music than I've ever noticed before, and I'm enjoying critical listening immensely and discovering much more in the music.

But it's still a bit lacking on the visceral impact and spatial imaging. It didn't make me want to move. I want it to be more engaging. I have a hunch the lack of clear imaging is probably due to speaker placement and room acoustics more than anything else.

So now I need to figure out what to work on next (by "work" I mean "play"... I'm very much enjoying this process and appreciate your both taking me under your wing!).

I know you guys have mentioned the fuses and power cords. I also do need to upgrade my disc spinner, since it's not UHD, and it also doesn't have a digital coax interconnect option.

I should mention that we watch far more theater/TV than I do sit and listen to CDs...and at this point, most of our movie/TV watching is done via streaming. So ultimately this is probably going to be used as a home theater setup much more than straight audio. But if I can get it where I imagine it can get for audio, that may change. ;)

So I'm back to my to do list.  Since I need to do it anyway, I think it makes sense to replace the disc player next, before I tinker with power...but I know you both feel strongly about replacing the power cables and that's definitely still on the list:

- Play with speaker placement (my only option is to move them closer together, or tweak their angles.)
- Replace my Panasonic DMP-DB35 disc player (~$500)
- Switch to 6' coax digital between disc player and preamp
- Silver Fuse for Marantz ($20)
- New power cords ($250+)
- Switch from unbalanced to balanced interconnects between the Marantz and Denon ($150), maybe not necessary.
- Fix room acoustics, if possible ($$?)


Time to take a closer look at the Sony and Yamaha transports you recommended!

Nuprime cdt 8 transport.