b&w suggestions

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.

I own both 803ds and 804s. I only use them in a stereo system, not HT.

I first had the 804s set up and optimized and they sounded very good. Excellent sound staging and imaging. I upgraded to 803d because of the diamond tweeter and I have to say the 804s were stiil very good by comparison. The 803d can produce a larger sound stage (generally because they are placed further apart) and better bass, higher SPLs, more dynamic transients.

The potential downside is they can be brighter in the upper midrange (high pitched flutes, female vocals with a lot of microphonics/syllabence), esp if placed too close together.

If you are happy with the 804 I would tend to stay with them unless they are not filling the room like you want.

With the addition of my anthem statement amp. the 804s fill the room well. although, since i have not listened to the other speakers in the series i do jot know if i am missing anything that great.

thank you for the response
Bill

Bill:

If you can borrow a pair of 803s to try, then that is your best bet. If you have to buy a pair and hope their better, its a larger gamble.

If you buy a pair used at a good price, you can flip them and get your money back. But be aware the 803s are very heavy and they need expenseve B&W packaging to ship. In my experience, you can ship a pair once maybe twice before the packaging falls apart and needs replacement.