Upgrade to 803 coming in.....what new amp to get to power them...?

[audiophile]

I have a set of 803 ('old' ones) and HTM1 coming in soon, which means the 805's will move to the back. I currently use a Rotel 1068 Preamp and 1075 Amp all with Transparent speaker cable. I am now considering to upgrade the front L/R with a 2-channel amp, but am puzzled what to get. I was thinking about the 1090 from Rotel, but also read good reviews of the Classe as well as Bryston. Anyone have some good experiences with one or the other...?

[Fraise]

I have a set of 803 ('old' ones) and HTM1 coming in soon, which means the 805's will move to the back. I currently use a Rotel 1068 Preamp and 1075 Amp all with Transparent speaker cable. I am now considering to upgrade the front L/R with a 2-channel amp, but am puzzled what to get. I was thinking about the 1090 from Rotel, but also read good reviews of the Classe as well as Bryston. Anyone have some good experiences with one or the other...?

i can't speak for bryston because i have no experience with them but classe makes amazing products in my opinion. i used to have the same 803's with a classe CAV-180 biamped using 2 channels/speaker and i couldnt have asked for anything more. which classe are you looking at and how much had you planned on spending?

i would and did pick classe over rotel.

[Twincam]

Do you only use your system for watching movies, or is music very very important for you as well?

I have also been looking for a new amp for my Nautilus (804) speakers, (for a 2-channel setup).
and after some evaluation I finally ordered the Classé Delta CP-500/CA-2200. Very very good... But of course it's quite a bit more extra $ than a Rotel combination with the power amp RB-1090. The Rotel is very good value for the money IMO.

If you are considering Bryston, why not look at the 3-channel amp 6B-SST? Your HTM-1 center will for sure benefit from this compared with the RMB-1075. Another interesting option could of course be to bi-amp the HTM-1 using 2-channels on the 1075. But I still think that the Bryston will be the better choice...
In the end, try to listen of the different brands/models that you have in mind.

Regards

TC

[Dan Schulze]

audiophile,

I have an HTM1 for the center, and 805's for surrounds & rears. I have a Bryston 6B SST to power the HTM1 and the 805's, but have temporarily retired it and am now using my lesser Anthem MCA 50. I will be purchasing a 4B SST in the future (and with that put the 6B SST back in service), then I will be back to Bryston all round. I am pleased with the Bryston powering the 805's and the HTM1. The MCA 50 just doesn't quite handle the FST midrange on the HTM1 quite as well.

I have no experience with Classe, but understand they are an awesome amp!! I did use a Rotel for a while to power my 802's - can't remember the model (on loan from my dealer while my Anthem amp was in for repair) but IMHO the Bryston controlled the speakers better.

Hope this helps. :T

Dan

[captzerg]

I recently replaced my Meridian G51 Integrated Amp for the T+A Elecktroakustik PA 1530 R and upgraded my basic Transparent Plus cables to the Transparent Super cables. I am running N805's in a two channel setup. The T+A is out of Herford Germany. All I can say is that the sound now explodes out of the speakers, wonderful staging, very transparent and very out in front. I love it.

When my dealer gets the new 803D's I will demo them on the T+A.

[audiophile]

Twincam,

Interesting idea to power 3 channels with a seperate amp, the only thing is, it is probably a costly excercise. I would want to spent upto $4K (Euro3K) on the amp. I am not sure if that will pay for a classe or bryston solution. I know the RB1090 of Rotel is around Euro2.5K.

I will go out and listen to the three options and then probably spend more than I wanted....

Thanks!!

ps. I listen/view about 50/50 on music and HT.

[Twincam]

Audiophile,

One thing you could test is to bi-amp your HTM-1 center with the 1075. I haven't tried it out myself though... If it work out fine you could then get a RB-1090 or 1080.

The Classe CAV-180 is also a very good option. Since it's a discontinued model you might be able to find it for a very good price.

[audiophile]

Twincam,

When you say bi-amping, what do you mean? Would it mean running a double wire from the processor centre channel to the L and R channel on the amplifier and then taking the L and R channel to the HTM1?

[gostan]

Twincam,

When you say bi-amping, what do you mean? Would it mean running a double wire from the processor centre channel to the L and R channel on the amplifier and then taking the L and R channel to the HTM1?

Audiophile:

Run one cable from the center 1 pre-out to any of the inputs for one of the amps in your 1075 and run speaker cable to the high L/R connections (top) of your center speaker and run another cable from the center 2 pre-out to any of the inputs for one of the amps in your 1075 and run speaker cable from that particular amp to the low L/R connections (bottom) of your center speaker. You are basically using one amplifier for the highs and one amplifier for the low/woofers.

Stan