Need Amp for BE-718, any suggestions?

Veloxant… I listen to everything… I especially love acoustic guitar like Eric Clapton / Unplugged, solo cello, chamber music, and female vocals like Emmylou Harris, Shelby Lynn, to Janis Ian… I’m dating myself here.

I personally judge a speaker by how real acoustic guitar music sounds, since I know how loud an acoustic guitar is, and how a pretty good acoustic guitar sounds.

My room is pretty big (about 17” x 20”) and my speakers are on the long wall. The BE718’s have the “snap” that I like, a big soundstage, and they don’t wear me out like some of my other speakers did.

I’ve read comments that the Theta Intrepid amp is underrated, so I may have a really good amp and not even realize it (even with it being a five channel). My pre-amp is a Theta Casanova Pre-Pro, and my CD/DVD is a Theta Compli. Speaker Cables and IC’s are Kubala Sousa Fascination, and PC’s are all Black Sand. When I read the BE718’s like power, that’s all I needed start wondering what a more powerful amp would do for me. My problem is I don’t understand the technical stuff enough to know if a 300 watt amp would be too much for the BE718’s when they’re only rated for up to 200 watts.

I am pairing them with Plinius 9200 now. It's smooth, grain free, but a little too warm for my taste. BE718 is tuned with a little warmth, so using an amp with more neutral character will be my preference. Bel Canto, NuForce, Sim audio, and Krell come to mind.

Semi, being a dealer for Usher, Plinius, and Bel Canto, I actually find Bel Canto to be warmer than Plinius. So, if the Plinius and BE-718's are a little too warm then Bel Canto will only make it warmer. In my room (which is a little more brightly balanced), a Plinius M-8 preamp and SA-201 power amp was a little bright with the BE-718's. Swapping to a Bel Canto PRe2 and REF1000 monos warmed up the sound to where it worked for me in my room. Likewise in a different system that was too warm and laid back with the Bel Canto, the Plinius combo worked extremely well.

Raks, the BE-718's can take a lot of power, so you don't have to worry about an amp with too much power. In my opinion, there is really no such thing. Use your ears. If you start to hear the sound breaking up a bit from overdriving the speakers, just turn the volume down. You're always safer having too much power than too little. I have driven the BE-718's a lot with Bel Canto REF1000 monos which put out 500W into 8 ohms. I've cranked up this combination considerably at times and have had no issues whatsoever. In the past I've even cranked up the REF1000's with Focal Micro Utopia BE's which are only rated for 100 watts and it was not a problem at all. There were times with the Micro's that I could hear them reaching their limits and turned it down. So, don't worry about having lots of power.