B&W 804 Nautilus help

I owned N804s for a while and found that the only amps/preamps that could tame down the HF shrill were McIntosh amps. They brought about an incredibly real warmness that I had never heard with my Krells. You can get a McIntosh setup within your budget used (off ebay if you ask me). With all due respect to Sugarbrie, I totally disagree with the power doubling if you halve the impedance since this boils down to marketing and not engineering. In order to really know what a certain amp can do, you need performance graphs which most makers won't readily give out (except for McIntosh, but that has been a trademark of theirs for over 40 years). Power output is somewhat indirectly related to impedance in reality due to dynamic response of the system in a closed loop (which is in turn dependant on many design factors). For the power to double with half the impedance only describes a small portion of the power curve SLOPE. This slope can be easily modified for marketing reasons by means of frequency but essentially, the dynamic headroom can be prematurely compromised if the slope is too high (called degeneration - especially pronounced in field-effect devices). Therefore, slope is only part of the story and, in a good amp design, is inconsequential provided the amp can perform dynamically (music is purely dynamic so this is obviously critical).

If he wants warmth, IMO, he should at least try McIntosh with MIT cables. I ultimately sold my beautiful N804s because even that setup was not warm enough for my taste (I like SS and not tube because all my schooling is in SS design). It is worth a try nonetheless! Paradigm Reference 100s were the key for me. Good luck

I second Sugarbrie's recommendation. If possible try out some amps for comparison, the Bryston does a good job with the B & W but everyone has different tastes. I had used a pair of 3B's as mono's with my 804's and it sounded very good, now use a 4B-ST. Bryston also sends a copy of their test sheet with new amps, I think somewhat similar to McIntosh. You can't beat Bryston's 20 year warranty also if you want to resell. Thats my two cents; also feel free to e-mail me personally if you want. Best, Charlie

Sugarbrie, Audio Kinesis and Aball have mentioned good amps. I think Sugarbrie was probably trying to keep it simple in his explanation. Yes, a company can make up good specs to impress the public, but a serious audio company won't do that. If the amp company honestly lists the specs, and the power curve is bad, look elsewhere. Conrad Johnson makes some warm (tube like) solid state amps as well. Take a look at the MF2250 and MF2500.

If he hasn't bought the 804s yet I suggest your friend tries them first in a nearfield listening situation. I could never get the drivers to gel listening in the nearfield, and this may end up being a much bigger issue than the amp, preamp, or source. Just a thought.

Tim

Thank you everyone for your thoughtfull advice. Sorry for the confusion but the $2500 mentioned was for pre and powered combined. This price point isn't carved in stone though. My friend is not interested in tube poweramps but does not care if the pre it solid or tube. He is also a devote of FM so a stand alone DAC with volume control would not work . I understand that the B&W 804 Nautilus' have two sets of binding posts. Do these speakers benefit from bi-amping and/or biwiring. As niether the CJ or Brystons offer extra post for bi-wiring. Perhaps a pair of 120 powerpacks with option of adding another two if needed might work? What preamp with dual pairs of balanced mains would work with the Bryston? Would two CJ's be over kill?
As always, thanks in advance.