suggestion for amp to go with B&W N803


I am auditioning ss integrated amplifiers to go with B&W Nautilus 803, any suggestions?
Many thanks, Robert
kabouter

Showing 3 responses by kabouter

I have a rega planet cd player. Budget for amp is around euro 5000 [US$5400]. I will probably also upgrade the cd player in the near future.
Thanks, Robert
Pat,
I see you have the levinson 383 integrated, this is actually one of the amps i am considering [but haven't heard it yet] although i'm afraid it will be quite expensive in Holland. I listened to the Sugden masterclass integrated amp [class A] and had 2 problems: [1] the sound was a litle bit too warm, full bass but a little bit too much compared to mids and high and [2] mids and high were not sparkling enough [piano, voice], seemed to in the background of the 3D image. Did you come across these "problems" and did the levinson solve them?
further info: my listening room is 6.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 meters [21 x 15 x 8 foot]
thanks for your help, Robert
OK, guys, thanks for your support! The thing is as follows: i thought i wanted the N803 speakers, i had them at home on trial for a week [together with Sugden Masterclass amp]and didn't like 2 things. First i found them too warm, too much bass and too little mids and highs. Especially voice and piano weren't sparkling enough. Secondly i found them a bit timid, laid back. Then i [again] compared the N803 and N804, now with more listening experience and found out that i actually liked the 804 better. My "problems" with the N803 were solved with N804. The N804 and N803 are really different speakers, they look the same but actually had different design teams wworking on them, resulting in different sounds. Also i auditioned the N804 with an accuphase integrated amp E-212, which is a better fit to the warm B&W speakers than the also warm class A Sugden. I earlier auditioned the Sugden masterclass integrated and the Accuphase E307 and found comparable in terms of detail, depth etc. So as it looks now i will go for the N803/E307 combination. God, i'm so happy that i finally found something i truly like, all the other systems i checked out [a lot] had nice aspects but were not what i was looking for.

thanks again for your help, regards, Robert