separates for BW Natilus 804?

I own a pair of Nautilus 803's and i can promise you that to
run your 804's with a receiver would be a terible sin.
Feed you 804's with a nice clean amp just as a test drive and see if im not right.
jmo Lee Ross

A Denon is a good choice if you go the receiver route. If your budget allows, you could buy a receiver with L+R pre-outs and add a separate amp for the front channels (also have flexibility to buy amp now or wait until you have the money). For the front L+R speakers, you would be using the receiver as a preamp only. This would give you reasonable HT and superior 2 channel listening. Good luck.

i have a pair of n804's. great speakers!! i started with a c-j. the speakers have such a wonderfull sound i opted for the speed and accuracy plus bass definition of solid state. i also love to keep things as simple as possible. so i tried several intergrateds. it's good to have friends in your hobby. i ended up with an incredible amp to match these speakers the mark levinson #383. this combo will knock your socks off. good luck.

I also have b&w 804s with 603s & 2 602s for a center channel. I think a solution for you could be anthem MCA-5 200w per channel,with any mid priced receiver you can use as the pre amp,the MCA-5 I have seen around for 700-900 new and I know that their are alot of hometheater receivers with decent front ends for short $ but look around good luck

thanks for your responses. I am getting the idea that I can "have it both" for a reasonable cost if I keep the Harmon kardon 500 (85 watts, ok for HT) and add a amp. So now I really need to figure out what will match, how much to spend and what is the quality in that range. Say I have a $1000 to spend, any more suggestions?