Amp upgrade for B&W 803D3 - advice needed
 

Hi,

I absolutely love my speakers, they are now burned in and sound amazing. I drive them with two Linn 2250 (stereo amps connected as mono to each speakers) and they deliver 2x115 w in 8 ohm to each speaker.

I think the amps are still quite good but also; I am curious about what will happen if I add more power and newer amplification to my setup.

So - do you have any suggestions? Should I go for monoblocks (it seems like B&W really are made for this?) or stereo amp? A realistic budget would be approx. 10.000-15.000 USD.

Thanks in advance,

Johannes, Sweden

When I had B&W 803D1's they sound better and better with the more power I gave them. I stopped at MC601 monos

McIntosh and B&W have really good synergy. I’d at least consider the MC452 or a pair of MC601 monoblocks.

MC601 I believe sounds quite good with these guys. With a good room, speaker position tweaking, and a good preamp, you're looking at a fantastic system.

What about the MC2301 instead of the MC601?

Out of his stated budget though would go great as well.

Have used both a McIntosh 452 and now a pair of 601's with my 802 D2's with great results

Since your budget allows you to go with the 601’s, that’s my choice.

Go for it.

Same here. I have a pair of 601s on my 802D2 and the 452 on my 803D2. Works for me :) I know these are the prior B&W model. Would be great to hear them with D3s.

One can easily pick up a 2nd hand pair of 2301s for under 15K.

crwilli (Craig) also has 2301s on his SF Strads and they are amazing.