Alternatives to B&W 805 D4
You should give Harbeth and Spendor a listen. Both make fine standmount type of speakers. You should have no problem finding a dealer up in your neck of the woods. BTW, I am not a fan of B&W but that’s just my taste! https://harbeth.co.uk/ Spendor (spendoraudio.com) |
B&W are lovely and highly resolving speakers. For alternatives in a similar price range I would look at the following - Magico A1 - aluminum cabinet and sealed and Magico's signature sound which is in the same tonal area as B&W. Debatably more resolving Vivid Kaya S12 - One of my favorite speaker lines. These are a little unusual looking but they sound amazing and are incredible performers. Wilson TuneTot - These are a little sweeter sounding than some of the other speakers in this price range and are really lovely. One perk of these is that near wall placement is possible. Focal Sopra 1 is of course a fit and I would second them. Marten - Oscar's I know are in this price range and are great. I would second those. Wilson Benesch Precision 1.0 - these are maybe a little warmer than most of the other speakers mentioned here but are very refined. Wonderful detail and imaging. Verdant Audio Blackthorn 1 - These are my speakers and have received some pretty good press. Check out the review at Enjoy the Music by Professor Michael Bump. I have a loaner pair that has been beaten up a little that you can try in-home. Raidho is a wonderful speaker but has a very different presentation and delivers a much more immersive listening experience. X1/XT1/C1.2 would be worth looking at if you want that more immersive soundstage rather than having sound presented to you. I am a dealer (though in most cases can't sell to you) for Vivid, Focal, Wilson Benesch. Raidho and obviously my own speakers. |
Thanks everyone for the variety of suggestions. Plenty of reading ahead, I counted 17 different suggestions. Amazing! But I’m puzzled about how I can make a good selection. I can read reviews or graphs, but it will never be enough information to discriminate one over another. I need to listen to them. And I’m not working in that industry nor I have tested hundreds of speakers myself. So the only way for me is to listen to (most/some of) them, on the same amp/source, in the same room at a short time interval. I know places that have one or two of those proposed models but even comparing 6-7 models before a final choice seems irrealistic. I’m pretty sure you all faced this situation at one point or another. How did you do? Did you just try one and buy it if it sounded "good enough" or at least better than your previous ones? I know I can go in a store and compare B&W 805 D4, B&W 705 S2 Signature, and Totem Fire Element V2, but if I want to also add a Focal or a Kef, I need to go to another city! And for some of the other proposed models, I would need to fly to another country... not really practical. Am I doomed? I feel that all future changes to my system (next in line is a DAC) will hit the same wall and I’ll have to ultimately may an educated guess at best, without really knowing if I got "the best" (for me). |
You will be fine. You don’t need the best speaker ever made just ones you like. They are all colored and limited in reality. You can learn a lot from the measurements but there is a lot of subtlety in them so truly reading and understanding them is another thing (not claiming I can). I would guess the Sopra 1 is an amazing stand mounted speaker based on hear the larger models and looking at the measurements. Here is a binary recording (use headphones) of the Sopra 1 and 805d3 in the same room same song same system. Just YouTube…. So take it with a grain of salt but still interesting. https://youtu.be/FxTQvqlsp54 Another long video comparison here. https://youtu.be/Msaq4kCYclw |
