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  #11  
Old 07-17-2017, 09:34 PM
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krustycat krustycat is offline
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I am just listening to Supertramp - Crime of the Century, 24-192 .wav hdtracks, at crazy loud volume with no distortion whatsoever, best download ever, through my 802's d3. Sweeeet.
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  #12  
Old 07-17-2017, 09:38 PM
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Originally Posted by joey_v View Post
Thanks... It was enlightening to say the least. I lost nearly $1,000 with this process, but I would've lost 5x more had I not had the backing of the dealer.


Not only we learned that you have a terrific family, but now we now you have a great dealer too.

Now..... Please just enjoy the music [emoji445] until we get the D4's

[emoji1]
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  #13  
Old 07-17-2017, 09:48 PM
ariess ariess is offline
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I had a similar experience as Joey. 802D3 sounded perfect but I wondered what more I could get with 800D3. An audition at my dealer convinced me to take the plunge on a home trial with delivery costs as skin in the game. When I got the 800D3 home it was way too much bass. I decided that my room was too small to tame the 800's and I canceled the change and stuck with my 802D3's. Maybe in my next audio room (around the corner) which is bigger I will try again, though that room may be too small too. Given what I have read (between the lines) in reviews, 800D3 vs 802D3, it seems that reviewers have had similar problems. I strongly urge anyone thinking of bringing in 800D3 not to make a blind buy, have a home audition. It would be interesting to get Patrick Butler's take on this. Is there a minimum room size he or B&W can share to play well with the 800D3?
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  #14  
Old 07-17-2017, 10:37 PM
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Originally Posted by ariess View Post
I had a similar experience as Joey. 802D3 sounded perfect but I wondered what more I could get with 800D3. An audition at my dealer convinced me to take the plunge on a home trial with delivery costs as skin in the game. When I got the 800D3 home it was way too much bass. I decided that my room was too small to tame the 800's and I canceled the change and stuck with my 802D3's. Maybe in my next audio room (around the corner) which is bigger I will try again, though that room may be too small too. Given what I have read (between the lines) in reviews, 800D3 vs 802D3, it seems that reviewers have had similar problems. I strongly urge anyone thinking of bringing in 800D3 not to make a blind buy, have a home audition. It would be interesting to get Patrick Butler's take on this. Is there a minimum room size he or B&W can share to play well with the 800D3?
Adam and I have talked on the phone and we shared similar experiences.

I would suggest a room that is 18x24 at the very least. Probably need a good 13 feet from the speaker plane to have great coherence.

No question the 800D3 is the better speaker. But the 802D3 is very good on its own.
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  #15  
Old 07-17-2017, 11:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Levitator View Post
Sounds like great dealer support as that's a good outcome - funnily enough I listened to the 800D3 and 802D3 a few weeks ago with my wife and we both preferred the 800 - having said that they had a large room and a set up similar to you describe in terms of speaker and listening position. This would simply not work in our house and thanks to your advice I know now we would be wasting our time with the 800 as much as i love the idea of it!

Now I just need to audition the 802D3 against my current 802D2 in home and see if the price jump is worthwhile (my suspicion is it will be).
I had the 802D2 for 5 years before I purchased the 802D3. There is a night and day difference between the two. The 802D3 is much more musical and 3-D. The sound is completely detached from the speaker. The bass is far more accurate allowing me to hear textural details in bass instruments I never knew was there. Voices sound life-like and palpable where you feel the singer is in the room with you.

While the 802D2 is an excellent speaker the new D3 is on a completely different level. I believe much of this is due to the new cabinet design and driver materials which has reduced distortion.

I am sure if you decide to trial the 802D3 you will agree as others on this forum have that this speaker is superior in all aspects of sound reproduction.
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  #16  
Old 07-18-2017, 12:08 AM
Art Vandelay Art Vandelay is offline
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Joey, pity you weren't able to get the room tuned to the 800's, but that's also why there are smaller speakers in the range. From my calcs, 21x16x8.5 is about the minimum room size for a large speaker, so in your smaller room you would need to resort to some type of active EQ / room correction to get the bass balance correct. The main thing though is that you're happy with the end result, and having tried the 800's you're now content in the knowledge that you have the most optimum speaker for your listening room, so you no longer need to wonder about the 'what-if's'.
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  #17  
Old 07-18-2017, 07:53 AM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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Originally Posted by Art Vandelay View Post
Joey, pity you weren't able to get the room tuned to the 800's, but that's also why there are smaller speakers in the range. From my calcs, 21x16x8.5 is about the minimum room size for a large speaker, so in your smaller room you would need to resort to some type of active EQ / room correction to get the bass balance correct. The main thing though is that you're happy with the end result, and having tried the 800's you're now content in the knowledge that you have the most optimum speaker for your listening room, so you no longer need to wonder about the 'what-if's'.
Dave

It was not just the bass, the bass was sounding quite good towards the end of the month-long stint since I added more traps and moved them around. They never worked where I had taped the prior 802D3s were....

However, I think I was more bothered by the midrange and lack of coherency of the staging/imaging. I think the reason was because I didn't have the room length.

Had I not had my 802D3 in my room prior, I would've stuck with the 800D3 as it was already sounding good.... but because I had the 802D3 prior, I knew that I had a more "preferable" sound to what I was hearing coming out of the 800D3 in my system, if that makes sense....?

When are you getting your 800D3?

Last edited by joey_v; 07-18-2017 at 07:56 AM.
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  #18  
Old 07-18-2017, 08:06 AM
Down Under Down Under is offline
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Originally Posted by GregGale View Post
I had the 802D2 for 5 years before I purchased the 802D3. There is a night and day difference between the two. The 802D3 is much more musical and 3-D. The sound is completely detached from the speaker. The bass is far more accurate allowing me to hear textural details in bass instruments I never knew was there. Voices sound life-like and palpable where you feel the singer is in the room with you.

While the 802D2 is an excellent speaker the new D3 is on a completely different level. I believe much of this is due to the new cabinet design and driver materials which has reduced distortion.

I am sure if you decide to trial the 802D3 you will agree as others on this forum have that this speaker is superior in all aspects of sound reproduction.
Absolutely correct.
The gap is enormous.
Never liked B&W at all till I heard the 802D3.
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  #19  
Old 07-18-2017, 08:12 AM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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Originally Posted by Down Under View Post
Absolutely correct.
The gap is enormous.
Never liked B&W at all till I heard the 802D3.
Back to back'd them. I suggest whoever wants to move up to the 802D3, look for my review here for them.
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  #20  
Old 07-18-2017, 09:33 AM
Art Vandelay Art Vandelay is offline
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Originally Posted by joey_v View Post
Dave

It was not just the bass, the bass was sounding quite good towards the end of the month-long stint since I added more traps and moved them around. They never worked where I had taped the prior 802D3s were....

However, I think I was more bothered by the midrange and lack of coherency of the staging/imaging. I think the reason was because I didn't have the room length.

Had I not had my 802D3 in my room prior, I would've stuck with the 800D3 as it was already sounding good.... but because I had the 802D3 prior, I knew that I had a more "preferable" sound to what I was hearing coming out of the 800D3 in my system, if that makes sense....?

When are you getting your 800D3?

Thanks for the detailed reply Joey, that's interesting. In theory at least, the two speakers should be essentially equal in terms of imaging and with the same FST / tweeter head and drivers, and same crossover configuration, the wave-front coherency should be achieved at roughly the same distance. Although only slightly different it's possible that the different heights of the individual drivers produces a less desirable in-room response due to floor and ceiling interactions / multipath effects, but maybe there's also a subtle difference in the bass-mid transition due to the different bass drivers that necessitates a greater listening distance. I look forward to reading feedback from other 800d3 owners in future; Hopefully they can shed some light.

Re the 800d3's, I'm still with the D2's until I move house and build a custom room, which might not be until next year now, but I'm actually very happy with the existing setup, even having heard the 800D3's in various showrooms with good acoustics, so I can tolerate the wait, just.
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