B&W 802D or Revel Ultima Salons

[zing010]

I have listened to the Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 7 and the B&W 802D and preferred the 802Ds (although the Wilson's were in a slighly livelier room). Thankfully I preferred the cheaper 802Ds. The B&Ws seemed to present a deeper soundstage and the voices were more natural and uncolored.

I'm going to try and get the 802Ds side by side with Paradigm S8 to see what I think. I'm hoping I like the Paradigm's enough to save even more cash.

That being said... I haven't heard the Revel Ultima Salons. Anyone have any feedback on those? (specifically vs. the B&W 802Ds)

These will be set up as a 5.1 system (all same brand and model line) but there is a lot of 2 channel listening as well. I listen to everything but tend to benchmark against vocal jazz music since I used to be in a jazz band and know what "live" sounds like.

thx

zing

 

[highfihoney]

I had the b&w 802's for a short time & while they were a beautiful looking speaker i felt they were severly lacking in the bottom end,great highs & crystal clear midrange but i always felt the bass was lacking,not that there wasnt bass but the bass didnt have the low end bite that i like,strange for such a heavy speaker,for hard hitting music & ht use i could see the b&w's having serious problems without a sub.

When i heard the salons i really really liked them but i have only heard them at the dealer & not in my home so im not much help on a comparison of equal standing between the two speakers but my impressions were that they were a great all around speaker that would sound great with either 2 channel or ht.

For the kind of cash your going to spend on either speaker you should hold out until you can audition both speakers in your home in your system,even if you have to pay the dealers a few bucks for the demo time its worth it because no speaker sounds the way in your home as it did at the showroom.

 

[PENG]

I'm going to try and get the 802Ds side by side with Paradigm S8 to see what I think. I'm hoping I like the Paradigm's enough to save even more cash.

I heard the 802D and the S8, good luck to you if you wish you would like the S8 enough. I didn't, not even close. I read highfihoney's comments about the 802D's bass. My experience was quite the opposite, the bass was fantastic on their own, better than my PCU for sure. I brought my own CD for the demo so I knew what to expect.

 

[kgb540]

The Paradigms may not sound quite as good as the B&W 802D's, but they are very VERY close and extend deeper with more authority. The S8's are an insane high-end bargain and considering the 802D's cost twice as much ($12,000 vs $6000), I would go for the Paradigms and sleep very well knowing I saved $6000 and got $95% of the same performance. Just my opinion though

 

[WmAx]

The 802 should sound un-colored, as it has by far the most advanced anti-resonant cabinet system used(aside from the 801 and 800, of course) to prevent the cabinet from contributing to sound coloration(s), by way of driver decoupling from the cabinet with a suspension system, and intelligent use of a cabinet with minimal resonances for the parasitic vibrations that still manifest from purely acoustic transmission. The cabinet shape is also optmized for linear response, minimizing possible diffracted re-radiation artifacts that would normally be of measurably substantial magnitude with conventional box baffle designs. If the bass is lacking for you as it was for another here, please do not automatically dismiss this speaker, use a proper digital equalizer to shape the bass response to your preference(s), or use active crossovers to transition bass off to stereo subwoofers. Because of the extremely linear response of the 802 across the mid and treble bands, and lack of coloration(s), you can effectively use an equalizer to obtain any signature that you so desire. This is only possible to great effect on such a linear speaker.

-Chris

 

[PENG]

The 802 should sound un-colored, as it has by far the most advanced anti-resonant cabinet system used(aside from the 801 and 800, of course) to prevent the cabinet from contributing to sound coloration(s), by way of driver decoupling from the cabinet with a suspension system, and intelligent use of a cabinet with minimal resonances for the parasitic vibrations that still manifest from purely acoustic transmission. The cabinet shape is also optmized for linear response, minimizing possible diffracted re-radiation artifacts that would normally be of measurably substantial magnitude with conventional box baffle designs. If the bass is lacking for you as it was for another here, please do not automatically dismiss this speaker, use a proper digital equalizer to shape the bass response to your preference(s), or use active crossovers to transition bass off to stereo subwoofers. Because of the extremely linear response of the 802 across the mid and treble bands, and lack of coloration(s), you can effectively use an equalizer to obtain any signature that you so desire. This is only possible to great effect on such a linear speaker.

-Chris

Thanks Chris, for the encouraging comments. I am going to get a pair sooner or later.