What amp for B&W 803 MATRIX S2 fronts for HT only?

hi Baranowski

The B&W 801s are a great, great speaker...part of the 'legend' of B&W. The key is you will really need 2 things (among other things) to get them to sound right. Huge power to drive the speaker and particularly to control the bass, and room. not necessarily a huge room, but certainly not a small second bedroom.

If you have a very, very high-current amp with large power reserves that is well regarded for driving power hungry speakers and particularly is known for good bass control, go for it. It is a special speaker. And relative to many SOTA speakers it actually costs a lot less even brand new.

Again, i would have thought the high-powered Classe, SS McIntosh (not so sure about tubed Macs given some may feel they powerful but not quite voiced to be as 'damped' in the bass as some SS amps are)...these are good options among many for you to consider.

again, given the cost differential on second hand market, if you have the room and power, i would certainly say 'go for it!' :)

My set up is old. B&W cdm1's front and 602's rear. My center tweeter broke that is what started me looking. My rooom is a dedicated HT room. about 25' by 25' but i use the other half for billards. I have Large commercial grade JBL's for stereo listening and they are amp't by themselves. I have a pioneer elite 92txh that have "pre outs" for addtional amps. I know the aps for the 801's need to be big and bad and will cost lost of $. I was hoping tofind some used stuff to make it work. I believe that these speakers are designed WAY more for listening 2 channel. what who be a great price for the 801's?

Baraowski - depending on age/condition, i [personally] tend to look at speakers 3-5 years old at 50-65 cents on the dollar...depending on warranty, seller is pvt or dealer, etc. Past that, definitely seeking 50 cents to 35 cents on the dollar up to 10 years. Beyond that, it is much more about condition, re-coning, etc. good luck.