What interconnects are you guys using for bi-wiring speakers? I need a Y XLR based cable.

@auxinput

Yes the CP800 is a pretty unique beast and it took me quite a long time to find such a beast that can do what it does. I still use it today strictly as a PreAmp and get no sense of it being a weak point in my system despite it actually being the least expensive component in my whole rig. Heh, my speaker wire has a higher price tag :)

@mgould

Please share the model Krells you are thinking of using in this setup. I'm inclined to think there must be at least two, 2 X channel amps at your disposal of the same exact type and similar age...etc?

The good news is that IME, the B&W D2 and I suspect the D3 have a pretty high power handling capability so that shouldn't be an issue unless you go full crazy mode. I was pushing my "Upper Section" with a Mono amp capable of 575w into 2ohms and the " Lower Section" was pushed with a matching separate amp of the same capability and the speakers never even blinked. My neighbors would have been knocking before the speaker even showed signs of braking a sweat. My balls ran out usually in the 112db range at seated position.

Anyway, based on what I'm hearing regarding the PreAmp at play you may be better served by Bi-Wiring until a more suitable Pre can be obtained. No offense meant by my statement :)

Sorry guys,  I have the Krell Chorus 7200.  I was going to use 6 of the channels in a bi-amp format for the front three channels.  

I am also going to do atmos and therefor will use the other 7 channel amp for all remaining speakers.  I looked at the pages in the manual and was wondering if I will lose two channels by going with what auximput stated in his post.  I would rather retain those additional channels for additional speaker.  I am thinking that the 802s would like the additional power of the biamping.  Thoughts?

Thanks for all of your help guys.

The Krell and Marantz are not differentially balanced.  The balanced connections are for bragging rights.

From this Krell 7200 datasheet:

The signal path is fully complementary and balanced. Independent complementary pre-driver and driver stages for the positive and negative output transistors make the output stages extremely fast and linear.

Also, the fact that its balanced input impedance is twice its unbalanced input impedance is very likely indicative of a differentially balanced receiver stage being provided for its XLR inputs. That would be the case even if it did not have a balanced internal signal path.

And as I previously indicated, it can be inferred from the specs on the Marantz that its outputs, or at least most of them, are most likely driven from differentially balanced output stages, regardless of whether or not its internal signal path is differentially balanced.

Therefore, as I said earlier:

... balanced connections between components having unbalanced internal signal paths (and, again, the Krell amps might very well be fully balanced) IMO may sound either better than, worse than, or similar to unbalanced connections, depending on the specific designs.

Regarding:

I looked at the pages in the manual and was wondering if I will lose two channels by going with what auximput stated in his post.

As I interpret the reference Auxinput provided to page 237 of the manual you would be able to configure the Marantz such that you could use two left + right output pairs (for example, Front and Front Wide) for purposes of biamping two speakers. But that would apparently require you to use a splitter for the center channel, as well as requiring you to utilize two pairs of output channels on the Marantz for one pair of front speakers. So I suspect it would be best to use a splitter on all three of the channels that you want to biamp with the Krell. The very high 200K impedance of the Krell’s balanced inputs should minimize or eliminate any downside of using a short splitter at its inputs, in conjunction with a single XLR cable per channel of whatever length is necessary.

I can’t answer the last question, about the likelihood of benefiting from the additional power in this specific case, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it does turn out to provide significant benefit.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al