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Experience on B&W N800 with Tube Amplifier

Can anyone who uses a tube amplification to drive his N800 (or 800D) give some feedback which amplifier he uses and whether he is pleased etc? I guess it is an urban legend not to consider tubes to drive 800s (with some exceptions of some SE and/or amps with very low damping), to me it is just a question of taste and type of music to listen.
Personally I am not comfortable with biamping with a SS for bass units so please consider that fact, also mostly jazz and classical music should be listened
Feedbacks welcome, thks.
number95
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
B&Ws like to see a high current source, tube amps are generally not. No urban legend, just basic electronics theory. You'd be better off using a much higher efficiency speaker if you're going to use tube amps. Think Zu, Avant Garde, Klipsch, etc. for tube amps...

Not comfortable bi-amping...What's that all about?

-RW-
drrdiamond
671 posts
 
You might try Audio Research 600 or another high powered amp.
nickt
172 posts
 
hi
I own the 800D and recently added an BW 855 sub. When I did so I thought I no longer need to use ss mono for I have enough bass now. So I tried a pair of Cary 211 Anniversary tube mono, 110W/channel. To my surprise, these amps drove my speakers in many ways better than any ss amps I had tried. The bass was not as good as my ss amps but the mids and highs were much more life like. For myself this is worth switching to tubes, and I also got more resolution and a bigger soundstage.
So if you are a tube guy then I think you should demo your speakers w/ some tube amps. Have fun.
Nick
number95 OP
44 posts
 
Thank you rlwainwright for your your feedback.
I think it is not always a good idea to classify a 25w SET amp having a DF of 6 vs a 200w push/pull with a DF of 20. So not all tube amps are the same. But my topic was not to say anything regarding tubes vs SS, or which one is better. To my taste, it is better to use powerful push/pull tube amps with my B&W N800 and I am looking for advice who currently drives 800 with tubes, that is it.
I think biamping with two different amps with different speeds and characters might have a negative impact on the musicality and tonal balance, so one should be careful to match.
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