Opinions requested

Contrary to popular opinion, I’ve heard 803ds sound amazing w high quality push pull tube amplification. Specifically, the Doshi-modified Lectron EL-34 amp. I think it puts out about 50-60 WPC. Maybe model 50. 

 Very good explanation but I believe you have it backwards. I thought that a capacitive load required more current to drive?  
 I'm not 100% on that though as the memory banks are a little foggy and I'm getting old LOL 

I used that same amp with a Sonic Frontiers hybrid preamp and I thought it sounded pretty good.  I upgraded to Bel Canto Ref 500 monoblocks and a CJ classic preamp.  The Adcom/Sonic Frontiers sounded like a cheap a.m. radio by comparison.  I also used a CJ PV 10 and PV 12, they were excellent with these amps as well.  Both the CJ preamps and the Bel Canto amps can be acquired at very good prices used.    

Georgehifi, Funny you should mention Krell. Yes they were previously driven via a KAV-2250 which gave up the ghost therefor the Adcom now.

That Krell should have been special when it was working?
 
What about the Parasound Halo A21, similar to Krells power delivery, designed by John Curl. And from what I've read come with a very solid warranty plan and backup.

Cheers George   

gillatgh ...

How attached are you to those B&W speakers? I know they can sound wonderful, but they're hard to drive and take a lot of (expensive) power, right?  Why not opt for a much more efficient speaker and drive them with 30 - 60 watts of really good tube power? How about a used pair of Legacy Signature III's, an ARC Classic 60 or Classic 30 (if you can find one) and a good tube preamp? 

A nice pair of Signature III's go for under 2k on the used market. An ARC Classic 60 goes for under 2k. Couple it with, say, an ARC REF-3 for @ $4500.  

I'm not using the Classic 60 anymore but have one as a spare. I hooked it up and wow, very musically involving. Not as articulate as the REF-75-se, but knocks your socks off from a musical standpoint.

Click on my icon, then double click on the lower picture to see what I'm talking about. 

Take care ...

Frank

Georgehifi, Funny you should mention Krell. Yes they were previously driven via a KAV-2250 which gave up the ghost therefor the Adcom now. Way too expensive to fix the Krell. Im kind of gunshy with Krell products now. Ok unti was 10 years old but still at 6 grand it should have lasted longer. So I,m on the hunt now but what I,m salivating about is out of my league. Thats what budget living does to a guy.
I truly appreciate your wisdom and input. You do give most reasonable input not just to this post but many others.

 In your opinion would the Rogue Pharaoh at 185 into 8ohms and 350 into 4 ohms be acceptable to drive the 803s

I'm not a Class-D lover yet for full range, in the future maybe when semiconductor technology allows it to do the things I'd like to see coming from it.

As for the Rogue it would be nice if they gave the 2ohm figure as well, but they hardly do with Class-D amps specs, as they tend not do the doubling act down that far. It should be ok, maybe not the best in my view.

Seeing you have a pre already, I'd prefer a medium size Krell or maybe even a John Curl Halo A21 or if you can afford Halo JC1 Monoblocks.

Cheers George     

Wished I knew how to make heads or tails out of the graph.

Thanks georgehifi, In your opinion would the Rogue Pharaoh at 185 into 8ohms and 350 into 4 ohms be acceptable to drive the 803s at moderate listening levels say 85 t0 90 db?

Be careful, there are no load graphs done on these that I could find, but it’s said the 803’s have a minimum impedance of 3ohms in the bass, which could look similar to the 802’s graph of impedance and -phase angle

https://www.stereophile.com/images/616BW802fig1.jpg

This sort graph indicates the use of an amp with decent current ability in the bass and even up to 1khz.

To get the very best from these speakers, I’d be looking at amps specs that can "almost" double their
8ohm wattage (eg100w)
to almost double it into 4ohms (eg200w)
and almost double it again into 2ohms (eg 400w).

Cheers George