Best amp/pre amp for 705's

[legion1capone]

I have been fortunate enough to spend a couple days (yes days! lol) at my local B&W and Rotel dealer. I spent most of my time listening to the differances between the rotel amp/pre amps and stereo recievers through the B&W 705's. Out of everything in the room and what was in my price range I decided on the RB-1080 power amp and the RC-1082 pre amp. Now my questions I am asking myself right now; In this price range could I choose a better amp/pre amp combination for the 705's and if so what would that be? And secondly; If I choose this amp/pre amp would they do the the 805's justice if I were to upgrade my speakers?

P.S. I'm a noob so hopefully you can bear with me. I have only listened to the B&W and Rotel together thats why I ask.

[GregLett]

Well classe is a must listen, that is a step up from Rotel. I like a tube pre with a solid state amp.

[Briz vegas]

Well you have started in the right place with the Rotel I think. Sister companies B&W and Rotel are about as close as you can get to a one make system. I also agree with the idea of a tube preamp as suggested by the shed guy. There is a "bang for buck" issue with Classe, not cheap (maybe second hand). An integrated may give better value for money. NAD M3 and Electrocompaniet ECI3 would be outside your price range unfortunately.

Arcam FMJ A28, Marantz PM-15S1, Musical Fidelity XT100 would be on my shopping list. Each will give you a different flavour so to a degree it comes down to what you want out of your speakers. There are also a number of tube integrated amps out there that are worth a listen - most are from China but don't let that put you off !!

705s are a great speaker. Budget for speaker cables, not necessarily expensive but that can help to get the best out of your system.

If you can apply a little patience to your search and shop around a little more. If you are a newbie you may not know what sort of sound you prefer, or at least how to best achieve what you want to hear. Listen to a bunch of systems to help tune your ears a little to what is available. When listening be aware that lots of things effect what you are hearing. Doing something as simple as clapping your hands will give you an idea of how various rooms or locations in a room sound different - this will all impact on what you hear in the auditioning process.

[GregLett]

I also agree with the idea of a tube preamp as suggested by the shed guy.

WoW, reduced to the shed guy :cry:

[legion1capone]

If funny you should mention the Arcam FMJ series. I was talking to a couple of the guys at another audio store in my area and they had mentioned the Arcam FMJ A38 as a pretty descent competitor for the amp/pre amp setup I was looking at. Can any of you try and describe the sound differances between Rotel gear and Arcam gear?

P.S. I would love to step up to something like Classe but its just not in the budget. You could say I'm a new audiophile fanatic without the big bucks to spend. (I wish I did!)

[wgriel]

Well, I'd say at the price point you are talking about, the Rotel RC-1082 + RB 1080 will be a tough act to beat. An excellent combo and a good match for your 705s.

The combo will sound excellent with 805s as well, but the 805s probably would benefit from something a bit higher end. But I don't think you'd be disappointed with that combo.