Bowers and Wilkins 802 verses Focal 1038 BE

[JazzMaster]

Hello this is my first post hopefully this is in the right place. I am looking for some input on purchasing speakers for my home-theater/ 2 channel listening. I was 100 percent sure that I was going to purchase the 802 diamonds until I heard the Focal 1038's which sound amazing. I was able to do a in store comparison that left me very impressed with the performance of the Focal 1038s. I would like to know what are the pros and cons of owning either speaker. My equipment consist of Mcintosh MC452 and MC8207, MX121, NAD M51 DAC, and Oppo 105. Thanks I look forward to your response.

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Jazz

Hello this is my first post hopefully this is in the right place. I am looking for some input on purchasing speakers for my home-theater/ 2 channel listening. I was 100 percent sure that I was going to purchase the 802 diamonds until I heard the Focal 1038's which sound amazing. I was able to do a in store comparison that left me very impressed with the performance of the Focal 1038s. I would like to know what are the pros and cons of owning either speaker. My equipment consist of Mcintosh MC452 and MC8207, MX121, NAD M51 DAC, and Oppo 105. Thanks I look forward to your response.

I am a big fan of Focal and do not like BW speakers. Too bright for me.
Focal are very musical. Amazingly, I would say that they are more "british" !

[enit]

Originally Posted by Jazz

Hello this is my first post hopefully this is in the right place. I am looking for some input on purchasing speakers for my home-theater/ 2 channel listening. I was 100 percent sure that I was going to purchase the 802 diamonds until I heard the Focal 1038's which sound amazing. I was able to do a in store comparison that left me very impressed with the performance of the Focal 1038s. I would like to know what are the pros and cons of owning either speaker. My equipment consist of Mcintosh MC452 and MC8207, MX121, NAD M51 DAC, and Oppo 105. Thanks I look forward to your response.

Focals are definitely more accurate. They are also more dynamic, and they are "faster".

The W cone sandwiches is fast, with high damping factor and rigidity, and they are better than the drivers used in the B&W.

The Tweeter for focal is inverted. Which allows a lot of stability, rigidity, speed. It's beryllium. Lightest material for tweeters and rigid. Staging will be more pin-point, and they are easier to drive, which means lower distortion from
More amplifiers used, as they will be less strained as less is required to reach your desired spl. The speed makes it sound immediate which provides the Lively impression.

Overall, the Focals are better speakers price for price vs the b&w. And they are much more accurate if you are going for high fidelity.

B&Ws might perhaps be easier speakers to listen to and to look at, which is some of the reasons why they are so very popular. They've done well 20 odd years ago to achieve what they have done with their 800 series speakers, but instead of pushing the top, they made more on the lower ends so that the top seems much better. Focal has been innovating a lot of late, and they have done very well for the last 2-3 years, and have really caught up with b&ws in terms of popularity amongst "audiophiles".

Electra is a good choice. I would dare go one range down to say the Aria 948s will be better than the 802s. And you can bring on the Ds. I'm
Quite sure of that.

I recommend Focals based on a high-fidelity approach. Honest sounding vs what might sound nice to consumers. To each his own.

If you're open, the McIntosh xr100 is definitely worth a listen too. You might be pleasantly surprised. The imaging, staging is most superior among the three. It is also a very accurate speaker, with very wide and consistent dispersion which does well in many types of rooms.

A quick sum up would be: Focals bring more live to accurate sounding systems, McIntosh's current speaker line up allows a more consistent performance, and real superior, unwavering type of imaging and staging and not forgetting immense power handling (most for any speaker in its range), and B&W 800 series might sound and look good to you.

You've got a good looking set of electronics by the way.

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[jima4a]

When I was in the market last year I did have the 1038s on my list. The Ariel 7T, Salk Soundscape 8s, and 802D2s were also on my short list that I did not get to hear. I have heard others bring up the speed difference of the Kevlar mids to the Diamond tweeter but perhaps that is why they love power and control. As I have learned , good speakers will sound more alike than different. It may be subtle differences or sometimes less subtle room integration. If you can listen to both do so. Try to arrange home auditions if you are serious on that level, I did.

[Masterlu]

Jazz... Welcome!

[raidho]

Hi,

I'm B&W lover.

Anyway Focal in the last time is a big temptation for me too.

Sorry but a good competitor for the 802diamond can be the Utopia Diablo or a Scala (maybe a version 1 from a dealer showroom = new for a good price)

thx

Style

[vinod_david]

Originally Posted by enit

Focals are definitely more accurate. They are also more dynamic, and they are "faster".

The W cone sandwiches is fast, with high damping factor and rigidity, and they are better than the drivers used in the B&W.

The Tweeter for focal is inverted. Which allows a lot of stability, rigidity, speed. It's beryllium. Lightest material for tweeters and rigid. Staging will be more pin-point, and they are easier to drive, which means lower distortion from
More amplifiers used, as they will be less strained as less is required to reach your desired spl. The speed makes it sound immediate which provides the Lively impression.

Overall, the Focals are better speakers price for price vs the b&w. And they are much more accurate if you are going for high fidelity.

B&Ws might perhaps be easier speakers to listen to and to look at, which is some of the reasons why they are so very popular. They've done well 20 odd years ago to achieve what they have done with their 800 series speakers, but instead of pushing the top, they made more on the lower ends so that the top seems much better. Focal has been innovating a lot of late, and they have done very well for the last 2-3 years, and have really caught up with b&ws in terms of popularity amongst "audiophiles".

Electra is a good choice. I would dare go one range down to say the Aria 948s will be better than the 802s. And you can bring on the Ds. I'm
Quite sure of that.

I recommend Focals based on a high-fidelity approach. Honest sounding vs what might sound nice to consumers. To each his own.

If you're open, the McIntosh xr100 is definitely worth a listen too. You might be pleasantly surprised. The imaging, staging is most superior among the three. It is also a very accurate speaker, with very wide and consistent dispersion which does well in many types of rooms.

A quick sum up would be: Focals bring more live to accurate sounding systems, McIntosh's current speaker line up allows a more consistent performance, and real superior, unwavering type of imaging and staging and not forgetting immense power handling (most for any speaker in its range), and B&W 800 series might sound and look good to you.

You've got a good looking set of electronics by the way.

[Rod#S]

I guess I'm the complete opposite of enit. I have heard the Focal 1038 BE and B&W 804 Diamond in the same room with the same gear and actually prefer the 804 so I obviously prefer the 802 to the 1038. I would actually consider the 1038 a toss up between it and Paradigm's S8. I personally don't find anything great about the 1038. It's a very solid speaker great components, build quality, etc. but at the end of the day it didn't make me feel like I was part of the performance and I knew was still listening to a speaker. Granted I feel the 804 does that as well i.e. can't bring me into the performance or bring the performance to me but I just like it better then the 1038. It's not until listening to the 802 that I start to feel I'm there with the artists. There is a Alto Utopia in the same room as the 1038 and 804 and the Alto gives the same amazing experience as the 802/800 in my opinion.

[BVLDARI]

Interesting, I too auditioned several of the Focals. First, I LOVED the beryllium tweeters. However, that is where the love for these speakers ended for me. For some reason, I didn’t think the Focals sounded as “coherent” as the B&Ws did. Also, in my humble opinion, $ for $, no way Focal is a better deal.

My best advice is to go back and listen to the speakers for yourself again with your music. You will have to live with the purchase and the speakers so only you should be happy. At the end of the day, either of these speakers will keep you very happy

[enit]

I couldn't find the "honesty" with the b&ws as much as I would have loved to.

They are nicely voiced, easy to listen to. But not a "high fidelity" speaker comparing with what's available today.

If you prefer to relax and enjoy some music after a long day at work, without analyzing tones in detail, without enjoying natural resonances in high frequencies in piano sustain, you want some bass, b&w is quite the speaker.

I prefer that the speaker is more accurate than "tuned" to achieve a certain frequency curve, I will use EQ in my system where necessary to make poorer recordings listenable, but most of the time, I'm looking for tonal accuracy, speed, dynamics. Focal is better in these aspects.

Focals need a while to run in, and need some good and careful know-how to set up and optimize, and when they have been set up well, it's extreme pleasurable-enveloping yet accurate. Mcintosh and Focal is a great combination- both do their roles very well without relying too much on each other.

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