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Ideal amp for B&W matrix 800

Hello everyone, I am looking for a great amp for my B&W MATRIX 800 speakers (the tall ones with the angular shaped bass cabinets, not the nautilus ones!).
I have a tight budget and live in Belgium.
My cd is Accuphase 500, preamp is solid state, no tone controls magnum Mp330.
I am looking for a 3d soundstage with lots of depth and emotional music playing. I therefore think of class A amps.
Hence... older krells? Tube amps would be a bad match as the speakers each have two 12 inch woofers. They are 4Ohms, with an impedance dip to 3 ohms in 100-200 Hz region. they are 93 dB/1W sensitivity though...
I could spend about 2000 euro but would prefer around 1000-1500 so I have budget for an accuphase preamp for phono (a c-280 or so). Would appreciate your input guys!
At the moment I localised a krell KSA-100 MKii for 850 e, a Krell KSA-200 S for 1750 e, a Krell FPB for 2000 e...
Or a Pass X250 for 2400 e.... Other suggestions are very welcomen these or just the ones that I found on sale some place now... I have never heard any of these amps...
blueskywalker
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
they do not have 2 ohm specs though... would they be less then optimal?
Hard to say blueskywalker usually if there’s no 2ohm wattage spec, by manufacturer or by testing it means it better not to divulge it.

They are linear amps that’s in their favor.
They have smp power supplies which "can" be good, most are not.
We don’t know if they use bi-polar or mosfet outputs transistors, there’s enough of them 16 per channel would be in your favor if they were bi-polar.
Really the only way to tell if they are as optimal as the ones I mentioned above, would be to a/b them and pay particular attention to the bass area between 55hz to 250hz (most of the low/mid bass)

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Just found out on a Polish site they use Saken Darlington output devices, not in your favor, they've never been taken too by the other guru's of the hifi world, and possibly why there’s no 2ohm spec anywhere.

Cheers George
blueskywalker OP
91 posts
 
@georgehifi  I also have Kef Blades (the big ones, not the two) and I still have not decided which speaker will stay, are these a better match for the Rowlands? I did notice that with stock powercords the Rowlands are not good in the bass on the 800s, but I discovered thats its crazy to use 10 euro cords on 35K amplifiers, and also that amps with switching power supplies are more in need of good power cords then normal amps...
I do like the sound of Sanken transistors generally, are these bipolar devices?
I heard these amps on a hifi show perform magic on Marten Design Tenor 3 speakers, with all Jorma Reference cabling...
blueskywalker OP
91 posts
 
@georgehifi  just found a review of the stereo version of my amps, the Rowland 625. measured output was 329 watt in 8 ohm and 590 watt in 4 ohm, (which apparently made the 6.3 amp fuse blow after few secs); dynamic power was 333w in 8 ohm, 623w in 4 ohm, 1060w  in 2 ohm and 155w in 1ohm. The reviewer loved it, as it combined the charm and tranquility of a class a SET tube design with the tight control and grunt of a muscular class A/B amp.
And thats for the stereo version...
So for my 725  monos, I guess the answer truely lies in good powercords here. Have been testing some and so far really like Audioquest Storm series. I started a thread on that a while ago.
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
Blueskywalker, I had the identical experience when I tried a Krell 200FPB.  I used the Krell with Thiel CS6's and the upper frequencies were bright.  In came a tubed pre-amp.  It helped a bit but in the long run it sent me looking for more tubes.  All that happened in the early part to this century.  Currently I have B&W 801 S3's being driven by VTL450MKII amps. 
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