I have recently bought the Mahlers and now need to upgrade the amplifier + preamp since I was running Roksan Caspian biamp or Marantz MM9000 AV9000 pre pro and 5ch for Home theater. The roksan isnt powerfull enough so the bass get a little boomy. The Marantz is powerful enough but I think the bass could tighten more, and the high spectrum is a bit rolled off . Overall image is not particularly wide although it is very tall and deep. I had heard a CAV180 or 500 running some B&W 803 and noted that this combination was a bit bright and very wide soundstage. Question is is it simply the 803 metal tweeter or is this Classe CAV series good enough to drive these speakers. I see others have chosen the CAM350 to drive these.
I am thinking of either GAMUT D200 MkII, and keeping the Marantz for the rest of the HT speakers or switching to Classe CAV 180 or CAV500 with SSP30 . The Theta dreadnought seemed like a good idea until I read a review somewhere that the bass is a little soft.
The rest of my steup is the ROksan Caspian CD mk1, pioneer 747 DVD (elite 47A in the US), with VA haydns in the rear and VA center (mid size).
If I go down the GAMUT route I am worried about what to drive the center channel to get a good match.
In a perfect world I would demo these amps at home, but that isnt easy to do. Last time I did manage to demo the ROksan s vs AVI vs Marantz consumer gear. This time around I have gone on reviews and a little listening in shops. Worked out fine for the Mahlers. I am hoping to do it again with the AMP + processor
I am thinking of either GAMUT D200 MkII, and keeping the Marantz for the rest of the HT speakers or switching to Classe CAV 180 or CAV500 with SSP30 . The Theta dreadnought seemed like a good idea until I read a review somewhere that the bass is a little soft.
The rest of my steup is the ROksan Caspian CD mk1, pioneer 747 DVD (elite 47A in the US), with VA haydns in the rear and VA center (mid size).
If I go down the GAMUT route I am worried about what to drive the center channel to get a good match.
In a perfect world I would demo these amps at home, but that isnt easy to do. Last time I did manage to demo the ROksan s vs AVI vs Marantz consumer gear. This time around I have gone on reviews and a little listening in shops. Worked out fine for the Mahlers. I am hoping to do it again with the AMP + processor