Upgrade to B&W 804 D4 Speakers

@bzawa 

B&Ws in general tend to be current hungry, something tube amps don’t do. Rogue Cronus Magnum with $16,000 speakers, really?

I drive 805D3's with a McIntosh MC275 in my living room.  They're somewhat musical, and very detailed with adequate bass.  Bear in mind, I live in an apartment and must always be concerned with levels. 

In another room, I have Zu Audio DW6 w/Jupiter upgrade.  These are driven by either a Firstwatt Aleph-J clone or a Elekit TU-8900 w/300B's.  What can I say?  I like to build kits :)  These combinations are highly musical with warm, enveloping mids, and sound much more dynamic to me.  That said, it sounds best with jazz and music with lots of midrange activity.  Every now and then, source material with complicated highs sounds a tad harsh.

I mention that last part to lead into the fact that the B&W's never do this.  They do everything pretty well.  If you drive them right, I doubt you'll complain; though, it's in an audiophile's nature to always think there's something better.

Those 804D4’s are really attractive speakers! Lately I’ve had a bit of a rod for the 801D4 and I’ve seen them used as low as $25k! Having a steady rotation of KEF’s in my listening room over the last 3 1/2 decades trying B&W seems like a mid life crisis. I settled on a pair of Yamaha ns5000’s. Retail’s same as 804d4, but I got a b stock delivered for $9500. I expect the clarity rivals B&W and the 12’ woofer is legit. Doing the test tones there’s bass to 25hz, strong output at 40 and a room null around 60 hz. Slightly clinical compared to my blades, but they’ll, as will the B&W’s show you the sound character of Rogue Audio and I think it’s going to wear on you. Like the others on this thread I recommend whatever you decide you buy used. Suppose you love the combo then you could, if still set on new, resell the used product you used for testing and then go buy the new one. 

 When I started building my stereo I don’t think internet was a thing yet and I lost thousands trying to find the amp that would release the magic. Today we have Agon, USAM and hifi shark to help us.

I have never had the 804's, but I recently bought a pair of 702 S3's.  They are ok, not great.  Terrific highs mediocre lows.  I power them with a Rotel RB1582 MII.  To get them sounding great I have to turn up the volume very high.  Much to my wife's chagrin.  

I power my B&W 702 S2 speakers in a rather large deep room with two 120W tube monoblocks. Running (4) KT-120 tubes in each. They sound fantastic! Not sure why tubes can't work with the 804's, I know they have a better crossover and tweeter, that might require more power. My bass is handled by two B&W DB4s subs which give plenty of power to the low end. I love the tube sound through these speakers.