Suggest Me Best stereo amplifier for my B&w 684

[Beast_of_burden]

Have you tried the B&W with the Denon PMA1520AE. Do use Chord Clearway Speakers Cables, I hope you will like it.
Just don't look down upon this amp since it doesn't have a fancy name.Its awesome with its neutral balance edging on the warm side with excellent detail and current on tap to control your speakers. Just give it a try. The other amp away from this award winning Denon will be the Usher Integrateds. Visit ProFx and ARN

I have this combination - BW 600 series and PMA 1500, very nice for classical. I have been playing L Sub endlessly since acquiring this combination. This amp is a sleeper, expensive but probably worth it. Smooth but detailed. After this Denon I am not inclined to go back to tubes. Enough power to produce clean bass, very balanced. Sub has been retired. Sounds great with Cabasse speakers too. While it sounds great with classical, it sounds great playing Led Zep too.

After this introduction to a MOSFET amp I want more of the same, now researching PASS integrated but am in no hurry.

 

[aa_asif]

my friend has adcom with b&w, sounds decent.

 

[Aanuj]

I have this combination - BW 600 series and PMA 1500, very nice for classical. I have been playing L Sub endlessly since acquiring this combination. This amp is a sleeper, expensive but probably worth it. Smooth but detailed. After this Denon I am not inclined to go back to tubes. Enough power to produce clean bass, very balanced. Sub has been retired. Sounds great with Cabasse speakers too. While it sounds great with classical, it sounds great playing Led Zep too.



After this introduction to a MOSFET amp I want more of the same, now researching PASS integrated but am in no hurry.

Wow, good to know that you have that awesome pairing,even I have the PMA/DCD/TU 1500AE connected to a pair of Mission MX5 and I absolutely love them! Even I want to go for Mr Nelson Pass but the closest I can get to him is through the Usher R1.5, a copy!! And you are absolutely right they play Miles Davis to Lamb of God to Rahman to Nina Simone to YoYo honey Singh equally and just the way they were meant to be. It is after this combination I developed a voracious appetite to collect CDs as if there's no tomorrow! !

 

[kanna.sridharan]

any idea about Roksan or Cree, I know Naim wont be that good for this..

I have a Naim 5i-2 powering my 683's and I feel its amazing, the vocals are prominent, the highs are recessed and the bass feels full. more than music, I love my setup to watch movies.

Recently got to test my amp with a friends ELAC FS267.3 - the highs were fatiguing (when compared to his Denon AVR+Lexicon power amp), but then the amount of bass the speakers put out I was stunned, the vocals where a bit soft, well it wasnt to my liking. I'm really impressed with what this little amp can do.

Ive never got to listen to Roksan, Creek or Cyrus amps. Heard recently that the Bryston Pre/Power are very good for the B&W. If you can try to audition the Peachtree audio125SE, I heard them with the basic line ELAC's and they seemed to be very strong. If your looking for Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, NAD, CA steer away from their entry line ups, probably you have to look up their order of Int. amps or maybe one notch below that, anything below that wont be able to drive the B&W's.

 

[Beast_of_burden]

Wow, good to know that you have that awesome pairing,even I have the PMA/DCD/TU 1500AE connected to a pair of Mission MX5 and I absolutely love them! Even I want to go for Mr Nelson Pass but the closest I can get to him is through the Usher R1.5, a copy!! And you are absolutely right they play Miles Davis to Lamb of God to Rahman to Nina Simone to YoYo honey Singh equally and just the way they were meant to be. It is after this combination I developed a voracious appetite to collect CDs as if there's no tomorrow! !

This mad rush to experiment and buy up CDs happens when your system sounds truly special. It happened once many years ago when I was collecting all albums for a given artist. It is happening again now. After hearing hi res vinyl drop of CSNY So far that I had made ages ago, I feel the urge to set up vinyl again. I have acquired the Denon DL103R because the 1500AE has built in MC phono pre. It sounds great just directly connected to my Moto Turbo playing tunes from Apple Music too, discovering a lot of music this way.

The amp is really fuss free. It does spotlight the vocals just a little bit. The tweeter on the BW seems to be just a little hot and I was noticing that during the early days. However it does textured bass and shimmering cymbals. I like sitting close in a near field and soak in the details and textures. The amp is remarkably quiet and now I understand what people mean by a black background. I also noticed how easy it is play this Loud without realizing because of the lack of distortion. It doesn't emphasize sibilants and leading edges, it will give the impression of being a tad dull maybe warm on first listen. Won't jump and try to grab you, you need to take your time.

Me and my brother heard the 1500AE with the Cabasse Minorca and felt it was another special combination. We heard Led Zep, Beatles, Pink Floyd and Kenny Burrell played from our phones and it sounded superb. I started my quest for the 1500AE only after hearing this combination. The textures were so good we agreed it gave the impression of slowing down the track!

Based on the reviews of Pass X amps, many seem to prefer the First Watt offerings. Some folks like emphasis on leading edges that SS amps very often do because it sounds accurate but it is not for me. The next step up had better be truly special. The 1500 is rare enough, what are the chances we will have the opportunity to audition these exotics?

 

[Aanuj]

Since you are from Bangalore am sure you will find a way to audition the amps. Ain't there any audiophile group in Bangalore? That might help, to listen to each other's systems as they do in Kolkata. We have very scarce opportunity in Kolkata, if one wants to audition hiend , you might find the stuff to buy on order basis but not hear before you buy!! Mumbai Bangalore or Delhi are better off in that regard imho. Just for reference even if I wanted to buy the humble DNP730AE streamer from Denon I would have to buy it blindly apart from paying the frightening price they quoted me. Thought of doing Vinyl set up but went the SACD route instead since the source was already present and it's rewarding honestly.

 

[nvpatkar]

I have a rotel RA12 that I am using with my BW685s they sound neat
NAD and BW dont go so well

 

[skillace]

It must be a room acoustics issue rather than amp!
So why don't you settle it before choosing the right amp!

First of all, for small rooms floorstanders are difficult to tame without proper acoustic treatment and careful positioning.
Another thing to take note is the speaker design, for small rooms use enclosed boxes or front vented boxes because rear vented ones need more space to breathe. Have a foam plug handy for use with the speaker just in case the source material gets difficult to tame.

Basically, if it's getting oomy, then you are having issues with certain low frequencies which are overloading the room.
Usually, small rooms (square,cube or similar shape) are having issues with bass.
There are ways to minimize this problem to a certain extend.
You may start by putting thick carpets on the floor and adding bass traps on all four vertical corners of the room first.
Then you can start the mirror test from your favourite listening position.
Add a couple of acoustic panels/foams on either side on the wall where you see the speakers.
You can do even more but these are good enough for most bookshelves.
After you have reached a satisfying level, then start playing with speaker positioning (distance from back wall, distance from side wall, tilt angle, toe in for more clarity, soundstage, depth, imaging etc.
While playing with speaker positioning, do one speaker at a time playing a familiar track with good frequency extension preferably in mono.

Happy listening