Looking for power amp 200WRMS x 2

Need a power amp not less than 180WRMS and not over 250WRMS x 2 channels, to drive my B&W 802s. Using an Adcom 5500 200WRMSx2 now, quite happy, but after 5 years just feel like upgrading the amp only.

Listen to pop/rock but also western classical and choral music. Need sweet treble, or at least neutral. Listening room is 70 cubic meters in volume.

Since there are only a few brands with dealers in India, I can buy it during my travels, if anyone cares to recommend an auditioning shortlist.


Thanks !

Do you need a new Power Amp or a used ?
Care to give GamuT a try.
They should be available in India.
look up their web site for details.

What is the CD Player you are using ?
Want to upgrade that ?

Shanti

Why not less than 180watts and not more than 250 watts ?
I feel there is much more amplifiers than watts.
The design factors, current capability, class A, A/B etc…, quality of sound etc.. are some of the factors which may be of more value than just watts.
I have heard amps with just 120 watts which sounds more authoritative and cleaner than some other 250 watters.
Talking about watts you won’t gain much if you upgrade from a 150watter to 250watter.
You will roughly gain about 3db when you upgrade from a 128 watter to a 256 watter as you can see in the table below computed for a 86db speaker.
86db speaker table
86db @ 1 Watt
89db @ 2 watts
92db @ 4 Watts
95db @ 8 Watts
98db @ 16 Watts
101db @ 32 Watts
104db @ 64Watts
107db @ 128 Watts
110db @ 256 Watts
113db @ 612 Watts
I feel you should be looking at some good amplifiers at 150 to 200 watts or even monoblocks as an upgrade.

Some brands that come to mind:
Gamut (expensive)
Plinius
Cyrus
Odyssey audio extreme monoblocks

You could consider the Cyrus Mono X - monoblocks.
They are powered at 150 watts. Their ratings are conservative.
Also the B&W 802s are pretty sensitive - 90db, 8 ohms.
Their minimum impedance is 3.5 ohms.
The cyrus monoblocks will deliver 250 watts into a 4 ohm load and are capable of driving a 2 ohm load.

Cyrus Audio

Regards
SNV

Hi Chetan,

If u are to drive the 802 and extract the maximum from them i would look at somothing like the Bryston 4Bsst power amp as a minimum. Its rated at 300WPC but exeeds that effortlessly. Also the high damping factor will control ur speakers. I agree that the speakers have a high sensitivity but one thing to keep in mind is that they do drop below 4 ohms and hence can make an amp struggle.
No disrespect to any of the above suggestions but i feel the Bryston / gamut option seems more appropriate.Of course another option is classe or plinius(have not heard it personally) if u like the flavour but the pricing is pretty high.
Regards

Using a Marantz 6002, dont want to change it, its well matched.

With your choice of music i would suggest Krell Kav 2250. The krell k series is very reasonbly priced, has a good balanced sound & control. With the kind of sound as described by you, i guess you must give it a audition.
All the best.

You definitely need a much better cd player else you wouldn't be making the most of your set up.
Your speakers are an absolute overkill for the Marantz cd 6002.

Regards
SNV

Thanks for the tip, I might get a blu-ray player in some months, hopefully that will do CDs well. What do you suggest ?

Depending on your budget, I would recommend the following options :

The least you should ideally consider is ;

1. CYRUS CDXTSE (Transport) WITH DAC X (Dac)

Cyrus Audio

Cyrus Audio

Something better ;

2. AUDIONET ART G2

audionet.de: Characteristics

There are ofcourse a lot of other options available. You need to partner the 802s with a similar pedigree cd player and amplifier.

Regards
SNV