805D3 Stereophile review
 

The review is already in the public domain... http://www.stereophile.com/content/b...YzGAeprfWQZ.97

I've heard them, albeit briefly, but I'm interested to hear from others if they agree with JA's overall assessment.

One thing that stands out is the rather elevated treble response, particularly compared with past iterations.

I've attached the on-axis measurement (Left) and included the 805 Nautilus (Right) measurement from Stereophile for visual comparison.

805D3 Stereophile review
 

I've had 805D3 for about one month now. First stereo system. Includes McIntosh MA5200, Mc MB50 Streamer, and SONOS Connect with Wyred4Sound upgrade, and REL T/9i sub. Cheap interconnects and BlueJeans biwired cable. First week, I thought I might return the 805D3. Treble was painful! I couldn't stand it. The first obvious reason was my bare walls (24x12 foot space). I added some "treatments" to left and right reflection areas and the treble became tolerable on most music except certain recording that have accentuated high frequencies. I also added the REL sub around the second week, which helped fill out the sound. After 100+ hours of new equipment burn in, they sounded pretty good, but I knew something was missing. some tracks were still fatiguing. Fast forward to today. I just received my Wireworld Eclipse 7 speaker cables (not biwired, using stock jumpers). Holy f**k!!!! I swear I teared up when I heard the first few tracks of Oscar Peterson (came up randomly in shuffle). I'm too new to this hobby to know how to describe it, but my ears have never heard anything this amazing. I've been playing a variety of genres and the diamond tweeters with the new cables sound completely right. There's a snap/punch that wasn't there before. They sound bigger and wider. The treble on my 805D3's before was like a shot of cheap/bad tequila - it burned and made my face contort in pain. Now, it's like good, quality tequila - smooth, warm, and makes me smile. So based on my recent experience, the 805D3's won't shine straight out of the box, which is probably true for most new equipment. I'm sure you all know this already, but for me, it was a true revelation how every detail counts in order to get the full, true performance out of hifi equipment. I just submitted my order for a full loom of Wireworld cables to replace my cheap interconnects and power cables. Thanks to all of you who participate in these forums for sharing your knowledge and experiences. I've been following you for a while as a guest, and now I hope to contribute so that others will benefit as I have.

edit: Been listening since I got home. In euphoric state from the amazing sound I didn't know could come out of my gear. Taking day off tomorrow. Not sleeping tonight. Never heard any of this music before, the way it sounds now.

edit 2: Did I die today and this is what music sounds like in heaven... or somewhere else?

edit3: I found system synergy on my first try. Like winning the lottery.

gsevilla... Welcome to AA! :wave:

gsevilla,

Your post was very entertaining.... I am very glad you found a system you like!!

I have the 802D3, and the unit gives me a smile every day.

I will agree with you, the D3 need careful attention to the room.

Look above you, your ceiling might need some treatments too. That'll further improve the sound and give you an even more palpable image.

Try this (if your ceilings are 10ft or less):

Fold a piece of paper, put it over the tweeter module and have it stick out about an inch beyond the diamond dome. This will negate some of the treble vertical dispersion.... if you like the sound (the image might pull down and be less tall) with the paper, then that likely means that the ceiling is needing treatment as you are getting smear from the ceiling.

Just my 2 cents. THis worked for me.

joey_v,
Funny you mention ceilings. I was wondering about my sloping ceiling. It goes from 8' to 10' across a 24'x12' area. My left speaker is under the 8' side and the right one under the 10' side. Speakers are about 8' apart. I'll try your tip tomorrow just to get an idea of the difference. It would seem that the slope is causing reflections to bounce to my right side. The weird thing is, today has been such a revelation that I'm afraid to do anything else that might screw up this perfection (to my ears, of course). How could it possibly get better?!?! I ordered matching jumper cables, a coax for the Sonos, XLR cables for MB50 streamer, and power cables from Wireworld. Overnight should arrive on Saturday. I'm eager to find out how these new cables will affect the sound. It can't get any better, can it? I wonder what $100k worth of audio gear sound like. For that money, it better make you climax!

Again, thanks for the tip.

I find this sentence more than a bit interesting: "Though its stereo imaging wasn't quite up to the holographic standard set by the Aerial 5Ts, the 805 D3s offered astonishing clarity in the midrange and treble."

I haven't heard the 805 D3s or the Aerial 5Ts, but did own the Nautilus 805, and had heard earlier versions of the Aerial 5... Has the imaging of the 805 gotten poorer, or have the Aerials simply improved that much?? My Nautilus 805s were pretty spectacular in that respect.

The other interesting comment JA made was he described the 805D3 as having "brilliance" and the treble with the KEF LS50 and Aerial 5T being more "naturally balanced".

I searched for a definition of Brilliance that I found in on a audio website that stated, "The 6kHz to 16kHz range that controls the brilliance and clarity of sounds. Too much emphasis in this range can produce sibilance on the vocals." Something that JA mentioned was that "Vocal sibilants were emphasized to a small degree".

Reading between the lines it appears that JA preferred the KEF LS50 and Aerial 5T to the 805D3 due to a more natural response overall.

On the other hand, Steve Guttenberg from CNET gave the 805D3 the "Audiophiliac Speaker of the Year Award.

Make sure you do the tip, message me or post back if you have questions. If you need clouds, check out my thread on the GIK subforum.

GIK Clouds Installation

I would typically say this is likely a room interaction issue... however since it is JA, I would have to assume that the guy has the room dialed down.

I am very sensitive to sibilance, I will listen to the 805d3 again... I have not noticed it to be particularly of an issue on my 802D3.

I am currently having some listening fatigue issue with the 805d3 and am concerned to say the least. I Recently upgraded amp and preamp which the speakers badly needed which also introduced the fatigue. I would think equipment is broken in at this point. Hard to estimate time, but less than 200 hours. Preamp less than amp.

I plan to try the paper test asap. I sure hope it’s room issues. I thought I had things under control with room treatments, but, nothing is on the 8’ ceiling. Fingers crossed. Currently streaming with node2i and will most likely be upgrading to Innuos mk3 streamer soon, hopefully that might help?