Classe vs Levinson for B&W / Delta vs CT amps

First, the 544 is a pretty good amp, ahd one for a while, and it will be nice with B&W's, so don't fret.

The only difference between the CT and Delta series is the CT is designed to fit into an installed rack (think Middle Atlantic) Sonically they are the same.

Personally I think you got some bad information. While Classe is a very good match for the 800 series B&W's, the truth of the matter is that B&W themselves use Levinson amps at their factory. I know this from reading an article about B&W where the author mentions the Levinson amps used when he toured the factory, plus I have a DVD about B&w and in the DVD you can clearly see that they use Levinson amps in at least one of the sound rooms at the main B&W facility. I have heard the 433 amp, not driving B&W's though, and it is an outstanding amplifier. The only issue I would have right now with any Levinson product is the apparent difficulties that currently exist with their service department. The local dealer who used to carry Levinson, that is where I heard the 433, who now has dropped the line, mainly because of this situation, related some horror stories to me about the service at Harmon. The good news is that the 433 is very well built and there shouldn't be any service issues,hopefully, for many years.

Oops! Meant to say 433 amp....

Classe' and B&W are frequently paired and voiced together as they are under the same parent company.

B&W has not used Levinson equipment since 1999. The Nautilus was the last series of speakers to use other amps other than Classe to tune their speakers. I have heard Levinson on B&Ws and it sounds good provided you get good cables. Levinson usually sound a little dark & B&W are a little warm in the midbass & midrange. The Classe are a very nuetral in their sound. The newer Krell amps are alot like like the Classe with better bass. I would buy the Classe CAM 400 mono blocks for the 802Ds.

Thanks, all. I'm finding that, when it come to medium to hi-end audio, ignorance may be bliss. Had someone simply given me the system I described and said "You may listen to this, but you may never ever ask an opinion or read an article about it or it will be taken from you!" I would have listened to the end of my days, rapt in blissful ignorance. Ah, well. It is the way or the world that innocence must be lost and knowledge (one hopes) gained.

The latest thorn I encountered on the thorny path to knowledge is that B&Ws have "truly terrible phase behavior." Now, as my understanding of electronic engineering is bettered only slightly by my understanding of the atmosphere of Pluto (the planet, not the dog), this means almost nothing to me, but, like global warming and the expanding universe (two more things I know next to nothing about), it worries me. The Spectron Musician lll was suggested as possibly having sufficient power and musicality to compensate for this terrible behavior of the B&Ws. If anyone has experience with the Musician lll and its muscle, musical and compensatory powers relative to the above amps and to B&W speakers, I'd love (knowledge!) to learn about it.

Thanks, as always.