Rear speakers for B&W DM302 L-C-R?

[Kreshna]

I'm building a home theater with Bowers & Wilkins DM302 L-C-R fronts. The DM302 is current-hungry and pretty hard to drive; its impedance drops as low as 3 ohms between 200 and 300 Hz, so I'm going to drive them with three Hypex UcD monoblocks.

B&W DM302 impedance curve.

Rear speakers, however, will be driven by my AV receiver's built-in amplifier, which is a Yamaha RX-V663 AVR, so I don't think a pair of B&W DM302s would be a good choice, due to the AVR's inability to provide adequate current. I have tried connecting the DM302's directly to the Yamaha, and the sound distorts at high volumes, as expected.

So, what are the best rear speakers for B&W DM302 fronts? Their timbre should be similar with that of the DM302s, but since they will be driven by the AVR's internal amplifier, I guess they need to be easy to drive. I don't know, perhaps DM303? Or perhaps different brand altogether? Any suggestions?

Many thanks.

 

[sqlsavior]

Does anyone have a good sense of the relative volume demands placed on fronts vs. rears, both on average and in extreme cases? I would think that they rarely would be as challenged as the front speakers would be. If the Yamaha is only driving two rear speakers, maybe it could handle the DM302s? If not, maybe you could get two more UcDs? I don't have a good sense of how loud they need to go...

 

[Kreshna]

Does anyone have a good sense of the relative volume demands placed on fronts vs. rears, both on average and in extreme cases? I would think that they rarely would be as challenged as the front speakers would be. If the Yamaha is only driving two rear speakers, maybe it could handle the DM302s? If not, maybe you could get two more UcDs? I don't have a good sense of how loud they need to go...

Once I listened to a pair of DM302, driven directly by Yamaha RX-V663 AVR (Pure Direct mode). I was listening nearfield, using my PC as source, watching the movie Van Helsing on the said PC. I didn't measure how loud it was, but the sound started to distorted when I played it out loud --about the same loudness that doesn't distort my Sansui A-40/JBL L20T combo.

So I guess the DM302 is indeed current hungry.

 

[Bynem]

I had a pair of DM302 back in the early years of this century. Good speaker.
If you like Brit speakers, some Celestions might work for you. I had my old 55 watt receiver running a pair of DL6; they handle 100 watts. Sounded great. Wish I'd kept those speakers.