bonedoc Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Has anyone had the chance to honestly compare the two. Specifically high brightness, mids, tightness of bass ect. Just wondering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luuz0r Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 I'm no audio expert, but I've gotten the chance to listen to a pair of B&W 703 speakers at a local high end audio store. And I can honestly say, I wasn't impressed. I felt that my friend's (whom was there at the time) Forte was SO better. I couldn't state why the Fortes were better, but they just were. Maybe it was the clarity of the voices? Who knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gullahisland Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 ---------------- On 5/1/2004 9:54:43 PM bonedoc wrote: Has anyone had the chance to honestly compare the two. Specifically high brightness, mids, tightness of bass ect. Just wondering. ---------------- Bonedoc - Which specific models of B&W and Klipsch are you referring to? I've heard ALL of the Klipsch Heritage models and ALL of the B&W Nautilus models including the Signature 800. Tell us specifically what you're looking to know. Associated equipment? Budget? New or used? Quite frankly, if you're buying used you can pick up a pair of Klipschorns in MINT condition for $3K. The best you'll be able to muster for that much money on a used pair of B&Ws is the Nautilus 803. Between the 803s and the K-horns there is NO comparison. You'd have to step up to the 802s to begin a fair fight. Even still, it's the proverbial "apples and oranges" comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phatbass Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Only your ears can decide. They are both great. I know which ones I would pick, but that won't help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Hi bonedoc, I've had a chance to audition the majority of Klipsch heritage and reference series as well as quite a bit of B&W stuff. The B&W 700 series is not really worth talking about IMHO. The B&W 802 are really fantastic speakers and quite honestly worth the $8k asking price, and the 801 are the "Klipschorn" of their line, a great deal of classical music you may listen to was probably mastered on a pair of 801s at EMI in bloody old England. They are also $11,000 for a pair. They are also very hungry for power, 91db efficient vs over 100db efficient for a pair of k-horns. Not only that but reading they fine print you will see the nominal impedence of the 801s varies based on load and can be as low as 3 ohms! Therefore, while you can power khorns with a walkman if you so choose, the 801s demand some very buff amplifiers, something to the tune of Bryston monoblocks if you want to give them the juice they need to perform as advertised. Bottom line, B&W will cost a mint more than Klipch Heritage, and an order of magnitude more than Klipsch reference series, all for a sound you may not prefer. It really comes down to this: do you like the sound and dynamics of horn speakers? If I wasn't hooked on horns, I'd be saving my pennies for 802s and Bryston amps. (but I am, so I ain't) There is also someone on this board (I forget their name) who switched from Klipsch reference series to B&W speakers and Krell amps, maybe they will chime in with some more detailed feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantfmly Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 i was able to listen to a pair of b&w 604 back in 97 right after i bought my KLF-20. THese speakers are about the same price. But in my opinion. They just could not keep up with the KLF-20. They had good mids and highs. but the bass was not even close. In my opinion you are getting more for your money with klipsch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Bonedoc? Hmmm, Orthopedic surgeon? The big B&Ws sound very good, but only if you have very good and very BIG amps behind them. The combination makes them cost prohibitive for most people. Even so, the sound doesn't always sound very natural -- in the sense that live music does. Horn systems reproduce much of the natural dynamics found in music, as well as the ability to throw it out in front of you in a scale larger than most other speakers. These attributes help the system "to disappear" -- leaving only the music. If you are driving down the street, and hear live music coming from a home -- what is it about the sound that tells you it's "live"? Tone? Timbre? Imaging? Subtle nuance? No, what the ear picks up on are the unrestricted dynamics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki Choi Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 I had a pair of N802's powered by sometimes Krell FPB 700Cx or a pair of Bryston 7bST's. Very nice refined soud and I would play the system over the weekends whenever I can get to it. To sum it up, my wife liked their looks and my non-audio friends shook their heads at the 700w/ch power. Then I ran across an old pair of Khorns and a friend turned me on to the old Heatkit W5M mono blocks (25w) and then to the HK Citation II (60w/ch). My wife thinks it was a mistake to get rid of the N802's and the big Krell. But I got pulled into the music the moment I hit "play" on my cd player. I now play the Khorns and every chance I get. Tunes played through Khorns touch me beyond my ears and eyes. It's was a very strange experience when I first heard it. I have made numerous attempts to support the high-end industry single handily. Many gears and speakers have come and gone through my door trying to keep up with the fancy magazine reviewers. However, the Khorns are definitely keeper. Ki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 "I have made numerous attempts to support the high-end industry single handily. Many gears and speakers have come and gone through my door trying to keep up with the fancy magazine reviewers. However, the Khorns are definitely keeper. Ki" LMAO!!!!!!!!!! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rckpls Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Hey Bonedoc, Are you the guy from NC with the K-horns for sale? What's up? Having second thoughts about the B&W system you've ordered? My advice is to keep the horns if they fit your room. I've sold both brands. It's been a few years since I've heard B&W's best, but they never had anything that impressed me (for the price) up to the mid 1990's....especially when compared to the big Klipsch systems. Anyway, it's just my opinion based on sound quality only. I realize there are other factors involved when choosing a speaker system. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but please let us know how things turn out. Someone will be here if you need a shoulder to cry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Horses for courses. In many ways B&W and Klipsch are at opposite ends of the spectrum. B&W need power - lots of it. Tony, my friend, is heading that way and has just picked up the 500 wpc digital Yammy to drive the 802's he still hasnt got, but will. With a KHorn or lesser Klipsch you want anything from 0.5 watts upto a maximum of around 100 wpc (although some run with considerably higher). That legendary efficiency means that the Khorn will, ultimately, probably go louder - although not much - Tony got a pair of 801's upto around 120 dB plus with his amp. That is LOUD!! In the perfect world - with enough $$$ at my disposal I would own both on separate systems (plus a pair of planars - possibly the big Maggies). There are some things that each does so well it is unbelievable. You want live - Klipsch all the way. You want smooth and relaxed - look no further than the 801/802. Bass is more of a judgement call. Horn loaded bass is very different in feel from the more conventional B&W approach. I think the B&W go lower, but again, only with oodles and oodles of power. You want mustard or ketsup with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hwatkins Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 I am definitely on the side of the horns (duh - look at the url for this site), but I am very much not a B&W fan. I can't get the ear to tell me it is special. I do prefer most equivalent Dynaudio products over the B&W and are my choice for 'medium' efficiency cones. 2 cents (worth a penny in Europe). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki Choi Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Few years back when we lived in Wisconsin, Holly Cole's "Don't Smoke in Bed" used to be one of the top show-your-system-off standards in audiophile circle. The songs in the CD are very good as well as its sonics and I must have played the CD more times than any other CDs (maybe Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Rain Coat" few times more). I had two copies of each CD and compared two different digitial front ends (Theta signle box CD player vs. string of Audio Alchemy black boxes) playing through, at the time, a Krell power amp (KSA 150) and a pair of B&W 801 S3's with my kids listening in as my reality check for weeks - driving them mad at thier early age. Needless to say, I was very familiar with all the songs on Cole's CD's both musically and sonically. Ms Cole came to Milwakee for a live show in a relatively realistic small jazz club. Wife and I got there early enough to get the best possible table similar in distance and angles from to what I had with my speakers set up in the full basement at the time. After all those listening sessions of Cole's "Don't Smoke in Bed," she sang the first song, the "Tennesse Waltz." As she finished and others were clapping and howlering, I looked at my wife and said, this sounds terrible... There was no "imaging" or "wide sound stage." None of the audiophile vocabularies applied for the Cole's performance that evening. I remember the dissappointment vividly even to this day. (I had similar exprience in AKUS concert in Benneroya Hall in Seattle later.) However, by the end of the evening, I was having a good time 'feeling" the tunes first and listening secondarily. I realized this is what Live Music in a jazz club should like. I haven't been able to recreate being in front of the live preformance experience in my house until I got a pair Khorns To add to what's been already said in this thread, if you are interested in reproducing the recording sessions in a controlled recording studio environment, the B&W Nautilus series speakers will do that well (explains why some of the recording studios use B&W's a their monitor speakers). On the other hand, if you play a live recording of a concert and wish to recreat the feel of being there, Khorns are my choice. Ki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 ---------------- On 5/2/2004 12:57:38 AM damonrpayne wrote: It really comes down to this: do you like the sound and dynamics of horn speakers? If I wasn't hooked on horns, I'd be saving my pennies for 802s and Bryston amps. (but I am, so I ain't) There is also someone on this board (I forget their name) who switched from Klipsch reference series to B&W speakers and Krell amps, maybe they will chime in with some more detailed feedback. ---------------- arthurs is the person you are referring to. Bonedoc-you may want to e-mail or pm him for his opinion... David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Choi---Interesting story. You know, I've never hear a proper "audiophile" speaker that could sound like an actual saxophone, Fender Showman or Rogers DynaSonic snare. Never. But I've heard some horn speakers come pretty damned close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki Choi Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 Yeah... I agree. My ears are more tuned to the sound of real pianos than any other insturments. Although I am not a piano player, both of my kids play their Yamaha grand piano nearly every day reminding me of the holly grail. I have tried to recreate the sound coming from our living room - by using some of the best hardware available... I read a letter in the Sterephile magazine few years ago from a person who was shocked at prices of their Class A modern equipment and further stated the most realistic piano recreation he'd ever heard was from a pair vintage Khorns driven by a Marant 8B tube amp. I haven't tried 8B with my K-hrons but the Citation II came closest for me. Ki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 Dean is right B&W needs large clean power 250 watts or more. My analogy I used before. B&W: Sitting in the balcony Klipsch: legs dangling over the lip of the orchesta pit AF out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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