The Strata III is a great match with the B&W N805.
I second the recommendation of Sugarbrie - if you can spare the coin, go for two.
I second the recommendation of Sugarbrie - if you can spare the coin, go for two.
Just got my B&W Signature 805's long
My system has been going extensive changes over the past
6 months. I upgraded my amp, preamp, cables and interconnects.
Despite costing me major $$$ its been a lot of fun and
very rewarding. I decided on a budget of $4K for speakers.
My original speakers, Vienna Acoustics Bachs have served
me well but I felt that I was not reaching the full
potential of what my system could offer. I was looking for
a floor stander with more transparacy and a slightly more
forward soundstage compared to the Bachs.
My room dimension (11x11) limit's my choice of floor standers. The 803 was a bit much size wise and so I was looking at the 804's. I have heard them before in a short demo and thought they sounded fine. In doing my research I noticed a lot of interest the new Signature 805. I really wasn't interested in a monitor since I wanted a more full range speaker. Still though I should at least give it a listen and see what all the excitement is about.
I arrived at my local dealer and asked about demoing both
the Sig 805's and N804. He actually had the Sig 805 already
setup from a previous session. The Sigs looked pretty
small in the 30x25 room. They even looked smaller compared
to the Dynaudio S5.4, C2 and C4 that were behind them.
They were set about 10ft apart and about 12 feet to the
listening chair. They were powered by a DNA 125,MAP1 and
a Denon CD/SACD player. Nothing exotic here.
Plopped in my Gladiator CD and whoa!!. The soundstage was
huge. It easily filled the room. More like flooded the
room. Clean and detailed without sounding harsh. Bass
was also quite good considering the small volume these
speakers have. Not very deep but tight and well defined.
Actually my Bachs go a bit lower but have nowhere near
the control and resolution in the lower octaves.
The midrange and top end reminded more of the Signature
800 than anything else. Imaging was very defined as well.
Tracks that I thought I knew well were presenting
themselves with new surprises. To make a long story
short I ended buying the Signature 805's without ever
hearing the N804's.
With less than 30 hours on them they are no where near
broken and yet I still enjoying them. My plan was to eventually trade up to N802's but I have begun to rethink
this. I'm enjoying these speakers so much that I really
think that adding a high quality sub (REL Strata III?)
might be a better option. Any thoughts?
Current system setup
B&W Signature 805
BAT VK500
CJ Premier 17LS
Ah Njoe Tjoeb 4000
Tara Labs Reference Bi Wire
Tara Labs RSC Prime Interconnects.
Cheers
cmach
6 months. I upgraded my amp, preamp, cables and interconnects.
Despite costing me major $$$ its been a lot of fun and
very rewarding. I decided on a budget of $4K for speakers.
My original speakers, Vienna Acoustics Bachs have served
me well but I felt that I was not reaching the full
potential of what my system could offer. I was looking for
a floor stander with more transparacy and a slightly more
forward soundstage compared to the Bachs.
My room dimension (11x11) limit's my choice of floor standers. The 803 was a bit much size wise and so I was looking at the 804's. I have heard them before in a short demo and thought they sounded fine. In doing my research I noticed a lot of interest the new Signature 805. I really wasn't interested in a monitor since I wanted a more full range speaker. Still though I should at least give it a listen and see what all the excitement is about.
I arrived at my local dealer and asked about demoing both
the Sig 805's and N804. He actually had the Sig 805 already
setup from a previous session. The Sigs looked pretty
small in the 30x25 room. They even looked smaller compared
to the Dynaudio S5.4, C2 and C4 that were behind them.
They were set about 10ft apart and about 12 feet to the
listening chair. They were powered by a DNA 125,MAP1 and
a Denon CD/SACD player. Nothing exotic here.
Plopped in my Gladiator CD and whoa!!. The soundstage was
huge. It easily filled the room. More like flooded the
room. Clean and detailed without sounding harsh. Bass
was also quite good considering the small volume these
speakers have. Not very deep but tight and well defined.
Actually my Bachs go a bit lower but have nowhere near
the control and resolution in the lower octaves.
The midrange and top end reminded more of the Signature
800 than anything else. Imaging was very defined as well.
Tracks that I thought I knew well were presenting
themselves with new surprises. To make a long story
short I ended buying the Signature 805's without ever
hearing the N804's.
With less than 30 hours on them they are no where near
broken and yet I still enjoying them. My plan was to eventually trade up to N802's but I have begun to rethink
this. I'm enjoying these speakers so much that I really
think that adding a high quality sub (REL Strata III?)
might be a better option. Any thoughts?
Current system setup
B&W Signature 805
BAT VK500
CJ Premier 17LS
Ah Njoe Tjoeb 4000
Tara Labs Reference Bi Wire
Tara Labs RSC Prime Interconnects.
Cheers
cmach
- ...
- 12 posts total
- 12 posts total