Amplifiers for B&W 803D/802D

Sargentfriday I have the same pre and power amp as you :) But I am not using B&W's. There are two ways to suppress the brightness - one is by tube rolling, but the better way would be to cover up your windows with curtains.

If you are using the standard tubes that come with the SLP-05 and 211AE, these are very bright and glary. I replaced all the 6SN7's in the SLP-05 with RCA's - a bit less top end, fuller and sweeter midrange, but a little bit lacking in dynamics. I will shortly be replacing the 845's in the 211AE with Cetrons. Rolling the 300B in the 211AE does not make as much of a difference compared to rolling the input and output tubes. It is also the most expensive.

Thanks so much Amfibius. Will try that out.

Amfibius-
On the B&W haters...
I question whether most who do not like the B&W sound are running proper amplification?

B&W's will sound unimpressive with inadequate amplification as will any speaker not matched properly.

Also, the Nautilus metal dome tweeter is not very kind to "hot" recordings IMO.

I chose the 803D over the 802D for reasons already mentioned in this thread and I do have a large listening area. I auditioned them with Classe 400 watt mono-blocks and the 500 watt McIntosh mono blocks and while both sounded very good, the Classe had the edge.

I had a Rotel RB-1090 at home and kept this until I decided what amp I wsa going to buy for them. The Rotel was ok at 380 watts/channel but didn't have near the sonics in all respects as the Classe or McIntosh amps previously mentioned.

Then I came across a Spectron Musician III SE review where the user had a pair of 802D. I investigated this amp and given the rave reviews from professional an user critics alike, I bought one and it arrived yesterday.

The Spectron is a highly refined Class D amplifier with a sonic signature of the best of McIntosh and Classe...sort of like a high end Plinius. While these amps are stressed tested for 200 hours before being shipped, the high quality of the capacitors demans a longer than ususal burn-in period of about 200 more hours to sound its best. Thus my comments to follow are based on an out of the box unit with about 10 hours on it.

With 600 watts/channel at 8 ohms and stable down to .1 ohms, this amp really impressed me. After 2 hours the soundstage and headroom really opened up and the midranged was very liquid with tremendous high end extention but was not bright at all. The bass was tight and what the B&W 803D needed. Overall, the Spectron added a finess and was clearer in a good way compared to the Classe and McIntosh.

In the interest of disclosure, I have access to B&W Group products such as Classe and Rotel and also McIntosh. Futher, I was so impressed with the amp, my business now is a dealer for Spectron amps.

I suggest you give Spectron a listen to if you are considering the aforementioned amps. The Spectron retails for less than mono blocks from either Classe or McIntosh and takes up far less space and only weighs 52 lbs.

Should anyone want anymore details, please feel free to conact me.