Dual mono?
What I actually typed was in any circumstance bar one Your love of the 250 obviously fits into the “bar one” category as described in my post.
In all other circumstances I have always found the 250 and 250DR to be an inferior power amp compared to any 300 I have heard. But as I put in my post for the benefit of the OP and anyone else who wanted to read it (not you evidently,) not for nothing is the 250 loved by so many. If you love it, keep it, and never buy blind.
How many caveats and subjectivity disclaimers do I need to attach to my posts? I’ll put a footer in this post to hopefully avoid any future confusion.
Your opinion is as valid and valuable as anyone else’s. All opinions in a discussion forum like this are equal. You shouldn’t need to be reminded of this.
Our 252 and 300 were bought to go with Spendor S5e. The B&Ws came some years later. By then we were on 552/500, which also went with the Spendors a treat. When our 500 went in for DR our dealer kindly loaned us a 250DR. This was the fourth occasion we had a 250 at home. After a week and a half I had just lost interest in listening to music.
This was the one and only occasion I listened to a 250 with B&W 802.
Other occasions at home or at dealers for extended sessions:
282/250 into Ruark Talisman - fail.
282/250 into Spendor S9e fail.
252/250 into Spendor S9e - fail.
252/250 into Ariva - fail.
282/250 into Ariva - fail.
282/250 into Spendor S6e - fail.
282/250 into Spendor S5e - fail.
282/300 into S400 (Naim roadshow event) - pass with flying colours.
ATB Harry.
Anything I say in any thread about any subject, is an opinion. It is subjective. It is stated to assist and inform, not to predict behaviour or outcomes. I can not tell other people what they like, what they will like, what they dislike, what they might dislike or what they think. I can only inform based on personal observation and/or opinion.
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Brilliant 
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Harry, in my opinion you need to clarify your disclaimer, as it is not in my opinion correct. If you had a broken foot, and wrote to that effect in a post, it would be a fact and not an opinion. If you said ‘my 552 has two knobs’ that too would be a fact. Indeed, if you said that ‘on the x occasions I have compared a 250 and a 300, I preferred the latter’, that would also be a fact, rather than opinion. One really cannot be too careful with facts, in my opinion.
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You raise some good points Nigel, in my opinion.
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Reading through this I was beginning to regret my recent purchase of a 250.
Then I listened to some music.
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If it works for you, it works. Nothing else matters.
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Thanks Harry, not a dig at you, just an observation that we all hear things that we can like or dislike, very subjective. I like your and other peoples comments. It does help me as I can not easily get to a demo to listen to those differences. Logically of course the design of the various components do suggest that some should be somehow better than others. The 300 will probably be my ultimate goal and I would expect it to perform better than the 250. Whether I like that ‘better’, I WILL make the effort to fly to a dealer and try out, given the cost increase over the current set up.
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No worries.
The 300 is a tricky one. It’s not universally accepted whereas the 250 has a big and adoring following.
Something for everyone.
For a long time, having auditioned the 202, 200, 282 and 250 on multiple occasions, I believed that for my taste and wants, the Naim range started for me at 252/300, below which, other offerings from other makers at a fraction of the cost sounded better than what Naim had to offer - for me and my ears only.
More recently I got to have a go on a 152XS. at home for a month. What a little cracker! Sloppy, coarse at times, coloured and impossible not to love. It was like a puppy with two tails and kept us well entertained until the 552 came back.
Nothing is ever black and white in this arena.
All the best with it.
Being half the price and half the size probably has something to do with it.
Is it really worth having an argument over this – I guess the pandemic is taking its toll…
LOL! That’s a matter of opinion - again.
I didn’t make you lose all that money. And that is a fact.
What you say about speakers seems logical. Although I would say it’s more how the room plays the speakers. This will be dependent on what drives the speakers but the interaction of the speaker with the room is fundamental and cannot be overcome with downstream electronics or, in many cases, room conditioning. Although that’s just my opinion.
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Well, if nothing else it informs the OP that all they can really trust is their own ears. That’s something worth knowing.
Harry, perhaps it’s a language problem. For me I was just not agree with “all circumstances “, but was only pointing a different opinion, nothing against you.
Anyway I agree totally with your last post now.
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interest points by Harry
For me though I don’t like the sound of a B&W speaker, yes even the 802D, with a Naim amplifier…
I heard 805/804/803 D3 demoed with a 552/500/ND555, and it was fail in all cases.
Ear piercing brightness… and slow and sluggish… compared to a fast speaker like Dynaudio…
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Good 
On we go.
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This thread is very enlightening - in my opinion
We lost count of all the various B&W models we auditioned over the years. Dull, sluggish, unmusical, coloured, you name it. A succession of awfulness. And then the 803D3 came over for a couple of days.
It just goes to show. Nothing is set in stone. If something sounds awful to you, it’s awful. It sometimes seems miraculous that any of us are able to agree on anything.
Time for me to engage lurk mode. Best wishes with it OP.
I really like reading your comments Harry - the only thing that keeps me going to a 252/300 is the high cost of it…
plus I want to look into other amplifiers like the new ones from Chord Electronics… and some active speakers
I’ve become totally source first so don’t really want to spend much money on anything other than source upgrades…
echo that and I have B&W 805N on the end of my 252/300DR and I love them
just goes to show we all need to demo and demo again, rather than this is right with this and that
just enjoy the music 
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