804 D3 vs 803 D2?

[playdrv4me]

Hello all,

Somewhat completely unexpectedly today, I have become the new owner of a pair of customer return 804 D3s I am about to go pick up in a couple of hours.

Part of the reason for this was that I had been waiting for months for a pair of display 803 D2s in gloss black to be shipped to my store and some kind of delay was occurring at the warehouse. I noticed they had a pair of customer returned 804 D3s and made an offer of 6k for them which was accepted, in lieu of continuing to wait for the 803 D2s at 4700. Wasn't expecting to get them for that, but they actually agreed.

After having owned a pair of 802 D2, and then 804 D2, I had finally come to the conclusion that the 803 D2 was the perfect member of that line. 802s were too bulky and not sufficiently better than the 803 to my ear, and 804 was the perfect size and near perfect sound but just a tad light on the bass spectrum.

Can the 804 D3 really step into the shoes of and perhaps exceed the 803 D2? It does seem like every speaker in the 800 D3 lineup has kind of "stepped up" a bit from their previous positions.

I *think* I'm excited to pick these up, just wanted to make sure I shouldn't have kept waiting!

[Gravity1]

From my experience I think you could have made either the 804s or 803s work simply by adding a good sub. Personally when I blind tested the D2s and D3s I couldn't tell the difference and picked wrong most of the time (pasted that test below) Definitely be excited and look into adding a sub to your system. I guarantee that is an investment worth every penny and you will absolutely hear the difference.

http://www.audioaficionado.org/b-w-s...nally-mix.html

Congrats!

[playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by Gravity1

From my experience I think you could have made either the 804s or 803s work simply by adding a good sub. Personally when I blind tested the D2s and D3s I couldn't tell the difference and picked wrong most of the time (pasted that test below) Definitely be excited and look into adding a sub to your system. I guarantee that is an investment worth every penny and you will absolutely hear the difference.

http://www.audioaficionado.org/b-w-s...nally-mix.html

Congrats!

See I thought about that, too. But if that's the case what I probably should have done is a pair of 805 D2 and a JL Audio Fathom F10. Would have been two or three grand cheaper, too lol. Hopefully for now the 804 D3 will be sufficient for my smaller listening room.

[joey_v]

6k for a 804d3? That's amazing for a local dealer

Be sure to let us know your impressions

When do they arrive?

[playdrv4me]

Picking them up now

[krustycat]

Originally Posted by playdrv4me

Picking them up now

Congrats.

You will be very happy.

In my opinion, the D3 series is much better than the previous, especially with the voices and piano sound for example.

Enjoy.

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

[BrianT]

Originally Posted by playdrv4me

Picking them up now

You will enjoy them, the D3 line are marvelous speakers.

Brian

[playdrv4me]

Thanks everyone. I'll report back once I've spent some time with them.

[playdrv4me]

Ok. So initial quick impressions... B&W have indeed done a tremendous job with the midrange resolution in these things. It's quite a nice improvement.

Here's the only problem: Midrange was not something I felt needed any improving in the D2. Whereas, at least for the 804, the bottom end did. Unfortunately, the mid range is now so pronounced that the deficiencies on the low side are even more apparent.

Now to be honest, I've never had 803 D2s in a personal listening environment where I can really gauge their bass performance. I may be making them out to be much more than they are in my head if the 804 itself isn't enough. But so far, I think I might actually be better off with either the 803s that are Getting quite thin on the ground, or a pair of 805 D2 and a nice subwoofer. I'll probably go ahead and add the subwoofer regardless, but once I make that expense I don't know that I'll feel justified in keeping the 804s anymore, as most of their sonic magic occurs in the higher octaves anyway.

It may be possible that these 804s just need some break in time. But I don't remember my last pair of 804 D2s needing such an accommodation.

[jfray]

Originally Posted by playdrv4me

Ok. So initial quick impressions... B&W have indeed done a tremendous job with the midrange resolution in these things. It's quite a nice improvement. Here's the only problem: Midrange was not something I felt needed any improving in the D2. Whereas, at least for the 804, the bottom end did. Unfortunately, the mid range is now so pronounced that the deficiencies on the low side are even more apparent. Now to be honest, I've never had 803 D2s in a personal listening environment where I can really gauge their bass performance. I may be making them out to be much more than they are in my head if the 804 itself isn't enough. But so far, I think I might actually be better off with either the 803s that are Getting quite thin on the ground, or a pair of 805 D2 and a nice subwoofer. I'll probably go ahead and add the subwoofer regardless, but once I make that expense I don't know that I'll feel justified in keeping the 804s anymore, as most of their sonic magic occurs in the higher octaves anyway. It may be possible that these 804s just need some break in time. But I don't remember my last pair of 804 D2s needing such an accommodation.

All speakers break in...... but you should like the sound out of the box and break in time should only improve your love for them. If you first impression is you don't like the sound, then no amount of break in time will change that.