B&W 803S vs Jamo C809

[Halla]

Any of you auditioned and compared these speakers with each other?

 

[manlystanley]

Any of you auditioned and compared these speakers with each other?

I currently have the Jamo C 809's and did an extended home trial (10 days) with the B&W Nautilus 803s (The version before the 803S). What I found was:

-- The 803's were much to bright for my tastes. I really tried to like them, but I was just turned off by them.

-- The 803's are a beautiful speaker! The fully curved lines are really cool.

-- I could not get past the brightness to really give them a full evaluation.


****

-- So far, I like the Jamo 809's.

-- Deep and rich, yet detailed. I'm pleased.

Best Regards,
Stan

 

[Ed Seedhouse]

-- The 803's were much to bright for my tastes. I really tried to like them, but I was just turned off by them.

-- I could not get past the brightness to really give them a full evaluation.

Well, you could always turn down the treble control on your preamp.

 

[brad1138]

Well, you could always turn down the treble control on your preamp.

I don't know about his system but mine has no treble/bass adjustment, most higher end preamps don't.

 

[TjMV3]

The B&W 803S have the better real wood veenered cabinet. They are aesthetically beautiful.

The Jamo C809 simply sound better, if you're not into edgie, bright harshness.

If you're into edgie, bright and harsh sounding speakers; the B & W 803S is the speaker for you. Some people will like it, other's will not.
Or if your main concern is the aesthetic beauty of the cabinet.

As for tone controls, I use them when ever necessary for jacked-up recordings/masterings. Now with my McIntosh C220 and previously with my Vincent Audio SA-T1 preamp.

Tone controls don't solve the B&W 803S's problems in their brightness/harshness. I know, I attempted to do that when I auditioned them. It's inherent in their designed sound. You have to reduce the treble so much that it does major damage to the overall balance of the sound.

The Jamo C809 only require a slight tweak of the Treble and/or Bass to reduce the jacked-up treble of some recordings/masterings.

The Jamo C809 are much smoother, much more inoffensive, much more musically pleasing and appealing than the B&W 803S; in my opinion....of course.

 

[Nuance AH]

Well, you could always turn down the treble control on your preamp.

With a speaker in that price range, he shouldn't have to do that.

 

[TjMV3]

For clarification.....

When I said the C809 are " much more inoffensive ". That almost seems to imply that they are a least a little offensive. Well, they are not. Not at all.

Bad choice of words, on my part. They are not offensive at all.

 

[highfigh]

With a speaker in that price range, he shouldn't have to do that.

So you think all great speakers should sound correct, right out of the box, in all rooms? That would be denying the room's affect on the sound and it would be wrong. At that price range, it would be more appropriate for the room to be tailored to suit the speakers.

How different is using tone controls vs an equalizer?

 

[highfigh]

The B&W 803S have the better real wood veenered cabinet. They are aesthetically beautiful.

The Jamo C809 simply sound better, if you're not into edgie, bright harshness.

If you're into edgie, bright and harsh sounding speakers; the B & W 803S is the speaker for you. Some people will like it, other's will not.
Or if your main concern is the aesthetic beauty of the cabinet.

As for tone controls, I use them when ever necessary for jacked-up recordings/masterings. Now with my McIntosh C220 and previously with my Vincent Audio SA-T1 preamp.

Tone controls don't solve the B&W 803S's problems in their brightness/harshness. I know, I attempted to do that when I auditioned them. It's inherent in their designed sound. You have to reduce the treble so much that it does major damage to the overall balance of the sound.

The Jamo C809 only require a slight tweak of the Treble and/or Bass to reduce the jacked-up treble of some recordings/masterings.

The Jamo C809 are much smoother, much more inoffensive, much more musically pleasing and appealing than the B&W 803S; in my opinion....of course.

Jamo used wood veneer until it became economically unfeasible, in the late '80s. I think they had one model with real wood until about 1990. They wanted their reputation to be based on good sounding speakers, not good looking speakers.

 

[TjMV3]

Jamo used wood veneer until it became economically unfeasible, in the late '80s. I think they had one model with real wood until about 1990. They wanted their reputation to be based on good sounding speakers, not good looking speakers.

Yes, that was my overall theme. Thought I had made myself clear on that

 

[Seth=L]

With a speaker in that price range, he shouldn't have to do that.

Yes and no. If some doesn't like how they sound with the front end and pre stages tuned flat chances are they are going to dismiss the speakers. An absolutely flat response speaker system would sound much too bright for most people, however an absolutely flat speaker is a prime candidate for equalization to your taste. B&W attempts to design and manufacture speakers that are as linear as possible while maintaining a reasonable retail price and profit margin. Wilson is a company that designs and manufactures speakers that sound perceptively more pleasing to the user out of the box. I don't appreciate this approach because it limits the user's flexibility with the speaker system.

 

[TjMV3]

B & W does not design linear speakers. That was already proven with all kinds of graphs and stuff, lol.

Makes for nice marketing/sales pitches. But no where close to truth.

 

[PENG]

The Jamo C809 are much smoother, much more inoffensive, much more musically pleasing and appealing than the B&W 803S; in my opinion....of course.

It does boil down to 'opinion'. I have listened to the 804S, 805, 803D, 802D more than once, and never found them bright. That being said, I could also say they sounded bright, but no brighter than what I heard in live classical music concerts. Musical instruments, even the violin, could sound quite offensive to some people. When I was a kid I could not stand my brother practicing violin. It sounded better to me at that time when he used a mute. On another note, prices do not always has much to do with whether the music would sound warm or offensively bright. Extreme examples can be found in many car audio systems, that smooth off brass and string instruments. That acutally makes it more suitable for driving, when the driver really should not be distracted too much by the music. Like TjMV3 said, in my opinion.....of course.

 

[PENG]

B & W does not design linear speakers. That was already proven with all kinds of graphs and stuff, lol.

Makes for nice marketing/sales pitches. But no where close to truth.

Could you provide us links to those graphs and stuff, perhaps for the jamo's as well?

 

[TjMV3]

Could you provide us links to those graphs and stuff, perhaps for the jamo's as well?

Oh I'm very biased when it comes to B & W speakers. Especially when someone comes on these forums looking for warm, laid back speakers and you get a tidal wave of B & W pushers trying to convince someone else to go buy them.

Anywho, here's the thread in question. I believe the graphs start around page 11 or 12. But the whole thread is a hoot, lol

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63334

 

[PENG]

Oh I'm very biased when it comes to B & W speakers. Especially when someone comes on these forums looking for warm, laid back speakers and you get a tidal wave of B & W pushers trying to convince someone else to go buy them.

Anywho, here's the thread in question. I believe the graphs start around page 11 or 12. But the whole thread is a hoot, lol

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63334

Thanks, but the thread is long so I will save it for the weekend. I did take a quick glance though. The posts by Sean Olive seems interesting but I already could not stand the way the other other poster (AJ...something) treated WmAx. WmAx may well be a 802 fan but no one deserved to be talked to like that......... Well I can always ignore those posts like I would do with offensively bright speakers.

 

[Seth=L]

B & W does not design linear speakers. That was already proven with all kinds of graphs and stuff, lol.

Makes for nice marketing/sales pitches. But no where close to truth.

I'm not a B&W fanboy, I don't own any of their speakers. On axis response from B&W speakers are often very linear compared to other like priced speakers. I am fairly certain the graphs you are refering to are not on axis measurements. If not sitting in the sweet spot the 802D does not sound correct. This is why you will see WmAx (Chris) talking a lot about the Primus and Behringer speakers, because they have good on and off axis response. Out of the box the Primus has a plethra of cabinet issues as does the Behringer 2030p. Each can be modified to perform much better. The 802 only comes up when you want a pair of monopole monitors and can live with the small sweet spot, this is not ideal for most people.

The 802D/N specifically has an incredibly inert cabinet, allowing the flexibility of tuning with a powerful EQ. You can't correct cabinet resonance with an EQ no matter how hard you try, but you can correct for power response dips and other driver/cross-over output related anomalies. In the OP's case I don't think this is what they are wanting to do, so the B&Ws speakers probably won't work for them.

Having said all this, I think it's kind of silly for this thread to continue as such the OP has basically already decided which speakers sound better too them. Speakers are highly subjective and they should choose what sounds best to them. I'm not trying to plug the B&W brand or product, simply stating what their product was designed to do and how they can be used.

 

[billy p]

Thanks, but the thread is long so I will save it for the weekend. I did take a quick glance though. The posts by Sean Olive seems interesting but I already could not stand the way the other other poster (AJ...something) treated WmAx. WmAx may well be a 802 fan but no one deserved to be talked to like that......... Well I can always ignore those posts like I would do with offensively bright speakers.

I'll get crap for saying this but eventually you knew someone would take Chris to task on his claims. If you ask me that was a excellent thread and I for one learned a hell of alot(thanks impart to Dr Oilve).

Regards, Bill...

 

[PENG]

I'll get crap for saying this but eventually you knew someone would take Chris to task on his claims. If you ask me that was a excellent thread and I for one learned a hell of alot(thanks impart to Dr Oilve).

Regards, Bill...

I agree with you but I don't like the tone of the specific posts I mentioned, that's just me. Not just the tone but he kept saying Chris did not have the facts (not like that but somethiing like that) yet I did not see him providing facts neither. Other than that I am sure there are plenty of great posts there; and yes thanks to the Dr. I am not going to miss any of his posts for sure. Again, I should take the time to catch up this weekend.

 

[TjMV3]

Thanks, but the thread is long so I will save it for the weekend. I did take a quick glance though. The posts by Sean Olive seems interesting but I already could not stand the way the other other poster (AJ...something) treated WmAx. WmAx may well be a 802 fan but no one deserved to be talked to like that......... Well I can always ignore those posts like I would do with offensively bright speakers.

Well, Chris was a bit out of, line there, too. He was basically strong-arming the OP, making outrageous claims and presented his argument as if the OP had no other legitimate option than ...B & W and Chris's unique perspective ....

Comments like this one below, didn't help his cause..

" Originally Posted by WmAx
If you do not accept my word on the subject, then who's can you believe? "

Chris' argument basically went from...." B & W are the ultimate, superior, linear speaker " ..... to ....."Hey, they're no worse than any other speaker on the market..." [/'b] ...for several thousands of dollars more, of course...lol.

The OP was looking for warm, laid back speakers; that are pleasurable for long listening sessions.

Chris, Drifter and Seth=L were trying to convince him to stick with/go with B&W. And they made a few comments that simply aren't true about B & W.

" Originally Posted by Drifter
I think in this case, you just need to have faith that the B&W's are superior and stop pickig nits"

I mean, that's ridiculous. Have faith that B&W are superior? To what? When?

Talk about slicing up baloney and trying push the B&W brand down people's throat.

Have faith....They're Superior......LMAO!

I still laugh at statement. Hilarious