Pictures of your B&W Set-up

[HedgeHog]

That looks really nice....congrats, Style! :T

BTW, do you find that the 802Di need that much toe-in? For the life of me, I cannot get a good center image...it always seem to be left-biased.

I also, have a corner fireplace on the left side. Does your reflect a quite bit of sound? I'm wondering if that's my problem.

Cheers.

-H

[BWLover]

That looks really nice....congrats, Style! :T

BTW, do you find that the 802Di need that much toe-in? For the life of me, I cannot get a good center image...it always seem to be left-biased.

I also, have a corner fireplace on the left side. Does your reflect a quite bit of sound? I'm wondering if that's my problem.

Cheers.

-H

I'm no expert. But you could have a slight hearing imbalance. I've been told that both ears do not hear identically. Just like one hand is bigger, one legs is longer etc etc. I know a few people with imbalances and it makes the centre vocalist sound just a little to the right/left

[Birdy]

That looks really nice....congrats, Style! :T

BTW, do you find that the 802Di need that much toe-in? For the life of me, I cannot get a good center image...it always seem to be left-biased.

I also, have a corner fireplace on the left side. Does your reflect a quite bit of sound? I'm wondering if that's my problem.

Cheers.

-H

Héhéhéeee same here, rather strange, fireplace on the left; when the center image is not centered (which is not always the case otherwise I could compensate once and for all with a little balance adjustment) it is always left-biased, never right-biased!
Funny thing is that I know since a long time I have some damaged frequencies in one ear; but again it's the left one so I was expecting to hear the right soundstage more pronounced than the left one and not the opposite.... :E :E :E :E :E

Life is strange!

[HedgeHog]

While I do suspect my hearing is not the greatest, I am thinking my issue is system related. If I turn my back to the system, it becomes right-biased. I played with the balance the other day and to most the image to the center, I had to biased 5.0dB to the right.

Anyhoo, glad to know I'm not alone! hehehe.

Congrats again to the new stuff, guys. I'll post mine one day....room's so messy with kid toys.

[EDIT] I think my room is too small for these speakers.

[style]

hallo HedgeHog,

the picture is similar .....: is your room is square?

in my room is on the left where there is a fireplace I'm going place a pael like you.....other side I have a long wall with a a wall with a door, the second speakers and another 5 / 6 meters living room. This is a table for dinner guests .

total room is around 50m2.
unfortunaly the sistem is placed in "vertical" and not in the "orizontal" = have the long wall from 9 meter where place the speaker whit the fireplace at the rear from the listing place......

style

[Rod#S]

Very nice setup there HedgeHog, it looks great.

[HedgeHog]

Style: yeah, i've put up the previous rack pix in the Classe forum. Since then, I've added 2 x CA-M400, the new 802Di/HTM2Di, and added a couple of corner bass traps. My "family room" is 15' W x 13' L x 9' H (4.5m x 4m x 2.7m) but the back is opened to the kitchen. So the total length is really 32' (9.7m). I'm considering some RPC B.A.D. panels on the ceiling to see if it'll help.

Rod#S: Thx. I wish it sounds as good as I heard them in the demo space. As an impulse buy, I pre-ordered a set of Evolution Acoustics mmMicroOne. Their siblings sounded so smooth on Youtube that I had to try these baby ones. We'll see...

-H

[Rod#S]

...

Rod#S: Thx. I wish it sounds as good as I heard them in the demo space. As an impulse buy, I pre-ordered a set of Evolution Acoustics mmMicroOne. Their siblings sounded so smooth on Youtube that I had to try these baby ones. We'll see...

-H

Sorry to hear you are not satisfied with the sound as you have a lot of great pieces in your setup. The room can play a huge part in the sound and it is true what works in one room will not always work in another. Hopefully you can get the speakers dialed in and sounding great. Something else you may want to experiment with is different amps, you obviously have a lot invested in Classe amps but it can't hurt to shop around especially if you have a good dealer that will let you do in home demos.

In regards to the EA speakers, if you like them will you be selling your B&W gear or are they to be used in a 2nd system?

Thanks,

Rod

[mjb]

While I do suspect my hearing is not the greatest, I am thinking my issue is system related. If I turn my back to the system, it becomes right-biased. I played with the balance the other day and to most the image to the center, I had to biased 5.0dB to the right.

The right speaker has a nice hard corner behind it which will extend the effective speaker baffle and produce a larger sound. The trap will help, but not across band. Then the left hand speaker has a big tuned hole behind it (the fire-place), which will absorb a lot of the speakers SPL, especially the lower freqs. These effects together will give you your heavy right bias. If the environment and speaker placement is not optically balanced (symmetrical), neither will the audio balance. I have the same problem

You don't show the rest of the room, but if you have the chance, I'd seriously play with the placement - I know this isn't always easy or practical, and there's often the WAF to worry about too, but the results might be worth it.

Otherwise, congrats on having some great kit :T

[HedgeHog]

Rod#S: If the EA stuff seems to draw me in as much as I'm hyping them to, I may consider selling the 802Di/HTM2Di combo and getting the EA mmTwo or mmThree. For home theater, anything will suffice...imho, I feel 2-ch requires more to get it engaging while almost any decent 5.1 setup will be fine with movies.


mjb: While I agree with what you said, the problem is I am experience the opposite effect. So far, it's left biased. I think I'll do a simple channel swap test to see if it's the gear.

WRT placement, this setup has already failed the WAF test. However, I fear that moving the left speaker closer to the fireplace (in order to center the system) will cause even more left-bias. Also, I had lag bolts installed to hang the plasma...sure hate to do that again. We'll see.


While I still like this system a lot, I'm just not feeling it's met its high expectation. More like "cool" instead of "wow". Maybe, it's also my homemade cables...it's got to be the weakest link since I'm no pro.

-H

[mrciave]

While I do suspect my hearing is not the greatest, I am thinking my issue is system related. If I turn my back to the system, it becomes right-biased. I played with the balance the other day and to most the image to the center, I had to biased 5.0dB to the right.

Anyhoo, glad to know I'm not alone! hehehe.

Congrats again to the new stuff, guys. I'll post mine one day....room's so messy with kid toys.

[EDIT] I think my room is too small for these speakers.

Hi, great system! What kind of bass trap is hanging on the right corner?

[mrciave]

While I still like this system a lot, I'm just not feeling it's met its high expectation. More like "cool" instead of "wow". Maybe, it's also my homemade cables...it's got to be the weakest link since I'm no pro.

-H

]
Mmmm, cables... Today I just got the "WOW" out of my system, while before it was just "COOL", and if you check the change in the signature between the previous and this post, you'll know why. Power cords.

The only suggestion could be to tell you don't give up, experiment (possibly trying used stuff so that you don't need to fork the cash blindly), probably your home-made cables shine in some aspect but they are poor in some other... I find that only big companies are able to balance all factors so that, given a budget, you will get a balanced product.

[mrciave]

Well done Style!!! Welcome to the mickey mouse midrange :lol: !

You've got great gear as well. So what, should I also upgrade from 802D to 802Di???

[mrciave]

Hey style, in the second picture I see a furry 803/4/5 head... Did you made your surrounds cow-fur wrapped?

Apart from jokes, what's the speaker there? I was almost thinking it could be a Signature Diamond, but it's furry :rofl:

[Rod#S]

...

Apart from jokes, what's the speaker there? I was almost thinking it could be a Signature Diamond, but it's furry :rofl:

I think style is using 805S speakers for the surrounds in black ash.

[grit]

Hey HedgeHog,

First off, I'm envious; great gear you have there. Second, not to beat a dead horse, but the room is what's killing your system. You might consider swapping to a less expensive HT system in that room and keeping the the 802s and a 2-ch amp plus pre-amp in another, more acoustic friendly room, for music.

I'm looking at some B&W brochure photos. The speakers look great, but the locations they show them (up against a wall or with a large glass window right between them) are really horrible for acoustics. I just moved homes and replaced NOTHING in my system. Exact same gear. The sound is NOT at all close to what I remember because the room and orientation are drastically different.

My darling, sweet wife couldn't tell the difference (or at least she doesn't care), but grudgingly accepts my obsessive desire to move things around (within reason). I'm a fan of the separate 2ch room. HT is more forgiving (IMO). I'd go that route myself but i don't have the room or budget to split my system.

Good luck, and let us know what you end up doing.

[HedgeHog]

mrciave: Thx. Those corner bass traps are from Primacoustic. They use a loose membrane to absorb bass energy: http://www.primacoustic.com/maxtrap.htm

grit: I have to concur about the room...but it's all I am allowed to have. I'll see if room treatment helps.

I went to another dealer today and listened to their demo room with Avalon Indra speakers playing through a VTL integrated and sourced from an EMM Labs SACD player. While it was open and airy, I prefer the B&W/Classe setup so far...I think I needed perspective.

Cheers,
-H

[red_curly81]

B&W 683, ASW-510XP, Elite SC-25, G25 Plasma

B&W 683, ASW-510XP, Elite SC-25, 42" Panasonic G25 Plasma. PS3 streaming iTunes and FLAC files from iMac in office.

B&W's are Bi-amped from Pioneer Elite SC-25 for 280watts RMS per channel.

Streaming FLAC's sound very good, better than a CD player.

[jrdiandrea]

New Pix of my Room

I posted my Room & system a few weeks ago for the 1st time but as I mentioned, the photos were 2 years old and featured my old N802s. I just recently replaced my front end with 800 Diamonds, HTM2 Diamond and 2 DB1s. I also added two Viola amps which are amazing performers. This combination has proved to be phenomenal. Accuracy, depth, and all the performance characteristics you want to achieve. I listen to music almost daily. Never tire of it. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Of course, movies are spectacular, too!!

[jrdiandrea]

Having trouble uploading all of the pix....heres another

[jrdiandrea]

more photos

and a couple more.....

[Rod#S]

Beautiful!

[jrdiandrea]

Thx!!

[htsteve]

jrdiandrea,

Excellent room!



red_curly81,

Very nice and clean set up!

[stuofsci02]

Hello All,

I added some more goodies for HT since my last post:

Emotiva UMC-1
Emotiva UPA-1 (to power my HTM3s)
Emotiva UPA-2 (to power my CM7 rears)
Grant Fidelity DAC-09 (For fun)

For stereo listening I am still using my Oppo-83SE as a source to Emotiva USP-1 preamp, to Chord Amp, to the 804s. Still need to take a a few days off to finish painting the doors and trim and installing door knobs.

Cheers,

Stuart

[Hammie]

^^ Very clean install, Stuart!!!

Nice job. How are you liking all the Emo gear?

[wettou]

Having trouble uploading all of the pix....heres another

Absolutely superb!! :T

My dream to have a room like that I have the equipment but I need a dedicated room maybe in a few years when we move

Was it Designed by Rives Audio? Where are you located I would love to come and listen

[stuofsci02]

^^ Very clean install, Stuart!!!

Nice job. How are you liking all the Emo gear?

Thanks Hammie,

So for so good on the Emo gear. It is definately huge bang for the buck...

I compared my USP-1 to the Chord Preamp that I am in love with and while it definately was inferior, it really held its own quite well.

I am going to compare my Chord Amp (130 wpc) against the UPA-2 (125 wpc). At 1/10th the price I am interested to see how it does.

How do you like your XPA-1's. Your installation looks very nice too. I like how you have the HTM3s at the same level as your mains..

[DeepEndX]

jrdiandrea:

Very Nice! What is the dimension of the room? I am currently converting my basement to home theater room. Thanks!

[jrdiandrea]

Absolutely superb!! :T

My dream to have a room like that I have the equipment but I need a dedicated room maybe in a few years when we move

Was it Designed by Rives Audio? Where are you located I would love to come and listen

Yea...it was designed by Rives. Accoustically, the room performs extremely well. It's one of the most important "instruments" in the entire chain and allows the componants and speakers to rise to their potential. It was always a drweam of mine, too. Thje biggest chalenge in the past was ALWAYS trying to find a space where I could arrange everything as it needed to be while fiting into the function of the home.

[jrdiandrea]

jrdiandrea:

Very Nice! What is the dimension of the room? I am currently converting my basement to home theater room. Thanks!

Hi Deepend.

The room is not ideal dimensionally. It is approx 21' wide, 27' deep. The ceiling is 10' in the front, and 8' in the rear. It was [part of an addition project to my home. I forget the ideal dimensions...it should by deeper than it is wide. You want to stay away from equal sides all the way around (squares). Once I determined the final domesion of the room, we then worked on how to construct it acoustically and otherwise.

[stuofsci02]

jrdiandrea,

Amazing.... I would never leave that room...

[wettou]

Yea...it was designed by Rives. Acoustically, the room performs extremely well. It's one of the most important "instruments" in the entire chain and allows the components and speakers to rise to their potential. It was always a dream of mine, too. The biggest challenge in the past was ALWAYS trying to find a space where I could arrange everything as it needed to be while fitting into the function of the home.

Very nice, I could tell Rives signature is all over it :T I could not agree more the room is 50% of the sound

[Dmantis]

Hello All,

I added some more goodies for HT since my last post:

Emotiva UMC-1
Emotiva UPA-1 (to power my HTM3s)
Emotiva UPA-2 (to power my CM7 rears)
Grant Fidelity DAC-09 (For fun)

For stereo listening I am still using my Oppo-83SE as a source to Emotiva USP-1 preamp, to Chord Amp, to the 804s. Still need to take a a few days off to finish painting the doors and trim and installing door knobs.

Cheers,

Stuart

You look to have very good front speaker placement. You also are using the CM7's as rear channel speakers. Well done! But can we talk about those CM7 speaker wires? The front is so nice and clean( something I don't see that often)

[stuofsci02]

Dmantis,

You are right for sure... Those CM7 speaker wires are not clean.. Actually the whole back of the room is not finished yet (as you can see by the stack of baseboards and homedepot bags). My intention is to switch the rears to 805s or another set of 804s and use the same white speaker cable I used for the fronts. I'll leave enough coiled up back there that I can move them out into the room for movies and multichannel music.

I am very happy this my front speaker placement.. I was able to get the speakers 42" off the front wall and about 31" off the sides. That really opened them up compared to when they were upstairs in a smaller room.. I still need some treatments though.

Cheers,

Stuart

[Rod#S]

I posted my Room & system a few weeks ago for the 1st time but as I mentioned, the photos were 2 years old and featured my old N802s. I just recently replaced my front end with 800 Diamonds, HTM2 Diamond and 2 DB1s. I also added two Viola amps which are amazing performers. This combination has proved to be phenomenal. Accuracy, depth, and all the performance characteristics you want to achieve. I listen to music almost daily. Never tire of it. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Of course, movies are spectacular, too!!

I have never heard of Viola amps before so I Googled them and found their website. Nice gear. By the looks of your pictures are you using 2 Symphony amps running in bridged mode?

I totally missed that B&W are now offering the DB1's in Cherry and Rosenut, nice move on their part as seeing the matching color scheme in your room looks much better than if they had of been piano black with the rest of your gear in rosenut :T So how are you running the subs, stereo, dual mono or split off the LFE channel? I run my 3 subs from my MC-12 in stereo and LFE but I have read all different implementations being used by people. Just nice to see the flexibility in the MC-12.

Rod

[style]

Hi Rod,

the Viola amplifier are really amazing!

sorry jrdiandrea what for model of Viola do you have ? to drive the mains or?

I think are "Symphony" is correct?

style

[jrdiandrea]

[QUOTE=Rod#S]I have never heard of Viola amps before so I Googled them and found their website. Nice gear. By the looks of your pictures are you using 2 Symphony amps running in bridged mode?

I totally missed that B&W are now offering the DB1's in Cherry and Rosenut, nice move on their part as seeing the matching color scheme in your room looks much better than if they had of been piano black with the rest of your gear in rosenut :T So how are you running the subs, stereo, dual mono or split off the LFE channel? I run my 3 subs from my MC-12 in stereo and LFE but I have read all different implementations being used by people. Just nice to see the flexibility in the MC-12.

Hi Rod & Style.

The Violas are the symphony's. One for each 800 and they are bridged. They are amazing. Really clean, detailed and extemely dynamic. it made a huge difference when I added them.

Yea....really glad they released the wood grains for the DB1. Great timing....I was fortunate not to have purchased before they were released. I'm running one DB1 on the left cjhannel and one on the right. The MC12 does present a lot of flexibility. I wish I were an engineer so i might have a much better grasp of all things electronic! Its been exhausting, albeit fun, to try to educate myself!

[style]

hi jrdiandrea,

I believe you, the viola is very clean and great amplifier...is too very expensive ops:

I have listen at the top Audio in Milan the Viola ....is a very audiophile ampli: 2 channel pure!
for the HT is too much! but ou can sure listen in stereo at the top!

style

[vlasis]

stuofsci02 .....i think is getting better every day your system!!!!
Of course your listening room is all the money......lucky guy!!! ;x( :T :T

[stuofsci02]

stuofsci02 .....i think is getting better every day your system!!!!
Of course your listening room is all the money......lucky guy!!! ;x( :T :T

Thanks! I am really starting to enjoy it.. Finally the work is paying off..

Now to get some 802's like you!

[krtko]

Dears,
its going to be over year now that I started to build the system of my dreams ... and even its not finished yet, I would like to share it with you:

Engine: DENON AVC-A1HD + DBP-4010UD with Samsung Plazma 63" screen
Front speakers: B&W 803 Diamond running by bi-amp + HTM2 Diamond as a center
Back speakers: B&W DM604 S3 (to be replaced by B&W 804 or 805 Diamond)
Subwoofer: still thinking about necessity ... I love concerts and I feel bass just enough.




As a passive (however frequent) reader of your posts, comments, photos, advices ... I found lot of inspirations & advices to utilize - thanks for that.

krtko

[JCLH]

Krtko: that is a great setup! I love the collors, the floor in combination with the speakers and the furniture. That Denon is a beauty and will run even more smooth with a power amp. But the best (and perhaps cheapest) upgrade for you would be: buy a new piece of furniture to put you TV on. The left speaker is to close to the wall, limiting its output. If it had space to breath, it will improve audio quality a lot I think.

[scanido]

krtko - Those 803's look awesome. Great setup!

[Prof]

My system...

Here is my first post, in any forum, ever.

I just bought my system which was ordered in December 2010 and arrived in March 2011. They had problems getting the 800Ds.

My system:
Olive 4HD music servier (controlled by my Ipad from armchair )
PS audio DAC (better than the Olive'd DAC by far)
Electrocompaniet 4.8 pre-amp (4.7 on loan until it arrives)
Electrocompaniet 600W monoblocks
B&W 800Ds
Transparent interconnects
Transparent ultra speaker cable (on loan until biwires arrive).
Also waiting for PS audio P10 power conditioner

We have 3 phase power and system is plugged straight into the street
Transparent power cords for all components.
My room is huge with a roof that slopes up away from the speakers like an ampitheatre.

Trying to attach pics but I don't think I'm allowed to post attachments being a new member. A shame given the name of the thread! Oh well.

My system sounds incredible. I heard krell monoblocks with Focal utopias but IMHO I liked my system better (just as well as it was a lot cheaper). That is what sealed the decision for me (hearing a more expensive system that I didn't like as much).

The soundstage was slightly better in the demo room, but I haven't experimented with speaker position yet (a bit hard given the weight and the very serious spikes in the floor). Also haven't biwired the speakers yet. I am hoping this will improve what already sounds amazing to me.

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated. My room has a lot of windows and I was worried about that but it doesn't seem to matter unless you turn it up to stupid levels.