B&W 800d Advice Needed

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Wow... funny you mention the 800 series and Hotel California. I too have listened to all of the 800 series speakers, most often being driven by a McIntosh front end, and always I've used Hotel California as my reference audio track. In all cases, I found the 804 through 800 speakers to have a very elevated midrange that caused a very un-natural sounding reproduction of male vocals, and just an overall lack of precision and clarity in the midrange. I found most of them to be bass shy, and also to have a recessed (but brilliantly detailed) treble.

Maybe you're my long-lost twin and we think alike?

That's pretty much how I felt about the 800D, 802D, and 803D, and I listened to the 800D twice - a year apart at two different locations.

I'm sure there are other songs to listen, but Hotel California is the one song I've always used to audition.

To me, accurate speakers will reveal all the instruments. The bass guitar in Hotel California is often lost among the rest of the instruments and vocals. It was lost when I auditioned the 800D, 802D, and 803D, and the same when I auditioned the RBH T3R/P, Revel M22, Krell, and Paradigm.

It was detailed and distinct on the Revel Salon 2, Linkwitz Orion, Infinity P362, and PSB Imagine T, and NHT SuperZero.

I don't know. Some speakers just sound "compressed" to me - like there is something masking the sound, which is how I felt about the B&Ws.

And I agree completely with the lack of bass on the B&Ws.

 

[TLS Guy]

Wow... funny you mention the 800 series and Hotel California. I too have listened to all of the 800 series speakers, most often being driven by a McIntosh front end, and always I've used Hotel California as my reference audio track. In all cases, I found the 804 through 800 speakers to have a very elevated midrange that caused a very un-natural sounding reproduction of male vocals, and just an overall lack of precision and clarity in the midrange. I found most of them to be bass shy, and also to have a recessed (but brilliantly detailed) treble. The one exception is the 805d. That speaker has a much more natural (i.e. flat) presentation, from bass through treble. There is no midrange bump, the highs are more present (and still brilliantly detailed), and likewise, the bass isn't as recessed. The big improvement to my ears when moving up to the 804 or higher is that they have a more accurate bass reproduction even though they're lean, and due to their power handling and the sheer amount of air they can move, I found them to have a much more dynamic "punch" during louder passages.

I think the 804 through 800 speakers are among the most beautiful I've ever seen, but unfortunately, I absolutely hate how they sound.

The Mac front end was probably the problem, due to it not being set up correctly.

The B & W 800D is a very difficult load. B & W specify it at 8 ohm "nominal" and of course as usual with speaker specs, it's nothing of the sort. It is four ohms and less with difficult phase angles.

Now most Mac amps have auto transformers, a system I do not like at all, that have tappings for impedance like a tube amp.

Now when I first heard my friends 800D speakers driven by 400 watt per channel Mac power I did not like what I heard. Bass was non existent and the speaker altogether unbalanced, and the amp sounded stressed which it was.

So I investigated and found as I suspected the dealer had connected it to the 8 ohm tap because it was an "8 ohm" speaker.

I changed it to the four ohm tap, and all has been well ever since. To me the speaker is a little bass heavy.

The dealer of course disagreed with me, so Mac was called. The 800 D was their reference speaker and confirmed that I was correct, the four ohm tap has to be used with these speakers.

The 800D is very particular about the driving amp. Any amp driving those must have a big current reserve.