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B&W 800 N & D Series - General Advice Needed

I few years ago, I bought a very well broken in set of 805N. I love them and since then I've tried out many other brands: Harbeth, Dynaudio, Selah, Merlin, Usher, PSB, Focal, Magnepan, Sonus Faber as well as some others. The speakers I come back to again and again are the 805N. The midrange is amazing to me.

So, I took the plunge on some 805D2 new. I was awaiting the same great sound of the 805N but with a more refined tweeter. Initially they were pretty dry sounding. They soundstage did not have the same palpable body of the old 805N. I played the 805D2 day and night for a few months, racking up about 300 hours. I kept waiting for the AHA! moment but it never came. They remained uninvolving and sterile to my ears. Putting the 805N back on the stands was a total relief. it all sounded the way it should again. A warm, full sound with crisp detail and solid imaging.

Now, a set of 802N came up for sale close to me and I jumped on them expecting the same qualities as the 805N but with more information below 60hZ. . The owner told me that despite their age, they have very low hours - about 30-40 he guessed. So, I set them up, got them positioned, stabilized the image. What do I hear...? The same DRY midrange as the 805D2. No sweetness initially. If I turn them up to strong listening levels then they do really come alive but at normal, easy listening levels they are dry like the 805D2 - just not as much. I find myself able to listen to the 802N for extended periods of time because the tweeter seems to be less harsh. The downside to this is that I find film dialogue to be fuzzy - I find myself working to understand the words whereas with the 805N dialogue is self evident.

So, friends, my questions are:

Does B&W really have a very extensive break in, to the point that the "life" that I seek from them really only comes into being after many 100s of hours?

Is the 802N an 805N with more bass or is it voiced differently so that it has a recessed midrange?

Associated equipment:
MAC6700 Integrated 200wpc @ 8ohm
Arcam AVR600
Ayre AX7e
Computer FLAC
SONOS
128x128michaelkingdom
michaelkingdom's avatar
michaelkingdom OP
153 posts
 
Audioquest4life - Regarding tube amps, that sounds like a great idea. I had a Cary SLI80 Signature up until recently that I bet would have been a good match. Perhaps I will look to tubes rather than SS or monoblock SS.

It is interesting that your observations of the D series parallel mine. I am so impressed with the 805N that I could not imaging the successor would not be equivalent or greater but that was my observation.

I have been using the B&W jumpers and the 8 ohm taps. The 4 ohm taps seem to dampen the high frequency energy of the sound - not so much that it is not enjoyable but putting them back on 8 ohm is instant gratification. I am using a standard set of Dayton 8ft. cables. Speaker cables is not an area that I have explored yet. Recommendations are very appreciated.

I have quite a few options to play with regarding amplification. I could use the Ayre for the HF and the Mac for the LF or viceversa. I also have a beast of an SS amp - a Behringer EP4000 which despite its lowly status in the audiophile community makes my Magnepans sing better than anything else I have used. It puts out 670w at 8 ohms continuously.

I had a Bryston 4b for a while and I was not drawn to the hardness. However, the details certainly came through well on the 805N.

So, rather than this being a question of Kevlar break-in, you are suggesting it is amplification matching, correct?
djones1915
53 posts
 
Ok...good thread for me:-)
I've owned the 802ns and the 800ns. I directly compared the 800s to the 800Ds with the same equipment & room. I have NOT heard the 805s but they are the best selling & highest resale B&W out there and I will safely assume it is because of your impressions.

The Nautilus 800 & 802 are significantly better than the Ds IMHO. Mainly in the bass arena and my ears cannot hear the "rave reviews on the Diamond Tweeter."

All this said, as Truemaineiac stated...try listening to some different high-end speakers to get out from under the "B&W spell" as it took me 8 years and some serious $ to do.

May I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the JM Labs / Focal speakers. I got a pair of Profile 918s for $850 ($3k retail) and they sound just as good as the 802ns to my ears. Then I auditioned a pair of Utopias which simply BLEW AWAY the 800ns!

But, as they say...it really is your ears that count and retail cost is a HUGE ISSUE as Emotiva and Oppo have proved over the past 4 or so years.
michaelkingdom's avatar
michaelkingdom OP
153 posts
 
Djones1915 - I am definitely polygamous when it comes to speakers and I do own quite a few right now. With the excellent resale value, I have found it as good as any place to keep money, certainly better than the stock market!

So, yes, I have a set of Focal Micro Utopia BE. The beryllium tweeter is a solid work of art. I did a comparison between the Harbeth SHL5, Focal Utopia Micro BE and the Dynaudio C1 MK2 Signatures. While categorically the Dynaudios came out the general winner, I LIKED the Harbeth and Focals more and still have them today.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1360980222&openmine&zzMichaelkingdom&4&5#Michaelkingdom

The Micros are perfect, neutral, non fatiguing, a few notches more intelligible than the Nautilus tweeter but they just don't make me want to listen to song after song. They don't excite me about listening to music on a regular basis like B&W.

I don't know WHY, I just like the B&W sound. I like other speakers too but why does one have to stop liking the "old speakers" as you move up some invisible empirical ladder? Well, I guess I'm guilty of that too but B&W sounds great to me.
ptss
1,964 posts
 
I listened to B&W 800's at a dealer.
I was surprised how easily I noticed they were being
fed with dirty ac, even though the setup was Classe.
At high volumes and well back in a nice large room the sound was very good, natural sounding. However when I went up closer to listen at my normal levels, moderate, and distance about 18/19 feet I identified deficits due to poor power. I asked what power conditioning was used and they said none-so the system was playing as real in a home. I didn't make any comment but in fact I felt they were doing a disservice to B&W by not allowing the speakers to sound as they could. Your newer speaker are undoubtably more refined than your old. B&W are a big player with refined sound used by professionals who are detail and musically oriented. I highly recommend it is now time for your to try some isolation for your digital and conditioning for your amp. Sweetness of sound is the 1st thing people comment on when exposed to this set up.
Get some loaners and try it out. Don't worry about your speakers-they will probably sound very good.
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