Alternatives to 804

[MaximusII]

I am very new to HT but I have quickly gone from a HTIB to a HK receiver, outlaw mono blocks and 4 Infinity Alpha 50 speakers with Alpha 20 rears. I very much enjoy what I have, but I have an issue:

A few months ago as I shopped for a DLP/LCoS tv I made the mistake of wandering to the audio section and auditioning a pair of B&W 804 speakers. They made my Infinitys sound like they were under water.

I really enjoyed the detailed sound of the 804s, but after regaining conciousness after see the price I listened to the 704s and was much less impressed. The highs seemed shrill to me and very hard to listen to.

Anyway, before spending that kind of money I want to listen to other speakers. I have been a lurker on many forums, but have not seen anyone recommend other brands that have close to the same sound of the 804s. Any recommendations from anyone?

I will be in Somerset, NJ in a few weeks so I plan on visiting a Paradigm dealer that is only a few miles from my hotel.

I am not married so I have a decent supply of disposable income and there is no WAF, hence the 4 floorstanders...

[junior77blue]

Paragdigm Reference series, Kef, Dynaudio, Klipsch, Boston Acoustics...just some that I would listen to. This gives you some variety of different 'colorations'.

Speakers are something you should listen to and listen alot of them to find what suites your tastes. So, don't just look at price tag.

[MaximusII]

Thank you for the different brands.

Based on my several months of research I have learned that listening to lots of speakers is the way to go. I think most of the general public feels that a good speaker is a good speaker for everyone but it just does not seem to be that way once you start talking about higher end equipment.

[dpolmann]

auditioning speakers

I have 804's and went through a very deliberate process to pick them out. For the auditioning process, I created two home-made CD's on my computer with songs that I was very familiar with from listening on my old stereo system. One disk was "lighter" music, primarily with acoustic, piano, vocals, instrumentals. The second disk was "heavier", with rock, jazz, dance music, etc. Every store I went to, each salesman was wowed by my preparation and was more than happy to let me click through all of my songs. One guy even told me he wanted copies of my discs! I had chosen each song with something particular in mind, and I could really focus on the differences in the various speakers (I hate when the salesperson pops in the CD they always use, to try to sell you on things in their own mind/ear). This approach also allowed me to go to different dealers and audition different brands. I listened to a wide range of speaker sizes and brands from Polk, Boston Acoustic, to Monitor Audio, Sonus Faber, B&W, and Dynaudio. In the end, you won't be disappointed! Take your time. Enjoy each and every stop. Have Fun!

[js24]

Hi,
Try 703s, too
I 've just bought a pair a couple months ago, they are somewhat more forward than the N804s but way better than the 704s (IMHO).
and as far as the other manfrs. go
try ML Aeons or Ascent, and Von Schweikert VR4-JRs
Good luck

[sugarmedia]

I am very new to HT but I have quickly gone from a HTIB to a HK receiver, outlaw mono blocks and 4 Infinity Alpha 50 speakers with Alpha 20 rears. I very much enjoy what I have, but I have an issue:

A few months ago as I shopped for a DLP/LCoS tv I made the mistake of wandering to the audio section and auditioning a pair of B&W 804 speakers. They made my Infinitys sound like they were under water.

I really enjoyed the detailed sound of the 804s, but after regaining conciousness after see the price I listened to the 704s and was much less impressed. The highs seemed shrill to me and very hard to listen to.

Anyway, before spending that kind of money I want to listen to other speakers. I have been a lurker on many forums, but have not seen anyone recommend other brands that have close to the same sound of the 804s. Any recommendations from anyone?

I will be in Somerset, NJ in a few weeks so I plan on visiting a Paradigm dealer that is only a few miles from my hotel.

I am not married so I have a decent supply of disposable income and there is no WAF, hence the 4 floorstanders...

==========

I would highly suggest that you audition the, "Martin Logan Aeon-i." Be sure that you do not listen to these on Rotel Amps as I found they did not offer good dynamics and lacked majorly in bass response. I found that Classe cap-2100 paired quite well for auditioning purposes as well as Musical Fidelity. The amp should be 4ohms with at least 200watts per channel to drive these effectively.

BTW- I had the exact same impression of the 700 series (703's) compared to the 804's, which did sound better. Though the more I read, I'm finding that B&W's which are often paired with Rotel is considered the entry level of high-end. I just purchased the Aeon's and couldn't be more happy with my decision.

I couldn't agree more with what Don said. I also made my own CD which had a wide variety of music that I was familair with. I did however ensure that the quality of each recording was superb. I chose a few things produced by Bluenote Records or Chesky." Also, at least on my Apple Computer I can do this, choosing "lossless" from my burn menu. I made sure that the CD that I made was of the exact same quality as that of the original.

[Nigel_Rav]

One speaker I've found to be close to the sound of the old N804s (but not quite as good to my ears) is the PMC OB1, which was a very similar price to the N804.

[MaximusII]

Rain, rain, rain

Since we are scheduled for 3 days of rain in S CA this holiday weekend, I thought I would get out to a few speaker dealers. I will not be able to listen to all of them just because dealers seem to be few and far between for these specialty brands. Some of them, like the PMCs do not even list dealers on their website.

Thanks again for the input!

[sugarmedia]

Don't forget to try out the Martin Logan Aeon-i. It's real!

[Joelp]

Listen to the Audio Note uk speakers if have a chance. They could make you think twice about B&W

[MaximusII]

The Martin Logan Aeon-i also makes a statement from the looks department based on the pictures on the web.

[Fraise]

The Martin Logan Aeon-i also makes a statement from the looks department based on the pictures on the web.

i'd take the aeons over the B&W's. they probably wont have the same bass extension as the 704's and 804's but they'e just so smooth in the mids and highs.

on a separate note...i listened to the B&W 803D's yesterday and they were nice but not nice enough to make me want to get rid of my ascents.

[sugarmedia]

i'd take the aeons over the B&W's. they probably wont have the same bass extension as the 704's and 804's but they'e just so smooth in the mids and highs.

I agree with Fraise, only until I tried the Aeon's with the right amp (classe) and then I was pleased with the preformance. These speakers are apparently power hungry and need top of the line amps.