Need Amp Advice


Hey guys,

New member here but music lover for many years.
I am looking to upgrade my amps to get better sound quality and really need some help. I watch movies and listen to music daily. I would say in general, 70/30 (movies 70). I run a 5.1 setup and plan on upgrading to 7.1.4 in the future, but happy with 5.1 at the moment.
When I listen to music I only use the 802's (no sub and no multichannel music).

Currently, my setup is:

Speakers
Main speakers: B&W 802D (first Diamond)
Center: B&W HTM2D
Surrounds: Klipsch
Sub: Klipsch

Pre-amp
Marantz AV8802A

Amps
Emotiva XPA-1 monoblock x2 for the main speakers 
Emotiva XPA-3 Gen 3 for the center and surrounds

The sounds is good, it's actually more than good but I want it to be even better. I have been looking at many used amps (can not afford new ones) and wanted to ask for your opinion on the following that I have considered. I have not heard any of them with my speakers.

1. Classe CM-A600 monoblocks 
2. McIntosh MC501 monoblocks
3. I even looked at the Devialet 200 which was recommended by someone I know
4. Krell?

Do those amps make sense? Am I looking at a noticeable improvement over the Emotivas? I would love to hear from people who know and heard those amps, especially driving 802's.
I am of course open to any other suggestions as well.

Thank you in advance!

killergurt
Thank you auxinput,

So what I am doing with my speakers now is equivalent to running one pair of cable to the speakers and use the jumpers that came with them?

As for Center, I have a 3rd Emotiva amp (XPA-3 Gen 3) that power that Center and 2 surrounds.

  

Any thoughts on you using a multi channel amp for your whole home theater system like a Bryston 9bsst2 or something similar and then an upgraded processor to match like the Bryston SP3. there are many choices out there but the whole system approach may give better synergy.

20 year warranty don't hurt either on the Bryston.

Well, not exactly.  What you are doing is, essentially, running a bi-wire speaker cable.  The two binding posts on the XPA-1 amp are wired together, so it's just an extra binding post for convenience.  A bi-wire configuration uses a single point at the amplifier, then the speaker cable is split between the mid/high speaker connection and the bass speaker connection.  I generally like doing a bi-wire configuration instead of just using the jumpers on the speakers as the sound can be degraded some when using the jumpers.  Sometimes you have good jumpers, but it's another set of wire/spades/bananas that you have to send voltage through.  I recommend just starting with a double-run of your standard 12awg stranded OFC copper speaker cable.  Combine it together at the amp side and connect them separately at the speaker binding posts.  Or look for a higher gauge 10 or 9 awg speaker cable and get a bi-wire setup on one end.  It's all about lowering the resistance of the speaker cable (larger wire is less resistance).
I second the Plinius 103 recommendation.  It has plenty of power for your speakers, and it will add a nice dose of refinement and overall improvement with its Class A sound.  What's really nice about the Plinius in particular for your situation is that it has a low/high bias switch (not available on Pass Labs as far as I know) so when doing home theater/non-critical listening you can switch to low bias so amp runs cooler and more efficiently.  The Classe amps are obviously another good choice as they have synergy with B&W, and yet another would be a McCormack DNA500 if one becomes available.  I don't think think you can go wrong and will be very happy with any of these. 

One other dark horse you might want to consider.  I had a Liberty Audio B2B-100 on demo in my system and found it to be a truly excellent amp.  Very detailed yet refined (especially in high-bias mode) with outstanding imaging and soundstaging.  Supposedly sounds even better in monobloc form and still under your budget new.  A further benefit is I think Peter (same designer as highly regarded PBN Audio amps - this is his consumer direct channel) would let you demo them, which is so critical before buying. 

The other thing I'd HIGHLY recommend looking into before doing anything else is a separate stereo preamp.  The Marantz is good for a prepro, but with your level of equipment I think you'd hear a big improvement with a dedicated high-end stereo preamp, especially after upgrading your amp.  It can easily be integrated into your current system such that the Marantz can be used for home theater and surround music duties, but it is completely removed from the signal path when doing critical 2-channel listening. 

Sorry for the long response, but hope this helps and best of luck in your search. 
Hi Soix,

Thank you for the insight. This is super interesting, pardon my ignorance, but I had no idea that you could have two pre-amps in the same system.
The idea of having a dedicated setup for critical listening really appeals to me.
what I don't get is how this is possible. How can I have two connected pre-amps to the same speakers? The main speakers need to be used for both movies and music, being connected to different pre-amps. Maybe I am getting this wrong but I am very curious about it.
OK, off to check out the Plinius amp you recommended.

Thank you very much.