B&W 'New' 800 Series

nice early Christmas gift Greginnh - you must have been good ..... congrats.. Do you listen to full scale music and if so are subs used in your room ?

What has me very curious about these D3's and I would like to learn more. Here are the specs for the 803 and 802 d2 and d3.

802 d2 (34Hz – 28kHz ±3dB on reference axis)
802 d3 (17Hz to 28kHz ±3dB on reference axis

803 d2 (35hz to 28khz ±3dB on reference axis)
803 d3 (19hz to 28khz ±3dB on reference axis )

The D3's are a full octave lower on paper with a smaller cabinet and a stiffer design than the d2.

Are you able to hear 19 hz on your 803 d3 in your room setup ?

Here is a sample Bass 1 - 100hz frequency sweep. One needs to listen through headphones, and you can put the signal through your main system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukQ6OSs3dWo

The volume needs to be turned up a bit for the 5 - 15 hz frequencies.

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Just thinking out loud..

We know musical scales are written with eight notes. For example, the C Major scale is written C D E F G A B C, the initial and final Cs being an octave apart. Two notes separated by an octave have the same letter name and are of the same pitch class. The frequency doubles as you go up one octave and halves as you go down. Bass notes are very low frequency which is why there is about 17 hz difference here between this lowest octave, and yet it represents a full octave.

Full range bass even with a speaker capable by design, and tested by the manufacturer, assumes a Listener room has the acoustic properties that allow those speakers to play those notes; and reproduced music is played back that actually contains those frequencies. Remember this could be room effects that was captured in the recording not just the instruments. When room effects are captured in a great recording, playing back this recording in your room can take on some "live" characteristics. It adds to the foolery. I am sure all of us here have this music in our personal music collections.
 
In smaller sized speakers in order to make them sound right in a real room, the designer will put in a roll off in the bass. So even by the time the notes hit 50 hz, maybe even 100 hz with some speakers; their DB output level in the bass has been greatly reduced already, and only going down in db the further down you go. Also you will l notice how much lower in volume the 20 hz and down was in that youtube sine wave video? This is the way we hear.

But these B&W D3's show full range specs again in a fairly small speaker size. Specs not seen since the days of Matrix Series which needed active equalization as designed by B&W. The 801 s2-s3 matrix was able to achieve full range with the active equalization. Only the 800 matrix model is full range without equalization. But it is also big. So these D3's with their size really hint at kind of a big deal for me on paper. So is it really a big deal or not ? I am curious if D3 listeners "without" sub/s in place are really able to hear the lowest octave "well" with full scale music on the d3's ? ..... or do you still need to bring in sub/s ?    

Speaking of bass, this guy has the lowest voice in the world. He is able to cover 10 octaves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9P1ymFCxf0

His vocal cords are twice as long as normal and the supporting muscles have more movement.

Thanks CT0517

I guess I was a good boy this year!

I do not use subs in the room (yet). I will conduct the frequency sweep test this weekend and report back. 

CT, I wrote a little about this in another thread where I reported on my own listening test with the 802D3.   It was at my local Magnolia in Scottsdale, in a beautiful listening room with wall treatments (but no bass traps if memory serves), not cramped, with the speakers out into the room by maybe 3 feet from the back wall.   Given the demographics of Scottsdale, it's not a surprise that this particular store is decked out and well done - it carries Sonus Faber, B&W, McIntosh, Arcam, and some others.  I mention this only to provide context - many Magnolias are cramped and poorly arranged with no real space for the equipment to be properly spaced, but the one in Scottsdale is nicely upscale.

Anyway, we listened to the 802D3, and in that room they didn't get anywhere near that low.   We listened to the first track of the "Titanic" soundtrack which has some really cool low-frequency rumble effects that come in somewhere in the 25-30hz range and those effects just weren't there.   That's about as unscientific as it gets, of course, but I've heard those effects on other speakers so I knew what to listen for and it just wasn't there.   On another day, in another room, maybe someone else would experience them differently.

Anybody find out any information on the crossovers?  Seems strange that there is no mention, unlike the D2 series which hilighted the Mundorf Caps etc...  Also, the website just took a decided turn toward a Home Theatre vibe!

I had seen measurements done by Stereo in Germany on the 802D3 in terms of frequency response and they had the -3db point at 20hz on their own test. It was also a decently flat response from the bass all the way through to the treble on axis. At 30 degrees off axis, the mid-range does have a slight narrowing of dispersion as compared to the treble, but nothing significant and relatively mild and smooth.

The impedance stays  at 4 ohm through much of the bass and mid-range, so don't give it any amp that is unhappy at 4 ohms, but is reasonably smooth impedance curve and decent levels of efficiency doesn't make it very power hungry. Distortion is also quite low all around.

While I'm not really enamored by looks so much, this speakers measured performance and positive press are impressive. While certainly not inexpensive, their performance levels seem to be in line to their market competition so I would certainly have a listen to them.

I'm going to look around to see if other measured performance concur with this one, but it appears to be full range design with good balance.