CAV-50 and 804 Diamonds

I had a similar issues (my sweet sounding crystal clear amp went all grainy and hard sounding) with a Audio Research CA50 and B&W 805s's. The bottom line is they just do not work well together. I ended up swicthing to a McIntosh 2275 and all was well. The CA50 is now happily driving a pair of AR S310HO's with Sequerra Ribbon Tweeters with no problems.

If you liked your tube sound but want to find a better match to the B&W's I would recommend the W4S STI 500. I have the ST500 on my N802's and it is excellent (and not just for the money).

The CJ CAV-50 is a wonderful, sweet little integrated amp. As you suspect, however, it is not a good match for the B&W 804s. If you love your speakers you will need a new amp, and that probably means SS to mate well with the 804s. What kind of music do you listen to?

But before you do that I would try your CAV-50 with a pair of more efficient speakers. I would suggest something in the JM Reynauds or Triangle line, but there are lots of options. I recently heard your amp played through a pair of Tekton speakers and it was very good. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.

Agree, CAV-50 with B&W 805's YES, 804's NO. I had both these speakers with the CAV-50 and this is my experience.

Vinny

for most B&W speakers one needs a powerful SS amp. For a nice tube amp one should have some really nice efficient speakers. Vintage Klipsch are nice- Fortes, Cornwalls. I say vintage because you can save some money if you do that. I got some nice vintage La Scalas and an amp from Petery-Hedden in Indiana. I live close by. There are so many speakers to select from. I would recommend speakers requiring a minimum wpc of 10 and sensitivity of 89db or greater. I have a Jolida JD202BRC amp that is like the CAV 50 in power and tubes, etc. Maybe not quality, but ability to drive speakers. Mine does fine with some RF-62IIs and also with some Advent 6003s. I like the 6003s best. In all these years I have not found anything I liked better, or well enough to replace at a big cost. I sure do like the cornwalls, but those are big. Legacy makes some nice speakers. PSB makes some decent speakers. For those B&W speakers you need a 150 to 200 wpc SS amp. Give the folks at Petery-Hedden a call (on the net) and see if they have any nice vintage speakers.