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B&W 802N

To be honest with you I have never really liked B&W speakers but my brother loves them. He recently purchased a pair of them on here and now he is looking for the right electronics. Also with so many great things people have to say about the 802N's I am wondering why I do not like them. Maybe I have not heard them with the right electronics. I know that they are overall really efficent speakers (8ohms nominal and 91DB) so I am wondering if tubes would make them sound good.

I can get decent pricing on a pair of PrimaLuna Dialogue Seven Monoblocks (70 watts). Now as efficent as these speakers are I would figure these amps would power these nicely. One reviewer said that these amps would have no trouble with speakers as efficent as the 802n's!

Any thoughts on this combo??

Or if we need to go with a high power Solid State amp I was thinking that the Parasound A21 (250 watts) is a great deal here on Audiogon. We would pair the A21 with the matching JC2 preamp.

Any thoughts on this combo?
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Showing 2 responses by angst0

angst0
13 posts
 
I have these speakers and find them to need a lot of power and respond well with tubes. I am using Carver Silver 7's that are highly modified. 15 KT88's a side. (see my virtual system). Even though they are rated at 8 ohms, I use the 4 ohm taps and find much fuller sound, great transients, sound stage and dynamics. I have read that the impedance drops quite a bit in real use. No way to get by "on the cheap" with these speakers. I am sure there are great (and expensive) solid state amps that do the trick. I think these speakers are not very forgiving and everything matters from cables, specific components to positioning. With the right electronics and set up you will be amazed at how much bass they can produce and how wide the and deep the sound stage can be. I also find they are very room sensitive.

Also, how old are they? I needed to upgrade my midrange drivers due to changes in the kevlar over time. Not an expensive upgrade, but a bit tricky to install.

Good luck.
angst0
13 posts
 
I use a Cary SLP98 F1 version for a preamp. This gives me tube sound with enormous current. I am fortunate enough to have about 400 watts per channel of KT88 sound from the Carver Silver 7's. Otherwise, tube amps are tough I think. Used to have a Mark Levinson....but the Carver opens up these speakers with relentless energy. Also, the speaker wires are critical. I'm using Synergistic Research cables designed for B&W bi-wired.
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