B&W or What?

[AcuDefTechGuy]

...The [B&W] 600 series are very competitively priced, but the older MB Quarts are better in build quality, and sound...

Wow. I can't believe you said that!

What will the B&W fanboys think of you saying that your MB Quarts are BETTER in build quality and Sound than their B&W 600 series?

 

[Joe Schmoe]

What will the B&W fanboys think of you saying that your MB Quarts are BETTER in build quality and Sound than their B&W 600 series?

They won't like it a bit.
One thing I noticed about the MB Quart bookshelves sold here is that they are relatively power hungry. 40 watts/ch is plenty to drive B&W 685s, but the Quart Alexxas list 70 watts/ch as a minimum.

 

[zumbo]

My 830's suck-up every bit of the claimed 175W@4ohm my Adcom 7605 is sending them. I don't know if they are power hungry, or just flat-out tough. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em.

Wow. I can't believe you said that!

What will the B&W fanboys think of you saying that your MB Quarts are BETTER in build quality and Sound than their B&W 600 series?

I am a B&W fanboy.

 

[furrycute]

I once had the chance to audition a pair of B&W 802D's powered by a pair of Musical Fidelity mono blocks. My jaws just dropped. I couldn't believe that speakers can sound so life like. And the bass, the 802D's had a seemingly bottomless amount of bass. The CD I was listening to had some orchestral pieces on it. It was then that I understood why audiophiles like to play orchestral music on megabuck full range speakers. The fullness and the richness of sound from those 802D's were just beyond words.

From that day onward I decided that my ultimate speaker purchase would be a pair of B&W 802D's, or maybe even a pair of 800D's. 3 years later, still saving up that money, maybe in another 5 years...

 

[WmAx]

I once had the chance to audition a pair of B&W 802D's powered by a pair of Musical Fidelity mono blocks. My jaws just dropped. I couldn't believe that speakers can sound so life like. And the bass, the 802D's had a seemingly bottomless amount of bass. The CD I was listening to had some orchestral pieces on it. It was then that I understood why audiophiles like to play orchestral music on megabuck full range speakers. The fullness and the richness of sound from those 802D's were just beyond words.

From that day onward I decided that my ultimate speaker purchase would be a pair of B&W 802D's, or maybe even a pair of 800D's. 3 years later, still saving up that money, maybe in another 5 years...

And just imagine, compared to a properly engineered omnipolar type speaker in a proper acoustical environment - even the top end B&Ws will sound ordinary/not nearly as realistic in comparison.

-Chris

 

[furrycute]

Alas, not everyone is as knowledgeable on the technical side of audio engineering as you are. Go Chris!


I am curious, what do you think of the B&W 800D? Is its frequency response as flat as the 802D? And the cabinet just as non-resonant? And is the 800D really worth twice as much as the 802D?

And what do you think of the B&W top of the line sub? How does it stack up against the likes of the Velodyne DD series?

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=1167&sc=hf

And just imagine, compared to a properly engineered omnipolar type speaker in a proper acoustical environment - even the top end B&Ws will sound ordinary/not nearly as realistic in comparison.

-Chris

 

[WmAx]

I am curious, what do you think of the B&W 800D? Is its frequency response as flat as the 802D? And the cabinet just as non-resonant? And is the 800D really worth twice as much as the 802D?

Very similar to 802D. The 802D, IMO, is not worth exceeding with more expensive B&W products; the 802D pretty much offers 98% of what B&W has to offer; that being a near-ideal monopolar speaker with extremely flat response and virtually no resonances. They could improve on off axis linearity. Couple an 802D with a powerful DSP management system and you can pretty much get any response curve you could want from a monopolar speaker system.

And what do you think of the B&W top of the line sub? How does it stack up against the likes of the Velodyne DD series?

I don't know of 3rd party measurements on the subwoofer; there for I can not say.

-Chris

 

[furrycute]

While I am at it, just a couple of more question for ya Chris. Of course my interests in these megabuck speakers are just purely of an intellectual nature at this point in time...

What do you think of the Focal Grande Utopia Be? Last I heard the going price for a new pair is somewhere in the range of $100,000. That's almost 10x the price of a pair of B&W 802D's. It's kind of hard to swallow the astronomical cost.
http://www.focal.tm.fr/


And what do you think of the Wilson Watt Puppy 8? Wilson owners seem to swear by them.
http://www.wilsonaudio.com/product/watt_puppy_8/

 

[mike c]

agreed with Chris. 802D + Subs > 800D without subs

 

[WmAx]

While I am at it, just a couple of more question for ya Chris. Of course my interests in these megabuck speakers are just purely of an intellectual nature at this point in time...

What do you think of the Focal Grande Utopia Be? Last I heard the going price for a new pair is somewhere in the range of $100,000. That's almost 10x the price of a pair of B&W 802D's. It's kind of hard to swallow the astronomical cost.
http://www.focal.tm.fr/


And what do you think of the Wilson Watt Puppy 8? Wilson owners seem to swear by them.
http://www.wilsonaudio.com/product/watt_puppy_8/

B&W currently has the best value that I know of in monopolar speaker systems. You can spend 1000x as much as the 802D, and you simply can not get something that is substantially better in so far as monopolar speaker systems are concerned. Wilson, to my knowledge, does not make a speaker even close to the over-all linearity and low resonance of the 802D, at any price scale. Some of the Focal Utopia speakers may perform close to the 802D; but at a higher cost.

What more is it that you want from a monopolar speaker that the 802D does not offer? As I said, the only thing I can think of that it could improve upon is off axis linearity; but the 802D is pretty good in that regard, and nothing else really exceeds it by much in that regard in the monopolar speaker market.

B&W 802D + stereo subwoofers + DSP E.Q./Xover/Management system = monopolar sound of unparalleled quality potential.

-Chris

 

[usfscaptain14]

Chris, I was wondering If you have heard the Salk Son Towers or If you had an opinion on them? Are they very linear? How do know what is linear? Do you have any suggestions of reading material so i can get cauaght up on the terminology of the audio arena?

Jason

 

[Halvie]

zumbo where are you finding older MBs that are new? Could you post a link or two?

 

[EJ1]

Chris, I was wondering If you have heard the Salk Son Towers or If you had an opinion on them? Are they very linear?

Jason

These links may help you...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=919069
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=931069
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=995082

 

[Joe Schmoe]

And just imagine, compared to a properly engineered omnipolar type speaker in a proper acoustical environment - even the top end B&Ws will sound ordinary/not nearly as realistic in comparison.

-Chris

Good point. Even the cheap, entry-level Mirages that I have sound astonishingly good. I can only imagine what their OM flagships sound like. (Based on the price, these must be made from pure unobtainium.)

 

[WmAx]

Chris, I was wondering If you have heard the Salk Son Towers or If you had an opinion on them? Are they very linear? How do know what is linear? Do you have any suggestions of reading material so i can get cauaght up on the terminology of the audio arena?

Jason

I have not used Salk speakers. But, all of the Salk speakers are designed by Dennis Murphy, as far as I know. You can count on them being very linear due to this fact. However, I would not presume the Salk line of speakers are on par with a device such as the 802D; not even close. The Salk speakers are built using standard enclosure building methods as used by most hi-fi speakers, thus resulting in high probability of substantial timbre coloration due to panel resonance(s).

-Chris

 

[WmAx]

BTW, for those of you that might not have remembered, if you want a full size, full range speaker system with highly linear response on and off axis, and a cabinet system that does not have any substantial resonances, you can always go used and get a late 80's vintage B&W 801 Matrix series II or III. It has very little compromise[1] over the modern 802D/801D in terms of over-all performance. Average eBay going prices seem to be 2000-2500 for a mint pair.

-Chris

[1] B&W Matrix Series II Measurements
http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/506/index7.html
http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/506/index8.html

 

[furrycute]

Yes, I do remember your mentioning of the older B&W 800 series speakers. Saw a couple of them on audiogon in fact. Very reasonably priced for such huge speakers.