B&W Speakers are junk - worse than Bose!!!!!

[Speedball]

A couple months ago I caught wind of that Sony digital (170-wpc) you have.......bet it sounds great and is fun to play with. The B&W's may really sing with a QSC at the helm they are great bang for the buck amps from what I hear.

Funny stuff about all the glamour boys and salesmen talking bologna about the......."no center channels to match" and "all new for H.T.".......lol.

[tillmbil]

Did you say Academy for sale?????

How do you attach a picture to this new Forum. I do not see a paper clip, and insert image from gallery dioes not work?

[tillmbil]

Somebody told me these Heresy woofers and midrange were not original. Does anybody know of I can get this picture to post?

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I just had a pair of B&W 805S in the house for the weekend. Absolutely the best sounding bookshelf speaker I have heard (yes, I have listened to RB75's etc). The sound stage, imaging, inner detail, etc, was simply amazing. The speakers just disappeared and it was as if the musicians were just sitting there playing. The horn loaded tweeter of the 800 series combined with the matrix bracing and kevlar cone presented a sound stage that was life like - no coloration. Of course, they are limited on the low end, but not so much that I felt a need for subwoofer. As much as I love Klipsch and have used them for 20+ years, I now have the 805s on my list to purchase someday. Used them with my C22/MC240 and Outlaw 990/7125 systems - they sounded great on both. I might add I do not care for all the B&W line - 704s for example are not as good to my ear as the Klipsch RF5 - but the 800 series is awesome - expensive - but awesome. It's the midrange - where most music resides - that they do quite accurately.

So are you saying that a pair of the B&W 805s's with a 300 wpc amp and a K Horn bass bin with a 100 wpc amp crossed with an actve crossover may be the way to go?

Actualy, I do need a set of speakers for my office. If you figure that you spend more time there than anywhere it would justify the price. I see a lot of the 805's on Audiogon for about $1500 a pair.

Chris

[JBryan]

"Does anybody know of I can get this picture to post? "

YMMV but I copy or move pics to my Download folder. In the Reply page, I select 'Option' from the toolbar and then 'Add/Update". Another window pops up and I select 'Choose File'. That brings up my Download folder and I select the pic I want and then 'Save' on the 'Choose File' window. That's how I add a pic to the post. Hope it helps.

Have fun. Bryan

[meagain]

I heard the B&W 800D with all McIntosch gear this year and it sounded amazing.

http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.models/label/Model%20800D

The price tag was crazy.

Yep! I'd be very happy with the bowling ball types.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I heard the B&W 800D with all McIntosch gear this year and it sounded amazing.

http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/products.models/label/Model%20800D

The price tag was crazy.

Yep! I'd be very happy with the bowling ball types.

Aw come on now, no you wouldn't. We all know you too well. []

I just listened to Crime of the Century. No subwoofer and these things fill the room (pretty big room) with plenty of bass and detailed music. I have them hooked to a Sony STR DA5000 ES with a Toshiba 3950 DVD using a direct in digital signal. 170 wpc of digital amplification. I have to turn it up to -2.5 db to really fill the room where the belles didn't need near that much power (who would have guessed).

I think the next step is to listen for a few evenings with the Sony as a pre and the QSC 1202 amp. If they like the additional power a bigger QSC might be in order (something like 300 to 425 wpc at 8 ohms). These things are keepers. Can anyone here tell me how much power they have used with B&W's? All of the materials just give a minimum amount of power (80 wpc for these). A far cry from the 4 wpc (8 peak) that I am driving the Belles with. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

The crossovers are 20 years old, I wonder what some new caps would do...

Chris

[Jay481985]

KaiserSetSay has a really great B&W Nautilus with BAT gear setup and it is as clean a system as I have ever heard.

Kaiser, may be avoiding this thread as someone put B&W and bose in the same sentence : )

how much are they?

[tigerwoodKhorns]

KaiserSetSay has a really great B&W Nautilus with BAT gear setup and it is as clean a system as I have ever heard.

Kaiser, may be avoiding this thread as someone put B&W and bose in the same sentence : )

how much are they?

Which Nautilus speakers does he have? They range from about $1500 for the 805's to $14,000 for the 800's used on Audiogon.

[J M O N]

I'd be interested in the Belles... how much you askin'?

[tillmbil]

Someone told me these subwoofers were not original, if this thing posts. Can anyone verify?

[MarkBK]

So are you saying that a pair of the B&W 805s's with a 300 wpc amp and a K Horn bass bin with a 100 wpc amp crossed with an actve crossover may be the way to go?

Actualy, I do need a set of speakers for my office. If you figure that you spend more time there than anywhere it would justify the price. I see a lot of the 805's on Audiogon for about $1500 a pair.

Chris

Chris,

It be an interesting combination, but I've never heard thte two together. I will say, the 805s midrange is simply amazing in my room. the most realistic presentation of acoustic/electric guitars, piano. vocals,etc. I have ever heard form any speaker from any manufacturer. I ran them with my C22/MC240 McIntosh - 40 watts - they could use more power. I did also run them on the 990/7125 Outlaw system 125 watts per channel - also quite nice.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

So are you saying that a pair of the B&W 805s's with a 300 wpc amp and a K Horn bass bin with a 100 wpc amp crossed with an actve crossover may be the way to go?

Actualy, I do need a set of speakers for my office. If you figure that you spend more time there than anywhere it would justify the price. I see a lot of the 805's on Audiogon for about $1500 a pair.

Chris

Chris,

It be an interesting combination, but I've never heard thte two together. I will say, the 805s midrange is simply amazing in my room. the most realistic presentation of acoustic/electric guitars, piano. vocals,etc. I have ever heard form any speaker from any manufacturer. I ran them with my C22/MC240 McIntosh - 40 watts - they could use more power. I did also run them on the 990/7125 Outlaw system 125 watts per channel - also quite nice.

Hve you heard the matrix series? They don't look as nice but are much less expensive because they are "old and outdated"

I think that some really nice bookshelf speakers for my office would give me a good attitude adjustment.

Chris

PS - William - you may want to start a new thread. The info that you want can easily be had in updates. There is kind of an unwritten understanding here not to hijack threads.

[kaiser SET say]

OK Tiger ya'll have pulled me out of the woodwork[]

I run a pair of the Naut 804's (not Diamond series) and as someone has mentioned they are juice hungry machines, mine will suck every watt right out of my BAT VK-200 and it is not a cheesy 100 WPC amp by any means!

I would venture to say any model above the 803's would require at least 500 WPC per speaker to really see what they are made of but if you can afford this kind of gear the reward would be 2 fold IMHO[]

Bowers & Wilkins make a fine product and once again IMHO deserve to be in the catagory "High End"[]

[kaiser SET say]

The Nautilus 804's (once again not the diamond series) went for $3500.00 retail when new and before the diamond series was released. Got mine new through dealer comp for $2500.00

Now hear this, went into a local Audio store the other day and what the guy told me is the original series like mine and he has a pair on the floor are now in close out for $2000.00 which is a steal for these babies[]

[divin11112000]

My fincee's dad got me into this whole high quality speakers. Before then I really didn't care, but what got me going was his B&W 801's.

I was over his house and she asked him to show me what speakers were "supposed" to sound like. They put on a movie and proceeded to toss out the fishing line and hook me into high end sound. Since then I've started to build my modest system (rf-35, rc-35, rs-35, rsw-15).

I love my RF-35's, but they are clearly no match for 801's. However on my budget I don't think i could be happier.

However I had and still haven't heard a system go so loud yet be crystal clear. A few months ago he was "channel surfing" and a concert was on dish so he switched to have the sound go through the speakers instead of the TV. I would have thought I was sitting front row at the concert. When we left a guys outside 3 houses down and on the opposite side of the street asked us where the party was.

He has 801's powered by a marantz reciever (don't know the model). He has 5.1 with I believe 804 rears and HTM3 center (i think). and I'm not sure the sub. The marantz does not have enough power to effectively drive the 15" woofer built into the 801's, and as opposed to getting an amp he opted for a dedicated sub.

The price tag is huge for the system. The lucky jerk "won" the 804's in a drawing and got the 801's used from the AV store near where he lived.

My fiencee' has already said she's trying to get the speakers willed to us when he get's to old to enjoy them.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

OK Tiger ya'll have pulled me out of the woodwork[]

I run a pair of the Naut 804's (not Diamond series) and as someone has mentioned they are juice hungry machines, mine will suck every watt right out of my BAT VK-200 and it is not a cheesy 100 WPC amp by any means!

I would venture to say any model above the 803's would require at least 500 WPC per speaker to really see what they are made of but if you can afford this kind of gear the reward would be 2 fold IMHO[]

Bowers & Wilkins make a fine product and once again IMHO deserve to be in the catagory "High End"[]

OK, I found QSC PLX amps on sale. I just need to decide how much power I need.

At 8 ohms/ 4 ohms / 2 ohms my choices are:

300/500/800

425/700/1200

550/900/1500

700/1100/1700

Each step up is cheap ($100)

I am thinking either the 425 wpc or the 550 wpc. Advice and sugesstion please.

Chris

[MarkBK]

Hve you heard the matrix series? They don't look as nice but are much less expensive because they are "old and outdated"

I think that some really nice bookshelf speakers for my office would give me a good attitude adjustment.

Chris

PS - William - you may want to start a new thread. The info that you want can easily be had in updates. There is kind of an unwritten understanding here not to hijack threads.

Chris,

I have not heard them -but one of the things that appealt to me with the 805s is the cabinet shape - minimizes internal standing wave - matrix bracing - seems to just remove any cabinet coloration. That said, the Matrix is availabel for much less - for that matter google on the Swan 2.1 speaker or this clone of the Matrix:

http://www.hometheaterspeaker.com/pb651spec.htm

Looks like the Matrix 805 - read a few good reviews

[tigerwoodKhorns]

My fincee's dad got me into this whole high quality speakers. Before then I really didn't care, but what got me going was his B&W 801's.

I was over his house and she asked him to show me what speakers were "supposed" to sound like. They put on a movie and proceeded to toss out the fishing line and hook me into high end sound. Since then I've started to build my modest system (rf-35, rc-35, rs-35, rsw-15).

I love my RF-35's, but they are clearly no match for 801's. However on my budget I don't think i could be happier.

However I had and still haven't heard a system go so loud yet be crystal clear. A few months ago he was "channel surfing" and a concert was on dish so he switched to have the sound go through the speakers instead of the TV. I would have thought I was sitting front row at the concert. When we left a guys outside 3 houses down and on the opposite side of the street asked us where the party was.

He has 801's powered by a marantz reciever (don't know the model). He has 5.1 with I believe 804 rears and HTM3 center (i think). and I'm not sure the sub. The marantz does not have enough power to effectively drive the 15" woofer built into the 801's, and as opposed to getting an amp he opted for a dedicated sub.

The price tag is huge for the system. The lucky jerk "won" the 804's in a drawing and got the 801's used from the AV store near where he lived.

My fiencee' has already said she's trying to get the speakers willed to us when he get's to old to enjoy them.

If your father in law to be needs more power for the 801's, I just ordered a QSC PLX3002 amp from Musicians Friend. 550 WPC at 8 ohms, 900 WPC at 4 ohms and 1500 wpc at 2 ohms. The PLX series one are on closeout because they have been replaced by the series 2. These things are crystal clear on horns with no harshness at all (I have been using a PLX 1202 with horns for a few years) and my 1202 sounds clean as can be on my B&W DM3000's. The best part - an honest and clean 550 wpc (measured from 20 to 20K) for $750 delivered. How can you go wrong?

Chris

[Erukian]

I simply Love B&W speakers, I just never spoke up because it feels like i'd get knocked around with all the fandom in here. B&W is known in the speaker industry as the 'University of Sound' because a lot of the modern breakthroughs come from them. -- Like them using kevlar to stop resonance in the driver material, perforated ports limit port farting, and reverse horns help stop internal resonance and totally cleans up the output on the 8xx series to give you the most undistorted output possible. Oh and don't forget the diamond drivers, the only material that's been proven to give completely flat, like not even +-1dB variance to 20khz, but we can't hear above 15kHz realistically so I guess only kids would notice. They have I believe some of the most brilliant engineers alive today.

My two cents.

-Joe