804 D3 vs 803 D2?

[playdrv4me]

Originally Posted by jfray

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.

Good point.

There is no doubt in my mind that the D3 is perhaps the greatest speaker on the planet at anywhere near this price point in terms of superb imaging and a new level of transparency in the mid-range. But considering so much was made about the Aerofoil woofers and the claims that all these speakers can dig into deeper octaves now, I'm somewhat disappointed. I kinda figured going in this would happen, since the 803s have eluded me since the day I decided they were the optimum model in the D2 line, I have come so close to owning them so many times and it just hasn't been the right time, or they haven't been a well cared for pair or this or that.

I'm also a little disappointed in the sense that I purposely avoided the D3 for so long because I didn't WANT to hear how much better the new mid-range was as weird as that sounds. It makes it very difficult to enjoy any other speaker when you've set the bar so high and as I mentioned, the D2s were no where near out-dated in my opinion. And now I'm no longer a D3 virgin. But the difference is no where near as stark as it was from say, the D1 to the D2 series.

I love B&W's 800 series, so I'm gonna try to give them at least a solid week of regular listening and maybe I'll start liking them. Otherwise, I'll put em up for sale and get the 805s and sub or assuming I actually find a pair, 803s.

[aardvarkbark]

Originally Posted by jfray

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.

I must respectfully disagree with this, as I believe all speaker manufacturers would too. The low end takes the longest to express itself in out-of-the-box speakers. If the OP initially senses a mid-range that dominates, I'd think that would be normal/expected. I'm on my third pair of B&Ws, none of which had the low end that I had heard during audition, but which ultimately did develop over time. The manufacturer even states they need 100 hrs of play to break-in.

[aardvarkbark]

Originally Posted by playdrv4me

....I love B&W's 800 series, so I'm gonna try to give them at least a solid week of regular listening and maybe I'll start liking them. Otherwise, I'll put em up for sale and get the 805s and sub or assuming I actually find a pair, 803s.

From what I understand, it's important to break them in with tunes that have the full dynamic range. Any Jaco / Weather Report in the collection to exercise the woofers?

[krustycat]

These speakers need about 200 hrs of break-in to sound their best.

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

[Gravity1]

Originally Posted by playdrv4me

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.

Yes, absolutely and that is exactly the setup I had with my MA5200 and it was stellar. I believe upgrading mains just for bass is extremely costly and will almost never get you anywhere near where a good dedicated sub will get you. Might try hunting ebay for subs. I snatched a NIB F10 for $1200, guy had two at the time and should have bought both but the performance was so significant I have now replaced the single F110 with (2) F112s also from eBay for almost the same price. Gte at least one and trust me you'll be very happy.

[diononiz]

Originally Posted by playdrv4me

Good point.

There is no doubt in my mind that the D3 is perhaps the greatest speaker on the planet at anywhere near this price point in terms of superb imaging and a new level of transparency in the mid-range. But considering so much was made about the Aerofoil woofers and the claims that all these speakers can dig into deeper octaves now, I'm somewhat disappointed. I kinda figured going in this would happen, since the 803s have eluded me since the day I decided they were the optimum model in the D2 line, I have come so close to owning them so many times and it just hasn't been the right time, or they haven't been a well cared for pair or this or that.

I'm also a little disappointed in the sense that I purposely avoided the D3 for so long because I didn't WANT to hear how much better the new mid-range was as weird as that sounds. It makes it very difficult to enjoy any other speaker when you've set the bar so high and as I mentioned, the D2s were no where near out-dated in my opinion. And now I'm no longer a D3 virgin. But the difference is no where near as stark as it was from say, the D1 to the D2 series.

I love B&W's 800 series, so I'm gonna try to give them at least a solid week of regular listening and maybe I'll start liking them. Otherwise, I'll put em up for sale and get the 805s and sub or assuming I actually find a pair, 803s.

Having had both the 804D2 and 804D3 in my room, I feel the D3 is better in every way except for price. Bass can be greatly impacted by how the speakers are placed in the room and my suggestion would be to experiment with in-room placement. I didn't have the 803d2 in my room to directly compare but from everything I have heard the 803 D2 and 804D3 bass are on par with each other in terms of extension, in terms of definition I would expect the 804D3 to be much better.

The 804D3, in comparison to the D2 had much greater detail in the treble with less harshness, deeper larger soundstage, tighter bass, better extension. The voices both male and female sounded much more realistic and like they were in the room. You could now hear breathing, microphone movement and background noise which were harder to hear with the D2.

Kal's review in the Stereophile describes much of the difference between the D2 and D3. Even thought the article was written regarding the 802D3, many of the differences described seem to apply to the 804D3.

[2dparrish]

I heard the 804 d3s with McIntosh amp/preamp and was quite floored by the low end response, full, clean. I was really surprised by how good they were! I heard the new 803 d3s in the room next door on Classe M600 monoblocks. The low end sound coming from 803s didn't exactly outclass that of the 804s. So I would agree with others, allow some break in time. Also, it is also dependent on the room size/placement (closer/further from room boundaries) and what amp/preamp you are using. It took my 802d3s a while for the bass to kick in. A sub is a good idea regardless of the low end response of your main speakers, in my opinion, as long as the quality of sub's bass matches them. Best wishes, and if you don't like them, they should sell easily.

[playdrv4me]

Thanks for all the superlative opinions everyone. Again, I don't want it to sound like I'm bad mouthing the speaker. Just sharing my observances so far. I'll give them a little more time

[Pio]

Originally Posted by playdrv4me

Thanks for all the superlative opinions everyone. Again, I don't want it to sound like I'm bad mouthing the speaker. Just sharing my observances so far. I'll give them a little more time

Low end has a lot to do with how the speakers are placed in the room and the room itself. I heard a pair of 805's that were rockin in the bass department, so your should sound pretty great. Place them closer to the front wall if you can.


Also, if you're running bi-wire , make sure the bass section is in correct phase, I had a pair of Audioquest that the dealer wired the bass wires incorrectly causing the bass to be a mess until I figured it out.


I recently broke in a pair of Revel speakers and the highs smoothed out considerably, so give em a few weeks.

Fwiw, I love deep extended bass that you can only get with a well integrated sub. I use a sub with my 802s in the HT set up and a pair of subs with my Revels.

Keep us posted.

[Gravity1]

I too would never want to purchase anything with the hopes it would get better with time. That aspect should be purely bonus and since it seems to happen over hundreds of hours of use, how can anyone truly measure how much it has improved with such a long process aside from blind testing identical speakers, new and broken in with the same system. Grab a good sub and you'll be one happy camper