What to pair with B&W 804s

[kudukudu]

I have listened to a bunch of speakers and am pretty set on getting a pair of B&W 804s which run in the CAN $7000 to CAN$8000 range I think. My current challenge is to pair these with an appropriate amp, preamp or receiver combination. I am looking for a setup that is great for stereo sound. I would also look to hook this up to the tv and i have some small paradigms in the wall for rear speakers. I am not so concerned about the home theatre setup being cutting edge. I will stick with the 2 fronts and 2 rears for the time being. I will consider a centre speaker and subwoofer down the line.

What I am struggling with is that it seems like there is a fair amount of snobbery when it comes to all this hifi stuff. There will be folks who tell me that nothing less than a beefy classe amp will do for these speakers. While I am sure classes would be great, I am also cognizant of diminishing marginal returns. I am not crazy about dropping CAN$6000 on a fancy integrated amp if I can get 95 percent of the same experience out of a more reasonably priced Yamaha or onkyo $2500 receiver.

My impression is that electronics have come a long way. Currently I have an old Nikko amp and preamp from the 1980s along with some B&W DM7 MK2s. Right now I plug an iphone or ipad directly into the speaker amp via the headphone jack for music. Considering that the DAC in these apple devices can't cost more than $5 to $10 and that this setup sounds just as good (if not better) than some of the stuff I have listened to lately in audiophile stores is some of the basis for my skepticism. I have auditioned paradigm, B&O and others recently. With my package of 12 reference songs I was surprised that with some tracks my current setup actually sounded as good if not better than what I was listening to in the store, all starting with a humble $10 DAC.

 

[PENG]

I have listened to a bunch of speakers and am pretty set on getting a pair of B&W 804s which run in the CAN $7000 to CAN$8000 range I think. My current challenge is to pair these with an appropriate amp, preamp or receiver combination. I am looking for a setup that is great for stereo sound. I would also look to hook this up to the tv and i have some small paradigms in the wall for rear speakers. I am not so concerned about the home theatre setup being cutting edge. I will stick with the 2 fronts and 2 rears for the time being. I will consider a centre speaker and subwoofer down the line.

That does not sound right. I know in Ontario you should be able to get a pair of 804 Diamond for around $7,000 before tax easily. The 804S shouldn't cost much more than half that price.

What I am struggling with is that it seems like there is a fair amount of snobbery when it comes to all this hifi stuff. There will be folks who tell me that nothing less than a beefy classe amp will do for these speakers. While I am sure classes would be great, I am also cognizant of diminishing marginal returns. I am not crazy about dropping CAN$6000 on a fancy integrated amp if I can get 95 percent of the same experience out of a more reasonably priced Yamaha or onkyo $2500 receiver.

I might have told you to get a Classe if today was April 1. The 804S should do fine with even a good quality AVR such as the Yamaha RX-A 10XX and up, or Denon AVR-4XXX series. I heard the 804 diamond driven by a Bryston (forgot the exact model, probably a 4B SST, a big Krell, and also auditioned a 804S driven by just a B&K AVR, all sounded great to me and I highly doubt any Classe, McIntosh, Pass Lab or Boulder is going to make any difference. For better sound quality, one would do better going with better speakers such as the higher end KEF, Revel etc. At the $7K to $8k range though the 804 diamond is hard to beat IMHO.

 

[kudukudu]

Oops, did I say 804s, I meant to say 804D.

 

[RichB]

Oops, did I say 804s, I meant to say 804D.

The 804D's look to be a fairly difficult load:

Bowers & Wilkins 804 Diamond loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

Other good choices include the Parasound A31 and ATI3000 amps.
I am not sure that Parasound can be easily obtained in Canada, but it has been done

- Rich

 

[jinjuku]

What I am struggling with is that it seems like there is a fair amount of snobbery when it comes to all this hifi stuff. There will be folks who tell me that nothing less than a beefy classe amp will do for these speakers.

Then they are snobs/idiots.

A local dealer here brought by a pair of 803's (a step up from the 804's) and ~$10K MSRP I believe and a $7500 Classe amp.
We had both setups connected being fed by my Emu 1212M at the same time.

Consider that my setup was running a $179 Crown XLS 402D (purchased on a lark at a close out at Guitar Center). The dealer/owner couldn't pick his jaw up off the floor. The B&W/Classe setup couldn't keep up. He was in dis-belief that I was feeding everything with a pro-audio Crown amp.

I still had my two Parasound HCA series amps at that point. I connected one of them and pointed out the tweeter hiss (where the Crown was ink black). It left him a bit shaken. His tech/installer though kind of had that secret smile on his face.

I had the B&W / Classe for three days. Just underwhelmed.

 

[jinjuku]

For better sound quality, one would do better going with better speakers such as the higher end KEF, Revel etc. At the $7K to $8k range though the 804 diamond is hard to beat IMHO.

Agreed. If you are going to entertain a large $$ ticket amp just use that money to go up the speaker food chain. You don't need to spend any more that $1K on an amp that will driver 99% of the speakers out there w/o breaking a sweat.

And it doesn't have to even be 'Audiophile'.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

B&W 804D2 + Denon X4000 AVR + ATI (or Parasound) 180-250WPC amp =

 

[PENG]

B&W 804D2 + Denon X4000 AVR + ATI (or Parasound) 180-250WPC amp =

I was sure you would add FunksX2 to that equation.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I was sure you would add FunksX2 to that equation.

Well, I didn't know if he already had subs or not and what kind of budget.

Whatever subs he gets, I recommend getting 2 unpowered subs.

If budget is $4K, then dual Funk 18.0 unpowered.

If budget is $3K, then a different Funk model.

If budget is "only" $2K, then dual RBH SX-1010N subs. Not as much sheer output, but it isn't always about brute force.

The main thing I love about the SX-1010N is that the bass sounds more like my Salon2 (except more), which isn't as powerful as most bigger subs, but subjectively seems lot tighter and "musical" than most bigger subs.