b&w suggestions


Hello and good day to audiogon...

i currently have, for my home theater, full 804s speakers. front and rears and the htm3s center.

i find this an excellent surround system.

my question... since i never seem not to have the change it around bug... is would it be worth it to find 803s fronts for the same system? or possibly some older 802's for the front.

but then i wonder how will the center match up with the older 802's. i am pretty confident that the 803s speakers would match up with my center.

so any thoughts? or should i leave well enough alone?

thanks and have a great weekend
Bill
baranowski
This is in my home theater set up. not much music at all being played through them. 804s are all around... was wondering for the front sound stage.

thanks
Bill
No on uses or has use 800 801 802 803, in a how theater on here and has listened or used the 804 for comparison?

Bill
One of my friends has N802's in the front and N804's for rear. He has the B&W center channel, not sure of the model plus a REL Stentor sub. All of the electronics are the top of the line Linn components. The system sounds great as you should expect.

There is a huge difference in performance between the N804 and the N802. I can't imagine being disappointed with upgrading the fronts to N802's. Simply put, the N802 will go louder with more clarity and with more bottom end weight.

When I purchased my N802's, I walked into the store with the intent of buying N804's. I listened to them and next up the N803. The N802 was so superior to those models it was no contest. I spent way more at the time than I wanted to. But, on the bright side I still have them and enjoy them so it was money well spent.
When you went to buy your 804s and ended up with the 802s.. were you listening to both sets on the same equipment and with a sub for both or were they both just two channel without a sub?

i ask this because i use a sub for my home theater... if i used 802s or 804s they would both be crossed over at 80 or 50 and the sub would take the lower ranges... so it would be harder to distinguish between the two sets of speakers because i am using the sub.
My audition was in a two channel system without subwoofer. The electronics were Mark Levinson and were kept the same for all three speaker model auditions.

In my friends system, the speakers are run full range and augmented by the REL. It would be difficult to estimate the differences when using an external crossover. I think it is important to consider the midrange driver and enclosure from the N802 is completely different and more sophisticated than that found in the 804/803.

If one were to have that much confidence in the subwoofers, would you not be able to get by with four 805's and not worry about floor standers? But since you already have the 804's, you should either stand pat or upgrade the fronts to the N802's if you can justify it financially. I do believe it would be a sonic upgrade.