@auxinput, you and several others who told me not to worry were absolutely right in regards to the Pass Labs amp power. These XA60.8 monoblocks have no problem at all driving the B&W 802D3's. There is MORE than enough power to drive them. I've found that I've been sitting with the volume around 45-50 (out of 100) on the preamp for my listening sessions so far. If I get the volume above 65-70 then it's really too loud to listen to for any length of time. 75+ is enough to get the cops called on me, ha!
For the first few hours after getting the 802's, I kept the dual B&W ascm10s subs in the room using the highlevel inputs. I would listen to music with them on and with them off. I tweaked and played with the levels, phase, extension, etc.. but I didn't feel that those particular subs added anything at all to the sound. The 802's frequency response is just as low as that of the subs, but I thought that it might help with pressurizing the room or giving some extra oomph to the low bass. I just didn't pick that up at all with my ears and thus removed the subs (and quickly sold here on Audiogon).
These 802's have no problem handling musical bass in my space. They hit low enough to shake the room when I ask them to. In running bass sweeps, my neighbor (and best friend) who was inside his kitchen texted me saying that he could tell I was enjoying the new speakers.
That all said.. I do also use the space for some television and movie watching (maybe 30%) and am currently somewhat infatuated with the Dolby vision content on my LG OLED also in the room. For movie watching, I am thinking about adding in an ultralow sub (maybe a B&W DB2D or a Funk Audio 21.0L) just for home theater but I'm pretty certain that no sub would ever be warranted in this space for discerning music listening. I'm always experimenting though so of course I would test that out, ha.
Again.. let me say I have enjoyed all the feedback from the community here. This thread ended up making the popular conversations section! I'm kinda proud, lol. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and contributed to this great discussion.
Ps. I ended up with a different preamp. The PS Audio that I thought I was going to integrate ended up being on backorder. So after much research, I decided to go with a Mcintosh C1100. I couldn't be happier. It's a beauty and enhances the sound of my system. I tested going directly from the DAC into the amps and then putting the McIntosh between them and love what the C1100 adds to the overall sound.
Pss. I'm going to post some photos for you guys to show how things turned out in my next post.
For the first few hours after getting the 802's, I kept the dual B&W ascm10s subs in the room using the highlevel inputs. I would listen to music with them on and with them off. I tweaked and played with the levels, phase, extension, etc.. but I didn't feel that those particular subs added anything at all to the sound. The 802's frequency response is just as low as that of the subs, but I thought that it might help with pressurizing the room or giving some extra oomph to the low bass. I just didn't pick that up at all with my ears and thus removed the subs (and quickly sold here on Audiogon).
These 802's have no problem handling musical bass in my space. They hit low enough to shake the room when I ask them to. In running bass sweeps, my neighbor (and best friend) who was inside his kitchen texted me saying that he could tell I was enjoying the new speakers.
That all said.. I do also use the space for some television and movie watching (maybe 30%) and am currently somewhat infatuated with the Dolby vision content on my LG OLED also in the room. For movie watching, I am thinking about adding in an ultralow sub (maybe a B&W DB2D or a Funk Audio 21.0L) just for home theater but I'm pretty certain that no sub would ever be warranted in this space for discerning music listening. I'm always experimenting though so of course I would test that out, ha.
Again.. let me say I have enjoyed all the feedback from the community here. This thread ended up making the popular conversations section! I'm kinda proud, lol. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice and contributed to this great discussion.
Ps. I ended up with a different preamp. The PS Audio that I thought I was going to integrate ended up being on backorder. So after much research, I decided to go with a Mcintosh C1100. I couldn't be happier. It's a beauty and enhances the sound of my system. I tested going directly from the DAC into the amps and then putting the McIntosh between them and love what the C1100 adds to the overall sound.
Pss. I'm going to post some photos for you guys to show how things turned out in my next post.