Mac 402 or 501 for B&W 802D?

Why so much power? How large is the listening room? I have the same speakers and find they are satisfactorily driven by my Cary 7B cinema amp with 100w, although most of the time I use my Krell 400xi with 200. My room is 14 X26 sitting at 9' I wonder if I am missing something or the whole power thing is a little out of control.

Stl114_nj, his room is open to a fairly large area and he does enjoy really cranking them up at times. But, in my opinion, you're not seeing at all that these speakers can do unless you hit them with some very serious power. You can never go wrong with a lot of power and that statement is even more applicable to B&W 800 series. Although I can't say about the brand new 800 Diamond as I have no experience with those yet.

BW has always loved lots of watts and always will.

Control is the issue. More watts... more control. Control of the drivers sure is beneficial in music re-creation.

501s .... that was easy.

They're sexy looking but there are better for the $$$ out there if you look around and set aside for a bit, your current designs. Listening honestly is key.

Folks I'm blown away with 802's at my recent audition at a friends home (with 501 by the way!) so I'm definetely getting them. Are there better "bang for the buck" speaker-amp combos? Sure, but I simply love those. Everest_audio is right, I have a large open room and I love to crank it loud. Also I love the open easy flowing sound that flies out of the speakers and fills the entire room. Hence my original question - how better 501 does the job than 402 considering the price difference? 1.2 KW are totally out of my budget and from my knowledge are usually used with 801/800. Even B&W themselves specifies 802 model's appetite up to 500 Watts. Sure they can handle more but my real choice is between 402 and 501.

I think the 802D is a great speaker. The fact that they continue to sound better with better amps is not a detractor but speaks highly of the quality of the speaker. I have heard the 802D with the 402 and 501 and preferred the 501, more detail, neuance and space. I really liked it with the VTL S400.