is my room small for a pair of B&W 802's

I think the room will be fine. My room is 15' wide, and the 802Ds do quite well in it.

BTW, I am running the 802Ds with Classe CA-M400s. The CA-M400s are a good blend of sweet highs and controlled bass.

The MACs will be warmer. The Pass Labs is a good choice too. A friend had the 350.5 hooked up to some 802Ds, and it sounded very nice.

All the amps suggested are good matches. It comes down to personal preference at this point.

Darrell

Some competing speaker brands are Vandersteen, Magnapan, Wilson, Theil, Dynaudio...and also be on the lookout for used speakers.... you can save quite a lot and get excellent sound.

It'll be fine. Mine are in a room 16 x 15 x 8 (drywall). It's carpeted and I use 4 Corner busters, 4 Echobusters, 2 pillows in each corner behind speakers and a big cloth couch. Powered by a MC402, it's amazing. I got by with just the Cornerbusters for 10 years and it sounded good.

The key is to be able to bring them out into the room. The backs are 3.5' from the wall and the outer sides 2.5' from the side walls.

From what I've read, the 501 monos are better than the 402. They'd give even greater control on the bass - which I can't imagine from how given how good the 402 sounds. I'd also recommend the HIFI Tuning fuses for the amp - a cheap beneficial tweak.

Relax, have a Lagunitas Kill Ugly Radio Ale and listen to some Hendrix...

Guinness,
You da man
thanks