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What amp for B&W 804?

I presently have Mcintosh MC7270 with a Prima Luna Prologue 3 pre amp. I traded my prima luna amp for the Mac thinking I was taking a step up. Not so. My present system sounds strident and thin in the mid range. It doesn't have the rich sonics that i expected. I have been told by an audiophile (I'm a amateur) that the Mac is not the amp for the B&W's. My question: What amp does fit the B&W's? Say in a price range of $3 to $4 thousand. I am not anxious to spend money, but I sorely want a stereo system that is a plessute to listen to. The Prima was good but not great. Jnorth
jacknorth1178
glenalan
65 posts
 
Being a past owner of B&W804's I can say that they are quite transparent and sound remarkably better with good quality electronics (not necessarily expensive ones) with at least 100 watts. I wouldn't classify the 804s as a rich sounding speaker but rather neutral, lean, and clean sounding. In comparison the 803s with its larger cabinet is warmer and more full body sounding.

I've used Jeff Rowland 201 (250w), Rotel RB1090 (380w) and even the Leben CS600 (Tube Integrated 32watts). Both the JR and Rotel amps provided very good bass definition and control with the JR amp sounding more refined overall. The Leben with its lower power sounded surprisingly good particularly in the mids and highs albeit less bass impact.
musicnoise
377 posts
 
Moving from the mac in the direction of classe or bryston will exacerbate those effects that you found unappealing when you moved from the prima luna. If you liked the prima luna sound, move back or move to any tube preamp that is touted as being warm. What you are missing is the type of harmonics added by the tube distortion.
jacknorth1178 OP
13 posts
 
Thanks fellows. Would I go wrong with a Bel Canto or a Passe? Appreciate your redsponse. J North1178
rhljazz
1,255 posts
 
Go back to a tube amp but with more power. VAC, VTL, Cary, and Quicksilver amps are available with 100+ watts used in your price range. Solid state will always be thin and dry sounding with N804.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
The Bel Canto R500 Mk.2 -- being slightly on the warmer side of neutral -- is the only reasonably priced class D amp that I would suggest for driving the B&W 804s. As these speakers appear to be on the leaner side of neutral, there is the danger that slightly lean sounding class D amps like the JRDG 201 may exacerbate the situation. In the regular SS domain, I suspect that some of the smaller Pass XA or Aleph models may also work very nicely with the 804s. In the tube amp domain you may try to look at classic amp designs that fit in the warmer side of neutral.

Have you consider that the issue may be with wiring instead of electronics? What power cords, interconnects, and speaker wires are you using?

Guido
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