Mac 402 or 501 for B&W 802D?

A friend of mine has the 802D's and made the progression from 402 to 501 monos to 1.2Kw monos. He felt that the move from the 402 to the 501 was a huge improvement, but that they really only came into their own with the 1.2KW monos. They really take a lot of $$$ to sound their best. There are definitely a lot of other options, IMHO, that will outperform the 802D's and require a lot less dollars spent on amplification to bring out their best qualities. With that said, if you're totally sold on the 802D's, be prepared to shell out some coin if you really want to hear everything they can do. The best I've heard the 802D's was in my friend's system with the 1.2KW's, but they still didn't float my boat. To each his own.

Stl114_nj, his room is open to a fairly large area and he does enjoy really cranking them up at times. But, in my opinion, you're not seeing at all that these speakers can do unless you hit them with some very serious power. You can never go wrong with a lot of power and that statement is even more applicable to B&W 800 series. Although I can't say about the brand new 800 Diamond as I have no experience with those yet.