Amplification to B&W 800 Diamond


sitting on theese beutiful speakers, and wanna upgrade on amps.

For the moment using two Electrocompaniet aw250 Bridged. with Ec 4.8. Emc1 up, nordost (from frey-Tyr)

sounds ok, but wanna go for the better!

Thinking about MCintosh, pass labs, Adyton,

hoping to get some respons from guys having the 800 Diamonds, or have experience with different setups, sound characterstics of the different brands used on theese loudspeakers.

thx already for answers ;)

Frank
skrymar
Hello Frank , I'm still using a pair of BAT VK1000 amps
with my B&W 800N , I use them in the bi amp mode .
Pre amp is the ARC REF3 ( modified )For me its a marriage in heaven !
I am running a pair of 800D model and agree these speakers like power and this really helps with the control and overall sound. I understand your model is not as fussy about this (particularly with regard to load). I am driving mine with an Edge NL12.1 (300w)with great success. The new Bryston 28SST monoblocks would be a good choice and I heard them driven by 4 of the new Classe monoblocks and it was stunning. A friend is driving his new 802's with McIntosh and this is a great match. I really like what I am hearing about the lower level (ha) Solution and Constellation gear and have a number of friends thrilled about the new Devialet D-Premier (240w)which includes a DAC and phono -all very high quality. This amp is being used to drive a lot of very pricy speakers at the recent audio shows.
I own B&W 802 Diamond and also have been a long time fan of B&W speakers. Also, I checked many, many amplifiers because these speakers are truly power hundgry.

My choice was a pair of Spectron Musician III Mk2 fully balanced monoblocks and along with my Joule-Electra LA-300ME preamp provide with the heaven. Pure heaven. Only having these power amplifiers I could hear (for first time?) real symphonic and orchestral music - the closest to true acoustic experience I ahve had with other speakers/amp compination

All The Best
Accuphase amps work very very well with B&W speakers. (If I am not
mistaken, Accuphase amps are tested on B&W speakers from the 800
series.) I've heard your speakers in an all Accuphase system (A-45 power
amp, C-2810 pre and DP-700 cd player) and the combination was
marvelous, outclassing much more expensive Gryphon and MBL system
(which I have heard in the same room).

To answer the original question, the A-46 power amp (45 class A watts into
8 ohm and doubling down till 1 ohm) will drive your speakers very well. The
A-65 (60 class A watts into 8 ohm and doubling down till 1 ohm) will do
even better, and if money is no object then go for the A-200 mono-blocks.

As other have mentioned already, the 800 diamonds do not need tons of
power, any quality high-current amp will make them cry like babies.

Good luck and keep us posted!
Paul