B&W 803D - Best amplifiers to drive them

I own a pair of 803 Diamonds and drive them with X 4 NCORE NC400 mono blocks. They certainly love power and woke up very noticeably in their current configuration compared to my previous amp (Pass X250).

I auditioned the 802Diamond at the same time and actually all but made up my mind that I was going to get the 802's before arrival of the demo but after the audition I didn't feel there was a $5K difference between the two speakers.

So instead, I spent that $5K building X 4 mono blocks to fully power the 803 Diamonds to their max potential. Even before doing this, using the Pass X250 amp on the 803's they still were plenty close enough in SQ to the 802 to not loose any sleep over.

I have no regrets in my decision.

While I agree that McIntosh, Musical Fidelity and Pass Labs are good choices, like
Saackesc, I recommend Accuphase amps for B&W speakers from the 800 series.
Accuphase is IMO a significant step up from the brands mentioned above, but it
is also more expensive.

Regarding the 803D vs. 802D issue, 802D is without a doubt the superior
speaker. If you have the space for the 802D and can afford it go for it. Buying
the cheaper model is never cheaper in the long run.

Power mine with classe ca-5300 and very pleased.

Accuphase, the last amp you will need for your life!  

kelpie


The B&W803 D’s are a hard speaker in the bass for an amp, and need one that is comfortable drive 3ohms for most of the bass and the even worse below 100hz where there is also a massive -65’ of -phase angle as well.
Because they are 91db efficient means they don’t need many watts into 8ohms, >100w will do. But that should double into 4ohms (200w) and almost double again into 2ohms (>350w)
https://www.stereophile.com/images/616BW802fig1.jpg

And the B&W 802D is just as amp demanding also

Cheers George