B&W 'New' 800 Series

In 1999 I already owned an expensive set. Many test I did at home. I did lent expensive cables all the time to test at home. I lend stuff we did not have in our shop. I was addicted to audio for a few years.

On my free monday I visited distributers so I could audition the things we didn't have. Colleagues did not spend so much money and time on audio than I did.

We are thinking about an audio Blog as well. I will do it in english as well. So you can see how we work and what we do. I have Sony professional video stuff and the best professional microphones as well. It will be in the beginning of 2016.

Pass labs can create a very deep and wide stage. This gives you the freedom and option to create a huge stage.

I ownned many Pass Labs power amps, monos and the XP-20. I still own Pass Labs these days.

They have the same properties how they build a stage. This is wide and deep, but it lacks a sharp individual focus of instruments and voices.

Pass Labs is exeptional in diversity in the middle freq. And can let you hear exactly the sound of an instrument as in real.

I have said it many times overhere. During acoustic classical live concerts I learned how small and direct voices and instruments are in proportion( here I learned how direct and extreme small voices and instruments are).

This was the main reason why I bought the 802N in 1999. I call it intimate sound. Each set I audition I use this part and I want it to be there.

In 2009 I bought a brand new set of Pass labs XA100.5 and a XP-20 pre amp. The individual focus of voices and instruments with an intimate image I created this with my Meridian 800Daxv4, Acapella pure silver interconnects and Purist Audio powercables. Because you need to add properties the Pass Labs combo does not own.

When you want an intimate stage with a Pass labs set. set You need to be aware of the properties of your source and cables. So I needed properties to make it more intimate and realistic.

When we are at shows often people use Pass Labs with MIT or Shunyata. So instruments and voices become too big in proportion And you loose the intimate image.

These choices are often made on political choices ( what I really hate) and often don't work. What they do is giving people a wrong idea about how music should be presented.

When I ask the people who give the demo if he knows how big the singers head is in real; they don't know. Often we hear to a demo with a voice of 3 metres. When you are aware that voices and instruments are very small, you would never have given this demo.

In my perspective B&W should have done more research on other materials. The material Monitor Audio uses for their drivers is lighter and faster in response. Beside this they use a different new way of connecting the drivers. This give them the freedom to move faster.

The other thing is that B&W need new people who can create more stage depth and width.

I can garantee that the new ribbon tweeter blows away the diamond tweeter on all parts. I would have developed a different tweeter and never a dome tweeter again.

I've read many of Bo1972s post and have concluded that he repeats the same thing over and over and at the same time finds ways to contradict himself. He talks about how great his components are, but concedes that he uses room correction to get the best sound. I've listed to Monitor Audio speakers and find them to forward/bright. I do agree with him regarding some Shunyata cables...when I tried Shunyata Cobra speaker cables the images were bigger than normal.

Bo

Have you found any preamp/amp/integrateds that give wide and deep soundstage WITH smaller images and focused sound with very black background?

Apparently Pass has some of the criteria met but not all. Btw, I owned Maggie 3.7 and loved the speed but agree with you on blackness, images and depth.