B&W 802D3 Owners Club

[SMC23]

Originally Posted by 2dparrish

Krusrycat, there is hope😊. My 802 d3s in rosenut finally arrived and are to be delivered today!

I'm excited for you!!

Post pics/impressions when you can! What speakers are they replacing?

[krustycat]

Originally Posted by 2dparrish

Krusrycat, there is hope😊. My 802 d3s in rosenut finally arrived and are to be delivered today!

Congratulations!

My dealer told me that I have to wait 10-15 more days.

[musicjunkie]

I just got the 802 D3, the HTM1 D3 and the 805 D3, replacing the same speakers of the Diamond series. Those speakers were only 1 ½ years old, but I got a good price for them.
I replaced all speakers without changing the other components so I could compare the different sounds very effective.
And the new sound is amazing. It is classes better regarding nearly every point.
Every song has much more shape, drums and bass are much more present, life-like. The whole music skips to the listener’s body. I had this experience only with the Wilson Alexia and some horn-speakers before.
In the surround mode I can hear the perfect combination of the 802 D3 and the center HTM1 D3. They have exactly the same drivers.

[2dparrish]

Originally Posted by SMC23

I'm excited for you!! Post pics/impressions when you can! What speakers are they replacing?

They're replacing 803d2's that I had only since last June. I am still working with placement (not spiked down yet), but right out of the box they sound much more open in the midrange, with a top to bottom coherence that was somewhat missing from the 803d2s. I've been burning in all day today. Already the speakers sound smooooooth, without detectable color or distortion of any kind. As others have noted, there is more detail, especially from the midrange down. The sound is so effortlessly produced and unclolored/fast that I am hearing details I've never heard before--individually bowing on strings, more sense of complex orchestral passages, etc.The tweeter sounds as fast as the one on the 803d2, but I haven't heard any initial brightness as I did with the other speakers (although the tweeter did calm down in the 803s after burn in). Soundstage is of course much improved and less sensitive to placement. I hear more width and a bit more depth as well. Having the port facing down (instead of forward on the 803d2) seems to be a good change as well for my room. I know bass will improve over time, but even unspiked it is taughter and goes lower.

Voices are the biggest improvement so far noticeable, lacking any chestiness or nasality sometimes heard in the 803s. Please understand that I very MUCH liked the 803d2, but when I first heard the difference to the new series demomstrated I felt it rose to a new level. So far, that's what I'm hearing in my home setup--a new level of resolution and realism.

I'm using a Classe Sigma Amp5/SSP to drive them. They're handling them fine, although more power at a later date would be intriguing--especially a MacInosh setup like I heard them demonstrated with. Wish I could trade my HTM2 for the new one (since the midrange is so different), but I guess that will have to wait until I recover from this purchase!

I'm not sure how to post a picture--if I figure it out I'd love to show them to you!

[audiohippo]

Originally Posted by musicjunkie

I just got the 802 D3, the HTM1 D3 and the 805 D3, replacing the same speakers of the Diamond series. Those speakers were only 1 ½ years old, but I got a good price for them.
I replaced all speakers without changing the other components so I could compare the different sounds very effective.
And the new sound is amazing. It is classes better regarding nearly every point.
Every song has much more shape, drums and bass are much more present, life-like. The whole music skips to the listener’s body. I had this experience only with the Wilson Alexia and some horn-speakers before.
In the surround mode I can hear the perfect combination of the 802 D3 and the center HTM1 D3. They have exactly the same drivers.

Congrats, that's a really good combination. What electronics you running?

[joey_v]

Originally Posted by 2dparrish

They're replacing 803d2's that I had only since last June. I am still working with placement (not spiked down yet), but right out of the box they sound much more open in the midrange, with a top to bottom coherence that was somewhat missing from the 803d2s. I've been burning in all day today. Already the speakers sound smooooooth, without detectable color or distortion of any kind. As others have noted, there is more detail, especially from the midrange down. The sound is so effortlessly produced and unclolored/fast that I am hearing details I've never heard before--individually bowing on strings, more sense of complex orchestral passages, etc.The tweeter sounds as fast as the one on the 803d2, but I haven't heard any initial brightness as I did with the other speakers (although the tweeter did calm down in the 803s after burn in). Soundstage is of course much improved and less sensitive to placement. I hear more width and a bit more depth as well. Having the port facing down (instead of forward on the 803d2) seems to be a good change as well for my room. I know bass will improve over time, but even unspiked it is taughter and goes lower.

Voices are the biggest improvement so far noticeable, lacking any chestiness or nasality sometimes heard in the 803s. Please understand that I very MUCH liked the 803d2, but when I first heard the difference to the new series demomstrated I felt it rose to a new level. So far, that's what I'm hearing in my home setup--a new level of resolution and realism.

I'm using a Classe Sigma Amp5/SSP to drive them. They're handling them fine, although more power at a later date would be intriguing--especially a MacInosh setup like I heard them demonstrated with. Wish I could trade my HTM2 for the new one (since the midrange is so different), but I guess that will have to wait until I recover from this purchase!

I'm not sure how to post a picture--if I figure it out I'd love to show them to you!

That's awesome man!!

[musicjunkie]

Originally Posted by audiohippo

Congrats, that's a really good combination. What electronics you running?

Thank You, audiohippo.
For multi-channel music and film I use the Arcam AV950 + Oppo 103, for stereo the PSAudio Directstream DAC, the amp is the Arcam P777, my speaker cables are cheap solid copper cables (5 mm²).[IMG]w:\P3050183.JPG[/IMG]
Some days ago a room acoustics expert came to me and measured the room (16 x 20 feet) to optimize the sound. I will get the results soon and add the right elements to the room.
After this work I will look for better cables, if there are any...

[Masterlu]

musicjunkie... Welcome to AA!

[Art Vandelay]

For those interested, the technical pages from the recent review in Audio Esoterica are now available in the sister magazine Australia HiFi.

[2dparrish]

Speaker update: the 802s are already settling in. After the first 12+ hours the bass is fuller/more present, and the overall sound is MILES ahead of my previous generation 803s. As others have said, I can't hear any transition points from woofer to midrange to tweeter. Sound stage is SO much better. They have an easy-listening quality that at the same time sees further into the music than I've heard before. Hi-rez sounds fantastic, and old redbook cds sound more musical than I thought possible.

However, I have had a (hopefully) small issue with the spiking system. On one of the speakers, the rear left spike doesn't want to hold the weight of the speaker when unwinding counter-clockwise. It acts as if the spike is a bit too small/doesn't fit the receptacle correctly. I hoped the screw isn't stripped or something. All seven of the other spikes have screwed down perfectly. Has anyone else had this issue? The speakers DO sound better spiked, and I really appreciate the magnetic disc which allows me to spoke them to our hardwood floor. I have a call into my dealer, who will be speaking with B&W about this. Hopefully it's an easy fix. Otherwise, I LOVE these speakers!