Tube amp suggestion

You might concider the Almarro A318B SET amp. It's a high current amp with oustanding reviews.
The depth and 3d imaging is right up there with the best.
It has very powerful bass output and the highs are extended very well. Here's a 6moons review that helped me in my choice.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/almarro5/318.html

Hope this helps.

Maddog,

According to B&W's website the sensitivity of those speakers is 88 db and the minimum impedance is 4.7 ohms. It doesn't mention the phase angle or have an impedance curve to make further judgement, but you will likely need a relatively strong tube amp.

However, you said you want to continue to bi-amp. Does that mean putting the Rotel on the bottom and using the tube amp for the highs? If so, the situation changes.

A couple choices in the $2K range that would be able to drive the speakers by themselves would be the Cary V12, Audio Research VT-100 (prob only the Mk 1 under $2K), Rogue Stereo 90, and Jolida 502P.

What kind of sonic change are you looking for?

Michael

Sorry to challenge your premise, but why are you starting out thinking that you want to bi-amp with Rotel(s)? One of the toughest things to do in a system is overcome complexity getting everything working well together. It is very difficult to get coherent sound across the frequency range when bi-amping. When it is done, it is usually because there are few good alternatives, such as when dealing with super power-hungry speakers @ low impedance. You don't have any constraint like that.
IMHO, a good powerful tube amp like those Sufentanil suggests or others make much more sense to me. Sell the Rotels and increase your budget. For real bang-for-buck, somebody advertised a pair of Consonance monoblocks modified by RBH Sound Designz. Bob Backert is a real genius, those will beat much of what's out there! Cheers, Spencer

My assumption is that you are looking for the tube sound,
as a cheaper way to get into it have you considered a tube preamp as a start and see it that is what you are looking for?

You should definitely check out theButler TDB-2250 - 250 watts/ch. of tube goodness mated to MOSFET balls. There is a VERY nice unit for sale on Agon for $1799 - WELL within your budget.

Read the reviews on these amps. they are turly spectacular!

-RW-