802 diamonds with class d amp

As a long time B&W owner and fan several points.

1) As good as the Signature series was the D series are much better, specially the 2nd generation "Diamond". It has many upgrades over the 1st D. Check it out Bo1972.

Cabling makes a difference as well. And give them time.

2) The Rotel are not a match for any speaker in this class.
I am not a fan of MAC with the Diamonds.
The only Classe I like are the current generation monos with the B&W.
I think the Pass Labs class A amps sound great with just about any speaker. But the B&W, as efficient as they are, really like a lot of watts or amperes to sound best. So a new Pass Labs might be out of your budget.

Other possibilities are Spectron (Monos), Spectral, or the new Hypex Ncore Amps. There are two versions, a DIY NC400 and the OEM NC1200. I have heard both and own a NC1200 by Merrill Audio. If the OEM is out of your price range the DIY is very easy to assemble. They are class D but are competing with the best of Class A A/B in and above its price range. I will say that when I had the NC400 in my system it made many a fellow Audiophile Club members say wow. However when I put the Veritas by Merrill Audio in my system it was the first time the full potential of the 802D speakers showed itself.

Now we all have our likes and dislikes. Some like a warm sound and others want a transparent and others a dynamic sound etc. The Hypex Ncore will make music.

So try in your system, if you can, anything you want to purchased.

I listend to the D as well. Because depth was still poor I did not want to go further with B&W. B&W shopkeepers tell the same story. I want to play far behind and even beside the spakers. B&W is still very poor in this area. In the absolute sound this is a pre. Without a 3 dimensional deep and wide stage you are in the 2 dimensional league. @ dimensional audio= standard audio. Because a cheap amp does play at the same way. I played a few times with my own recordings with 802D and new Classe gear. Mannnnn depth was soooo poor.

I can't speak to class D amp options having no familiarity with them. I have B&W 804 Diamonds (the current 2nd gen) and use Musical Fidelity's M6PRE (class A) and M6PRX (class A/B, 260w dual mono) which pair nicely with 804 Diamonds and didn't put me in debtor's prison. MF makes an M6 500w integrated that lists new for $7000. I suspect it would work well with 802 Diamonds. There are a couple of M6 500i demo units listed on Agon right now both under $5k. Just a thought. I have no connection with either seller.

I don't seem to have the depth issue you indicate. What sound differences will I notice with a better amp?

You first have to understand what the differences are between the talents/properties of a Rotel and a Pass Labs for example. Also the difference between how wide and deep a speaker can make the stage. Because B&W does not make crossovers what can give you an exeptional deep and wide stage. Like Musical Fidelity ( I owned it, sold it for a long time and I even did audio shows for Musical Fidelity) is not very good at giving a deep stage. There is only a little of depth. Every brand even if you are talking about an amp, source or speaker have there own properties/talents. There is a very big difference in how the stage is projected between all these brands.