I recently helped a friend of mine purchase a pair of speakers for his new home theater room and just wanted to share my observations on the speakers we auditioned. He had auditioned two speakers, the B&W 803S and Paradigm S8, and wanted my opinion on how they sounded. So I gathered up a stack of disks (that vary widely), cleaned the wax out of my ears, went listening, and choosing between two turned into choosing between six. Here are my observations:
B&W 803S: This was the first pair of speakers of the group I sat down to have a listen. My first impression was that they were so smooth. They didn’t seem to do anything wrong. The bass was somewhat laid back but actually went fairly deep. It was all there, but not in your face. Midrange sounded natural and very polite. And the tweeter (This is the aluminum version) was very smooth and open, not the least bit harsh. All in all it was a very easy speaker to just sit back and listen to music with. Total time spent auditioning: 3+ hrs.
Paradigm S8: After a quick swap from the B&W’s with the same setup it was easy to hear the difference. The S8’s sounded more dynamic. They had more mid bass punch but I think the B&W’s went deeper. The midrange did not sound as refined and the top end was defiantly brighter. Not harsh, just slightly elevated. In the interest of full disclosure I would like to point out that one of the midrange drivers was slightly damaged and had a very faint buzz that once I noticed, I could not tune it out. Total time spent auditioning: 1/2 hr.
Magnepan 3.6: A few days later we got to listen to the big Magies in a big room. Wow! I’ve never had the opportunity to listen to a pair of planers before, and two of my misconceptions were thrown right out the door. 1) Lack of bass: Not at all, they easily go down to the mid 30’s. 2) Lack of dynamics: While they don’t have the punch of the Paradigms, they are right there with the B&W’s. Where they really excelled was in the lightness and openness of the sound. They absolutely disappear in the room. They also made every instrument sound life size. I’m going to attribute this to the large radiating area (each panel is like 2 ft wide by 6.5 ft tall). These were a real joy to listen to, man I love the way they sound. But, and there’s a big butt, it’s the sheer size of these speakers. You need a room that’s large enough to accommodate them. Also they are not exactly pretty, unless you like looking at walls. Did I mention I loved how they sounded. Total time spent auditioning: 1 hr.
Martin Logan Vantage?: They had some of the three dimensionality of the Magnapans but something was just not right. They sounded dark. As you may know, these are hybrids in that they use an electrostatic driver up top and an active (amplified) dynamic cone for the bass. I feel the bass driver could just not keep up with the electrostatic driver. To me, it was very noticeable. We tried lowering the level of the bass driver by 3 db as well as moving them out more into the room to get ride of some of the boom or muddiness but had no luck. They just didn’t sound coherent, like I was listening to two good, but different speakers. That low end heaviness just made them sound dark. Total time spent auditioning: 20 minutes.
Revel F32: Ah, refined bass, smooth and tight. The top end was a little edgy though. This may just be because I just finished listened to a pair of planners and electrostatics but there was something edgy or beaming about the tweeter. It may not bother some, so I would not discount these at all. Also, getting a central image was hard. This may be due to the 55 inch LCD TV that was between the pair (although we were listening in two channel they were in a home theater set up). Total time spent auditioning: 1/2 hr.
B&W 803D: These sounded exactly like the 803S. Maybe a smidge more bass extension. I was having a hard time telling the difference between the 803D and 803S. In my mind, not enough to justify the increase in price. Or you can look at it as the 803S is a bargain. Total time spent auditioning: 15 minutes.
B&W 683: After listening to all these great speakers but not being able to afford them, I wanted to here something in my price range. I’ll keep it short. No comparison. Loose bass, edgy highs, cheep looking cabinet. In their price range, I’m sure they compare well, but after hearing the above….
In the end my friend ended up buying the B&W 803S. It seemed to do all things well and are very easy to listen to. We both agree that if the space was available it would have been the Magnipan 3.6’s that went home with him.
If you’ve listened to or own any of these add your opinions or thoughts.
