B&W 802D: 3rd Time's a Charm on Friday the 13th

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AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Adam said:
It's only a matter of time, man - especially now that the seed has been planted. :p

"Hmmm, if I just swapped these banana plugs...and it wouldn't take but a couple of minutes...and I bet that I'd sound like an angel." :D
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I'm actually using bare wires Blue Jeans Cable on the Phil3 and P362. :eek:

I'm beyond the hype. I make no pretense. :D
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Adam said:
I almost said "swapped these wires," but I chose poorly.
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Close, almost could have had me. :D

Man, did I tell you guys I love this server stuff and Android tablet? I can change my songs, albums, etc, in a heartbeat without even getting up. How sweet it is. :cool:

Control my songs, volume, Denon, surf the web, emails, do forums, control my house thermostat all on my Android tablet. :D

Time to change albums. :D
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
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P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
AcuDefTechGuy said:
Off-axis might only suggests that these Diamonds may be finicky with some rooms.

Speakers tend to sound better in my room than at the dealers. So the 802D may sound just as great as any speakers to my ears as well in my room, instead of at the dealer.
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Same here, even Audyssey recognizes that as it doesn't alter much for me. I use it anyway for bass management. I think B&W knows the importance of off axis performance but may be they had to make tough choices that ended up having to sacrifice in that area some what. Put it this way, let's say speaker A sounds better than B in my room from where I sit and B sounds better everywhere in my room but never as good as A from the sweet spot location, I would take speaker A. I don't mind compromising if that means I have to do something about my room or where I sit, but I won't compromise on settling for lower sound quality that would otherwise be achievable.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
PENG said:
Please do me a favor, post a review of the diamond only after you have listened hard to some your favorite classical music, may be not so much Mozart but Tchaikovsky and Beethoven's concertos and symphonies. Just like on the video side where the best HDTV don't always look after with subpar quality material, the best speakers don't always sound better, in fact could even be worse, than lower quality ones. Yes I do worry that after spending 3 times as much or more than your Phil3 you end up finding the better looking ones sound worse. That would be a sad day for me and you probably know why. Regardles, I do prefer to just hear the truth.:D
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The first time I heard the B&W Diamonds, the dealer was in the process of moving to a new location. So they did not do the B&W any favors.

The 2nd time I heard them, this same dealer must have jacked around with the NAD pre-pro or something - probably turned on Audyssey, which I hate. No wonder I thought the 802D sounded compressed - like EQ/Tones.

This time the sales guy was much more knowledgeable. He must have placed the Rotel in Direct mode. That's why the sound was crystal clear this time. I was able to hear all the details I was not able to easily hear before. It was like night and day. I could not figure it out why until now. :eek:

It wasn't the room. It was most likely some out-dated Audyssey EQ on an out-dated NAD. :eek:

No wonder the 802D sucked then, and sounded so good now.

Anyway, I've been listening all day long on the Phil3 to Beethoven's Piano Concertos by various artist including Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma. And I know what you mean about quality recordings.

Last time I took Mozart Piano Concerto No.21. It sucked. Well, the same recording sucked on the Phil3, Salon2, Orion, and KEF compared to the Beethoven concertos I heard today.

So I will only listen to high quality music. Period.

If the 802D sound at least as good as they did a few days ago, you won't have to worry about feeling disappointed. They sounded crystal clear a few days ago.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
AcuDefTechGuy said:
The first time I heard the B&W Diamonds, the dealer was in the process of moving to a new location. So they did not do the B&W any favors.

The 2nd time I heard them, this same dealer must have jacked around with the NAD pre-pro or something - probably turned on Audyssey, which I hate. No wonder I thought the 802D sounded compressed - like EQ/Tones.

This time the sales guy was much more knowledgeable. He must have placed the Rotel in Direct mode. That's why the sound was crystal clear this time. I was able to hear all the details I was not able to easily hear before. It was like night and day. I could not figure it out why until now. :eek:

It wasn't the room. It was most likely some out-dated Audyssey EQ on an out-dated NAD. :eek:

No wonder the 802D sucked then, and sounded so good now.

Anyway, I've been listening all day long on the Phil3 to Beethoven's Piano Concertos by various artist including Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma. And I know what you mean about quality recordings.

Last time I took Mozart Piano Concerto No.21. It sucked. Well, the same recording sucked on the Phil3, Salon2, Orion, and KEF compared to the Beethoven concertos I heard today.

So I will only listen to high quality music. Period.

If the 802D sound at least as good as they did a few days ago, you won't have to worry about feeling disappointed. They sounded crystal clear a few days ago.
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You gotta tell them to let you have the remote control, so you can see what the settings are and control the session yourselg.
 
skyline_123

skyline_123

Audioholic
AcuDefTechGuy said:
Thanks. When did you go to Audio Dimensions? I was there last year and again last week. Perhaps it's just me, but I thought the sound was different now compared to last year. :eek:

Yeah, I'm confident none of the B&W sound better than Philharmonic, Ultima2, Orion, and KEF Reference. But the cabinet is a piece of art.

Is it possible to even build something that exquisite by mere mortal hands? :D

I mean how would Salk, Funk, or anyone without the machines necessary, bend 20 layers of beech to form the cabinet? Who makes that Marlan head?

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
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I auditioned some of their stuff a year and a half ago maybe. I think whoever runs that store now knows a little bit about what they're doing. Most, less specialized stores that I've been to had no clue how to properly set up their stuff. For example, one system had a huge null right at the sweet spot. You could stand up and take two steps in either direction and hear 80% more bass.

I think someone could make a speaker equally beautiful but it would be hard to mimic the design of the 802's and pull it off as well as B&W. I've seen people build their own B&W replicas, Nautilus and I've seen someone try the 802 midrange enclosure but there was something just a little off.

You could probably bend one or two panels at a time but not all of them at once like they do with that press. They build the cabinet first and then add the bracing. I would build the bracing first and then wrap the sides. I simply want to take the general shape of the bass cabinets and make two subs out of them. Should be fun that's for sure.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
slipperybidness said:
You gotta tell them to let you have the remote control, so you can see what the settings are and control the session yourselg.
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If they use Denon, I would know exactly. But I've never dealt with Classe, Rotel, or NAD, or most other brands. But, yeah, kind of hard to mess around when the salesman is breathing down your neck. :D
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
skyline_123 said:
I auditioned some of their stuff a year and a half ago maybe. I think whoever runs that store now knows a little bit about what they're doing. Most, less specialized stores that I've been to had no clue how to properly set up their stuff. For example, one system had a huge null right at the sweet spot. You could stand up and take two steps in either direction and hear 80% more bass.

I think someone could make a speaker equally beautiful but it would be hard to mimic the design of the 802's and pull it off as well as B&W. I've seen people build their own B&W replicas, Nautilus and I've seen someone try the 802 midrange enclosure but there was something just a little off.

You could probably bend one or two panels at a time but not all of them at once like they do with that press. They build the cabinet first and then add the bracing. I would build the bracing first and then wrap the sides. I simply want to take the general shape of the bass cabinets and make two subs out of them. Should be fun that's for sure.
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I think they sell the 802D body (minus the Marlan head) for only $1600 each. :D

I think Marlan head costs $2700 each, so a lot more expensive than the body. :eek:
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
AcuDefTechGuy said:
If they use Denon, I would know exactly. But I've never dealt with Classe, Rotel, or NAD, or most other brands. But, yeah, kind of hard to mess around when the salesman is breathing down your neck. :D
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Makes me appreciate my local store more (Audio Systems in Austin, Tx). First time I went in to audition, I saw the 2 speakers that I wanted to hear set up in the same room. I'm in shorts and a T-shirt and younger than most of their customers I would guess. They probably didn't expect me to make a purchase. I say " I want to audition both of these right here". Clerk hands me the remote and says "Knock yourself out".

No pressure, no telling me to turn it down, just let me play with the equipment. Now, that is how it is done. After going to audition at a couple of other places, I returned and made a purchase.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
slipperybidness said:
Makes me appreciate my local store more (Audio Systems in Austin, Tx). First time I went in to audition, I saw the 2 speakers that I wanted to hear set up in the same room. I'm in shorts and a T-shirt and younger than most of their customers I would guess. They probably didn't expect me to make a purchase. I say " I want to audition both of these right here". Clerk hands me the remote and says "Knock yourself out".

No pressure, no telling me to turn it down, just let me play with the equipment. Now, that is how it is done. After going to audition at a couple of other places, I returned and made a purchase.
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I think there is a trade off. Perhaps dealers that are more open and casual don't tend to offer as much discounts, if any at all.

My Revel dealer offered to bring speakers to my house. But when discussions of prices came up, about 10% off is all they are willing.

My KEF dealer was the same way. Open and casual, but little discounts.

I will be at the 802D dealer again tomorrow. :D

So, I guess that's how life is a lot of times. The irony, if you will. :D
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Just bought & paid in full for the 802D today. Will be delivered in 2 days. :D

Anyway, both the owner of the dealer and salesman were extremely nice. I like them a lot. But both were trying to convince me that I need to bi-wire if not passive bi-amp the 802D. They said I would notice a significant improvement. As if I were born yesterday. :eek:

I told them I would use dual RBH Reference subs which have dual 10" aluminum woofers each. They said "good" because 18" subs are too slow. :eek:

Even 15" subs might be too slow for the 802D. :D

R-------i---------g----------h-------------t. I was born like yesterday. :D

Next, they said my ATI amps (the company that makes some amps for Levinson, Lexicon, Cary Audio) are just "OK amps, but not quite as good as Rotel or Classe amps". :eek:

Then it was discovered that Blue Jeans Cables were just so-so, but I needed Kimber or Audioquest and such. :eek:

Take home message: we can disagree all day long about amps and wires, but we can still like each other. :D

I like these guys a lot. I just don't agree about amps and wires. But I like them a lot.
 
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walter duque

walter duque

Audioholic Samurai
AcuDefTechGuy said:
Just bought & paid in full for the 802D today. Will be delivered in 2 days. :D
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Can you please buy a pair of Sonus Faber Stradivari so I can find out how they stack up to the rest of your speakers? That happens to be one of of favorites. This way I can decide on my new front towers?
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
walter duque said:
Can you please buy a pair of Sonus Faber Stradivari so I can find out how they stack up to the rest of your speakers? That happens to be one of of favorites. This way I can decide on my new front towers?
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R--------------i---------------g-------------h---------------t. :D :D
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
walter duque said:
Can you please buy a pair of Sonus Faber Stradivari so I can find out how they stack up to the rest of your speakers? That happens to be one of of favorites. This way I can decide on my new front towers?
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You know he was born like yesterday right?
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
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