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B&W 804 Nautilus help

Have a friend who wants to build a system around B&W 804 Nautilus'. He has a rather awkward room, a bit on the small side with many varying dimensions which don't permit equall distances or surfaces to the side walls, little distance to the rear wall and a requires a near field listening postion. The room does have quite a few openings to adjoining spaces how ever.
Now to the heart of the matter, any thoughts on complimentary components. B&W indicates that these speakers drop down to 3 OHMS and suggest 50 to 200 watts per channel. First prioroity, power amp and line level only pre-amp (remote would be nice, but not absolutley required). Would like to keep these two units under $2500. Second priority is the digital source. He is interested primarily with CD playback but has some interest in DVD and digital recording. Would like to keep this under $1200. He currently has some single ended and balanced Wire World Eclipse interconnects and Wire World Polaris speaker cable. He is willing to consider other cable options after the first and second priorties are resolved.
He has requested a warm yet detailed sound and has eclectic taste in music.
As always thanks in advance for your help.
unsound
texan
48 posts
 
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
bowbow
123 posts
 
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.
soix
9,456 posts
 
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
unsound OP
7,329 posts
 
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.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I think you should bi-wire, and you do not need double posts on the amp. If you get bi-wire cables, they are always combined (2 ends) on the amp end, with 4 on the speaker end. If you have two pairs of single cables with spade fork ends, you can also connect two sets of single cables to the same post on the amp.

Well I guess other nice amps in the price range of the Bryston used is the Blue Circle BC22, the mentioned Conrad Johnson MF2250 or look for the older MF2300 or MF2100. The Sim Moon W3 is similar to the W5 I mentioned, just less power (still enough).

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