Picking the right amp...

Many of the suggestions I am getting are only 200w per channel amps. The 3 amps I started with, cinenova, sunfire, and krell, were all 300+ watts per channel. From what I have heard, the 802's are very power hungry. Will these other suggestiong be able to drive my 802's?

Or is this a matter of one brand being that much better, example EAD or Meridian 200watt are equal to a sunfire 425watts?

Should I even care about power output?

The Aragon in mono blocks should be 400 WPC. I used to have an Aragon 8008st and sold it for a Krell FPB 200, but as I recall the Aragon 8008st is 200 WPC into 8 ohms. The mono blocks should be double that rating.
Power is more of an issue with inefficient speakers. How efficient are the B&W's?
Not being a B&W fan I cannot address that issue. I don't know anything about their sensitivity.

So it's quantity you want, well then your list looks complete. BTW, the B&W website has the 802's listed at 91 db sensitivity at 8 ohms, hardly power hungry. Unless you have a huge room or listen at extreme volumes 200 wpc should be plenty. Consider this a 200 wpc amp will drive those speakers to 114 decibels. A 400 wpc amp will drive those speakers to 117 decibels. So the extra 200 wpc will only get you 3 more db. How often do you listen at volumes exceeding 114 decibels?
The speakers can handle 500 wpc, so to answer your question, I don't think a 5X500 watt amp exists. You will need two amps to generate that kind of power. The 3 you have listed will give you the most power, along with the EAD PowerMaster 2000. There is one on Agon (EAD)now for $3200. I would take the EAD over the other 3 on your list.

BTW, make sure you have a dedicated 20A line for one of these amps. You wouldn't want to buy a Hummer and put watered down gas in it.

Jesseasi, you have some good suggestions from fellow A'goners in above posts. If 80% of your use is for home theater, as you have indicated, then I am not sure you will go wrong with the brands mentioned above.

I currently use a Krell KAV-1500 and a Krell KAV-250a/3 to drive my 5-speaker B&W Nautilus system. I bi-amp my Nautilus 801 front speakers and HTM-1 center speaker, with 2 remaining channels on 250a/3 for the Nautilus 805 speakers for surround.

I have bought and sold quite a few amps (including EAD) and have settled on the Krell because I found that I listen to music a lot more than I thought I would on my home theater system. I found Krell to be the best match for my B&Ws. While other amps were quite good, I just found the Krell to be the most transparent, dynamic and musical against my speakers.

Now the question is, are the Krells worth the price difference versus other amps? I thought so. But are the differences all that significant? Not really. But then again, that is the problem we all face with high-end audio... Often our choices are very subjective and personal.

So which ever amp you decide to settle with, make sure you bi-amp your 802s. It will make a lot more difference in sound quality than with which brand of amp you choose from the above mentioned list....

I'd look at a Bryston 9BST.
They can be had relatively new for around $2500 or so.

Not only do the Brystons sound pretty good, they are also bullet proof with the best warranty (20 years) in audio.

KF