Need more punch from my B&W802 III HT setup

Michael-
I'm not sure if you look at the Sunfire option, that the CG will give you the "slam" you want. I can recommend highly the Sunfire Signature Cinema Grand at 405x5.

I went from 200 watts to the CG signature in my HT setup and have been very happy with it. Granted, I have a difficult load to drive: Magnepan MGIIIa (front) Magnepan MMG (rear), but I have all the punch I need. I also use the Theater grand MK II pre/pro, and a Sunfire Super Jr. Sub in the HT setup.

I DO use the Front L/R of the amp driven by tube preamp to the MGIIIa's for music only, and have found this amp to be big, powerful, and subtle as well.

If you can swing a little extra $$$$ you might be able to pick up a CG Sig. pretty close to your budget, or, perhaps a new "B" stock unit with full warranty.

Others may disagree with me on this but I think the CG Sig is a lot of quality amp for the money. Versatile for music and HT. IMHO

These are just my thoughts as I've owned B&W M802 SIII's for a few years. I'm more of an audio person than HT, altho I do watch/listen to DVD's with my CAL CL25, B&W M802's, ARC VT100 MKII, etc.

B&W M802's are not the easiest speakers to drive. They like lots of power, & IMO also sound great with tubes. The Adcom amps, I dunno, if you can get them used, cheap, would be worth trying perhaps. The VT100 MKII sounds great w/the M802's (only 2 ch. of course)......if you want SS amps, what about the C-J MF series? For SS, the least expensive I'd use would be Bryston.

The only problem w/M802's is that cheaper amps or pre-amps will drive you crazy; Adcom or NAD stuff that you could get away with with lesser speakers may not sound good. Just my 2 cents.

I will look into the Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature. 405w into 8ohms should take care of my lack of punch in the lower end.

The VT100 MKII sounded great in a Demo; however, I lack the space for several amps in my setup. I have to work on the wife to acquire space for the future CRT projector. When married one has to choose his battles in order to gain ground in the HiFi arena, as I am sure many of you know.

Thanks,

Michael

Anyone have B&W 802 III running a Brigded Citation 7.1 amp? I am considering 2 Citation 7.1's for my HT setup. The sunfire seems much to small to provide the power I seek. Bridged the Citation 7.1 will provide 450w into 8 ohm's.

Actually, for the record, sounds like youre problem is your set up! you can forget getting WORLD CLASS BASS from your speaker run "full range" for HT!!! The reason your old OM6's had so much stronger sound bass and dynamics run "full range" for Ht, was the powered subs!!!! They have their own amps built in to handle the bass much better. this is equivalent(and more...considering how poorly most people set up sub/sat systems) to a very well set up sub sat system, where an ACTIVE POWERED SUBWOOFER(In your case, multiple subs) handles the demanding bass!
ALL HT SYSTEMS should be set up this way really.
if you aren't using speakers with built in powered subs(like your OM6's), then you SHOULD BE USING YOUR SPEAKERS SET TO "SMALL" and letting a powered active subwoofer handle the bass!!!...no if's,and's, or but's about it!
Although BIAMPING will help your bass for a full range speaker like your 802's, it still can't kick out the bass like having a powered sub handle your bass dubties!(although biamping plus crossing over to a powered sub will be even better).
There are FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE who are not getting the kind of dynamic ability from their FULL RANGE speaker system for HT, because they're trying to run their floor standing speakers FULL RANGE FOR HT!...a no no!
Try getting an excellent set up for your subwoofer(s)(make sure it's enough sub(s) to handle your room size...many are UNDER-SUB'D!), then run your B&W's as "small" on your pre/pro, and get the crossover right between them and sub.
Trust me, the dynamics and bass will return to your system!
Ther's a reason THX came up with the 80hz crossover to a powered subwoofer parameter!...because they spent hundreds of thousands of hours figuring out that it works best!!!!