Question for you B&W Guys

Some serious kit there. If you love the B&W sound, it might be worthwhile to explore the latest Diamond series although they may cost higher than the older Nautilus and S series. I have listened to a pair of N802 and although good, not outstanding. Personally I feel the Nautilus range is already well past its era as the new Diamond series have significantly improve on it. Not too sure if the S series are a substantial improvement over the N series. If considering between the N and S series, personally I think you would be better off going with the latter.

Hopefully some folks with experience would chime in with their thoughts.

Good luck.

I always liked the Matrix series myself..I nice pair of 801/3 or 802/3 would be the sweetspot I would look for..I realize they are an older line of B&W's but very reasonable cost and very high in performance ( per dollar spent ) ...

The only substantive difference between 804 and 803 is in the bass, 803 being better in that regard. But since you have a sub, the 804 should be just fine and you won't need to spend as much. I have the 804 Diamonds with no sub but with a punchy amp, and I think the bass is quite sufficient. As for differences in the series, I'd lean to the S over the N. The newer Diamonds are a definite step up from the S, but even though I have the Diamond series, I am not so sure the increase in the price is justified by the degree of improvement in the sound. List prices new for the Diamond series went up 50% over list prices new for the S series, that's quite a jump. One last point -- don't get confused on the series terminology. There is also an older "D" series, which is often confused with the current "Diamond" series.

Thanks Thorman. Out of all the research I've done I came up with the same conclusion. The only difference of the 803 and 804's is the base and the size of the speakers. The S serios I think would be my best bet. I must say adding a Rel sub to my system made a huge difference.

You bet Dancer: Its all personal preference for sure..I just found the musicallity of the 801 Matrix addictive..I do realize B&W has made many changes since,so I may be out of touch a bit.....

I feel compelled to correct an understatement in what I wrote yesterday. List prices for the current Diamond series did not go up by 50%; they went up much more than that. For example, the 805 monitors went from $2500 when the S was introduced to $5000 when the Diamond was introduced.

Thanks guys for your help. I am going with the 804s. With the Krell FPB 400cx and the Rel sub It should make the 804s sound good. I think the more power you put on the B&Ws the better they will sound and give you better Bass.

Well, looks like there's some progress made here - Dancer's cleaned up his spellings! He's writing "bass" now instead of "base". :-) Maybe the brain-crunching to decide 803 or 804 finally undid the brain-knot that was creating incorrect spellings??
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I just found the musicallity of the 801 Matrix addictive..I do realize B&W has made many changes since,so I may be out of touch a bit.....

yup, you sure did! THOSE were the best speakers B&W ever made. And, they were during the time when John Bowers himself was still alive. Every version of speaker thereafter has been worse & worse & worse sonically to the point that there is no soul left in these speakers. They are just a manuf & marketer's dream in terms of the cool materials they can use & the words that they can use to sell it to (unsuspecting) consumers. This from a former B&W owner. Of course, my personal opinion. YMMV. I know that many folks here love/like B&W. Nothing wrong with that at all......
Thorman, it's good that you're out-of-touch - it's best that way!

Wow Bombaywalla are you now giving lessons on spelling. You should know that I have been thinking of going out fishing when I posted this....lol. Next time I decide to post an Idea or a thought. I'll make sure to send it to you first... Thanks teach!!! O no is my spelling correct. Maybe you can suggest spell check on here...lol
See what happens when you stay up all night doing research on 803 and 804's. You become brain dead!!!!