Home Theater Receiver recommendations for B&W 803S?

Update! I got the Rotel RMB-1585 yesterday and got a chance to hook it up and listen to it for a few minutes this afternoon. I’m still using the Denon as the preamp.

I listened to just a few tracks and... WOW!

Huge difference! The sound is much richer and fuller, and the mid- and low-ranges are just, well, bigger (but not muddy).

The distinction between individual instruments is striking.

Towards the end of Blue Man’s "PVC IV" I found myself with an involuntary, ear-to-ear grin as I was just enveloped by the sound...the resonance of the PVC tubes was legit! That’s the first time I’ve heard that track where the resonance felt, well, real and impactful.

I hate to admit it, but I actually cried a bit at the end because it was SO. EFFING. AMAZING.

In other fun news: I got a great price last week on a Marantz 8802A on eBay (about $1500 including shipping), and it’s already arrived. (Thanks @hemi04 for chiming in--your comment helped convince me it was worth going for the Marantz too!) As soon as I have some more time I’m going to get it in place instead of the Denon and take another listen. Very excited for that next step up!

(I also got the HTM1... it won’t fit in my current rack, so I might just keep it on the floor for now and get it hooked up, too...Got new Salamander racks coming next week, with a semi-custom config so the HTM1 will fit nicely in the center. I’ll send pics once it’s up, I’m pretty excited about it.)

And then I think it’ll be time to replace my old blu-ray spinner. So... Panasonic DP-UB820, or.......?

That's really awsome!  It's amazing on how good a particular set of speakers will sound if you match a really good high current amp!  You are now getting into the "really good stuff" area!

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" The distinction between individual instruments is striking."  -- This is what i call "separation of instrument" and you need to have a really good amp to do this best.  I'm happy that you're receiving such a positive result on this!!  And WOW, you bought an 8802a already?  What happened to the $2,000 budget? lololol -- this actually happens to us audiophiles SO MUCH! 
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Onto the 8802a!  When you get it hooked up and first listen, your first impressions might be "where did the detail and clarity go".  Like I said before, it is voiced warm, so it will have rolled off highs.  But if you listen closely, I think you will find that the audio is overall more natural and "true" sounding.  I suspect it will be more fuller sounding with more impact as well.  We can tune this to be higher resolution, but first we want your general impressions on how you feel it sounds!
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Panasonic DP-UB820.  Well, I suppose you could get this, but in my opinion, there are much better transports.  The Panasonic does have 7.1 analog audio outputs, but why would you need those if you have an HT Processor like the 8802a?  The Panasonic does not even have a digital COAX output, which is something I think is critical for sound quality (it only has optical, which is a really bad digital interface).
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A much better bluray "transport" would be the Sony UBP-X1000ES at the same $499 price point.  I have had Sony bluray players in the past and they really make pretty darn good "digital transports".  It has a digital coax output, which will give you superior sound quality for 2-channel PCM audio as well as old school compressed Dolby Digital and DTS (yes, even DD/DTS sounds better through digital coax when compared to HDMI).  The only time you want to use audio through HDMI is when you are playing blurays with the higher resolution Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA HD audio formats.  The sony player also has a very excellent collection of streaming apps (netflix, amazon, pandora, etc.).  It also has a conventional IEC input, so you can do power cord upgrades if you wish.

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Another bluray choice could be the Yamaha BD-A1060.  I think it may have better power supply than the Sony with metal shields between power supply and audio circuits.  It does have 2-channel XLR audio outputs, if you want to try that, but I think the 8802a digital will sound better.  This also has IEC for power cord upgrades.

Awesome! The Rotel RMB-1585 is indeed a fine great amp and has plenty of unlimited power reserve to be able to drive just about any speakers out there, and at $3k retail price I think it’s a steal. This amp is built like a tank. You should upgrade the AC power cord for this amp as it will make big difference.
My cousin has this same Rotel RMB-1585 in his HT setup driving all B&W 804 D3 front speakers with a matching HTML2 D3 center and a pair of 805 D3 for surrounds. He couldn’t be happier with his current setup. He’s also using the Marantz AV8802 pre pro.

In the beginning when he first purchased the AV8802 processor he paired it with the Marantz MM8807 seven-channel power amp but he wasn’t satisfied with the performance and felt like the power amp was holding back his system’s performance and after 2 months living with this MM8077 amp he was able to upgrade to the Rotel RMB-1585 amp and the difference between these 2 amps were huge. The Rotel RMB-1585 is night and day better than the Marantz MM8077 seven-channel amp regardless of whether you use it for stereo music playbacks or surround movies (HT).

The Marantz MM8077 is not a good amp at all especially in comparison to the Rotel RMB-1585. The RMB-1585 is much more refined musical and fluid and lot more solid than the MM8077. It is better in all areas. No comparison. The MM8077 is cheaper than the RMB-1585 and you get more channels of amplification than the Rotel. The Marantz MM8077 retails for only $2300 brand new whereas the RMB-1585 is $3k new.

You can easily tell the differences in size, mass and weight between these two amplifiers. The Rotel RMB-1585 is huge massive and weighs in about 80 lbs and it is only a five-channel amp. The Marantz MM8077 is much smaller and weighs in only at around 43 lbs and yet it is a seven-channel amp, has more channels of amplification than the Rotel.
The MM8077 has only one main toroidal transformer power supply for all 7 channels whereas the RMB-1585 has 2 main large toroidal transformer power supplies for only 5 channels. And the Rotel’s toroidal transformer power supplies are of better quality than that of the Marantz MM8077 amp.

Again glad that you’re happy with your amp purchase. Keep us posted of your first impression of the Marantz AV8802 that you just purchased. You got a great deal on that processor cause the original retail price of the AV8802 was $4k when it was still in production and this model was just recently discontinued and replaced by the AV8805. And the AV8802A supports pretty much current formats and codecs except maybe it does not support Dolby Vision and the latest HDR on the video side of things. Are you sure that the AV8802 that you bought is in working condition make sure it isn’t a defect unit or nothing’s wrong with the unit. Cause the price that you paid was unbelievably cheap. I know that these Japanese mass produced AV manufacturers (Denon Marantz Onkyo/Integra Yamaha Pioneer Sony) don’t hold their resale values well.

The thing about HT processors is that they lose their value really fast. The 8802A is selling "used" between $1500 and $1800 nowadays. About 6 or 8 months ago it was at the $2000-2200 range.

Good morning!

Yep, so much for the budget! Heh. I felt like another amp/preamp combo unit might be worth spending $2k on....but I already feel like I'm getting way more value by using separates, so that's why I'm cool with spending more. (And, I got really good prices all these pieces of kit!) So...Budget? What budget? ;)

@caphill - You're absolutely right about the amp. It feels like the 803's breathed a sigh of relief, like they could finally be unleashed and have just opened up so much more. I'm so glad you guys talked me into it! ;)

I hooked up the 8802A yesterday and listened to a few tracks on CD. I then swapped in my NHTM2 with the new-to-me HTM1, and we watched the Season 2 finale of West World.

The Marantz seems to be working great - I updated the firmware and have gone through all the settings, except for Audyssey setup.  The seller didn't have the Audyssey microphone, but I picked one up on eBay for $20 and hopefully it'll arrive today.

[Sidenote, for anyone searching: The Audyssey DM-A505Z microphone, which came with my Denon, is NOT interchangeable with the ACM1H or ACM1HB microphones, which the Marantz uses. I confirmed this via email with Audyssey.] 

Initial reactions:

For music, the clarity and instrument separation is definitely there, but I feel like it's lacking on "visceral impact."  I felt like I had to keep turning up the volume, but then I realized my face was scrunched up a little bit, like I was straining to listen.  With the Denon+Rotel combo, I didn't have that feeling - I was just enveloped in the sound (though I played it at pretty high volume too).  The sound stage felt a bit more compressed laterally, with more things coming from the center and not nearly as wide. It felt a bit more recessive front/back as well.  It was a subtle difference, but it's definitely not there yet.  (I was listening in 2-channel stereo mode direct, no sub.)  Perhaps I need to tweak my speaker placement for the Marantz?

@auxinput - you said " I suspect it will be more fuller sounding with more impact as well." I definitely agree with fuller sounding - in a big way...but the impact actually feels lower to me. If feels like the image is a little further away, or a bit recessive somehow. 

I hate to say it, but my immediate reaction was that I wanted to go back to the Denon+Rotel combo!  :/

I wonder if it's also now revealing flaws in my old Panasonic Blu-Ray player, which I was using for the CDs. (I was also transmitting the audio to the preamp via HDMI.)

For West World, it definitely sounded HUGE which was great... and having the HTM1 in the center was awesome -- the blending of the Left/Center/Right made for a much more seamless experience (the HTM2 always felt like it was struggling compared to the 803's). But it was also a bit boomy at times in the mid-ranges; it felt it bit _too_ full. 

My surround speakers (B&W DM301's) are tucked in the upper corners of the room, pointed towards the center of the room -- and our couch is against the back wall. Not ideal, but it's what I've got.  It provides a pretty atmospheric surround, but there was one point last night where the sound of a vehicle approaching felt like it came from directly behind us, and made me do a double-take...I've never heard that before in this room. I'll give credit to the Marantz on that one!

I just realized this morning that it may have been applying the previous owner's Audyssey correction; I'll double-check that later today. Perhaps that will fix the boominess. I might also just do a full factory reset on the Preamp (should've done that first!) and then reconfigure things again...just to be sure there are no other old settings interfering.

In the meantime, I'm curious to know your thoughts on my initial reactions! :)