Looking for advice

hi stvr,

ok, shameless plug-time - buy my electrocompaniet aw100 amp i have adwertised f/s on a-gon - i doubt there's anything as nice for my asking price. much warmer than typical solid-state, w/o losing what s/s does well. i replaced my gfa555 (now used as a sub amp) w/electrocompaniet. why then, am i selling, ewe may ask? cuz it's not bridgeable, & i want to run a bridged pair of 'em. those oddyssey amps are supposed to be nice - i almost sprang for a pair to run in bi-amped config, but research on electrocompaniet showed that even their aw60 puts out more current than the oddyssey's, & i *know* i like the electro sound. and, the oddysseys cannot be switched from stereo to mono w/o being sent back to the factory.

regarding preamps, tubes is great 0 i especially like the melos music director i bought used, but almost as good, at ~ghalf the price, wood be a melos sha-gold or maestro. i also liked the cary slp98 a lot, but the melos is in another league, imho.

whatever ya get, i recommend buying used, especially if auditioning stuff is difficult. that way, if yure not happy, ewe can sell it w/o taking a beating.

good luck, doug

The metallic sound is probably from your older adcom equipment - it was known for that sound. Krell amps are a classic match for the big 801's. One things krells do very well is produce massive power for big speakers. This match was common wisdom 10 years ago, and probably hasn't changed. I would stick with a 200Watt plus solid state monster for the 801's.Maybe 300w.

An inexpensive amp to try out would be the 300W adcom 5802. That's a pretty nice sounding amp for $1000ish used. You should also look at the mccormack dna-2 ($2000ish used). Those are tremendously powerful amps w/remarkable bass control. I personally prefer mccormacks to krells - they have more of a presence to them. I used to own a dna1/reva and it was a bass monster. You might feel differently. Krells are more detailed, but they have a little metallic edge to them (I've only heard the A/V series, and the FPB 200. The relative softness of the B&W (compared to audio physic speakers for example) would probably tame this edge. For krells, I would look at the ksa-200 -> 300 like you are doing. I've heard those are a little more relaxed sounding than the current fpb. Be careful and get a good price - they seem to languish on the used market.

For a preamp, I would try a nice tubed unit such as the audible illusions 3a (give you a little warmth but you'll pay in detail), a pass labs (yes, I know I have one for sale) aleph (ultra quiet), or an adcom 750 (very quiet). Used Krell preamps seem a little high priced when you can buy performance like the adcom 750 for $800 used. My old adcom 750 had 95% of the performance of my $4000 (new) aleph P. My aleph P is actually more detailed than my new audio research ref 1. In short the 750 really is a world class preamp.

My honest first cut would be the adcom 750 and the adcom 5802. Maybe buy a dna-2 or a krell 200s if you can spend a little more.

Buying used over the internet is scary. For equipment condition, I've been lied to about 20% of the time - from individuals AND dealers. Little things like scratches on the equipment. I usually buy from local people or brick and mortar used equipment dealers. You'll pay 10% more but it's worth it. Check out www.audiodeals.com. or www.audio-logic.com (they sell krell)). I occasionally buy from a distant person. Look for original buyers who are willing to give you the serial numbers, and the original place of purchase. Call the manufacturer with these numbers to verify its not stolen, the repair history, and the original place of sale. Look for audiogon sellers with several good ratings. Look for ratings from audiogon id's that appear in the chat rooms - that way you can tell they are legitimate good ratings.

Good luck. The big B&W's are classics.

To buy expensive equipment used, I use I-escrow. This service allows you to inspect merchandise before seller is paid. www.iescrow.com

I have a pair of 802s series III too.I have Conrad-Johnson MV-75 on top and Sonograph SA-120 on the bottom.Best of both worlds.I can also suggest Krells my friend also have the 802s but series II and they go well together.Threshold and PASS LABS amps will do tremendously well with these great speakers.These choices will blow away the ADCOM any day,so good luck in your search,as far as speakers your search is over.