Integrated for B&W 805 Signatures

Thanks for all of the responses.. comments:

Adasilva - did you like the CAP-101 or the MA6900 the best? What did you think of the McIntosh vs. the Krell?

Interested in other opinions of these w/McIntosh. I have heard the Musical Fidelity new amps, and they were great, but not with my 805's. The Bryston sounds very interesting with a built in DAC, but I havent seen many of theses around, I'll have to do some digging..

-->>Adasilva - did you like the CAP-101 or the MA6900 the best? What did you think of the McIntosh vs. the Krell? <<--

I thought the Classe CAP-101 integrated did NOT have enough power for the Signature 805 speakers. I kinda liked the MA6900 however it's $5k new and $3.5k or more used.

The Krell 400xi is 200w/ch and less than $2200 new and has fully balanced XLR inputs. The the very tight bass definition did it for me. Also, I did not find the highs to be harsh (w/copper cables). The music seemed to jump out of the speakers (some people don't like this forward type of presentation). On a quiet sections of a CD the background noise is almost non-existant. I did not get that with my Classe integrated. If you already have a tube CD player it might be a good combo but only you can tell.

Congrats on the speakers!

I've tried driving mine with a couple dozen ss and digital combos/integrateds under $5K over the last 3 years, and wasn't happy till I auditioned an Audiomat Arpege Reference.

However, Audiomat's Opera is a big step up from the Arpege and is what I've settled on. Good luck!

i drive my pair with just 30 class A tube watts to satisfaction so i feel they are fairly easy to drive. please at least try a good tube integrated such as one from the Jadis DA series or Orchestra (i am a biased Jadis owner).
scott

I second the Krell KAV-400xi. It earned an easy Stereophile "Class A" rating last year. It just can't be beat for less than $3K. Lots of power & detail and smooth. Highly recommended for B&W 805 > 803D.