Listening fatigue with the new 804S’s?

[RebelMan]

I went to my local B&W dealer today and spent about an hour or so listening to the new 805Ss and 804Ss. I concluded that the 804Ss are worth the difference in price and I decided to make them a part of a new home entertainment system I am building. But, just for kicks, I wanted to know what another $8000.00 would have gotten me, so I decided to listen to the new 802Ds. Bad idea!!! The new 802Ds were just dreamy. Absolutely breath taking. Do I think they are worth the extra coin? No. But if I had the money I couldn’t think of anything better to spend it on.

Needless to say, I discovered that my ears were feeling fatigued when listening to the 805Ss and 804Ss, but that all seemed to disappear with the 802Ds. I was puzzled. At first I thought I was just imagining this. Maybe I was just playing them too loud? But the 802Ds were played at the same volume and I didn’t seem to notice it, at least not as much. I asked the dealer about this and he said that the 805Ss and 804Ss were fairly new and haven’t had much breaking in time. He went further on to say that the 802Ds had more playing time (but not that much more) and the lack of listening fatigue may also be do to the better components of the 802Ds. I asked if this “fatigue” would eventually work itself out with more playing time, i.e., a longer breaking period. He said it should, but I wondered about that.

Will the listening fatigue I am noticing eventually work its way out of the 804Ss? Maybe the extra $8000.00 for the 802Ds is worth it!

[turbokuo]

Funny, today I spent 2 hour at the dealer comparing the new 804 and 802D and the no fatigue with either one and I have sensitive ears. And yes the 802D's sounded much fuller.

[ti33er]

My colleaque and I encoutered listening fatigue with the new 805S when they were first out on display (this put me off them and I was quite upset because I was expecting the 'better than Signature sound') so I know exactly what you are talking about...my conclusion is this was mainly due to the clinical tone resultant of the out-of-the-box tweeter, which should soften a little with more run-in time?

The Diamond tweeter however removes almost all elements of harshness and we found it practically perfect sounding right out of the box!?

PS. If music is too loud it will fatigue your ears no matter what system it is being pushed out from!

[Rolex]

Don't give up on the 805's or 804's. I've had my 805's for almost a two weeks now. They took FOREVER to break in. No kidding, I was ready to sell them. Not anymore. I like them as much as I liked my signature 805's. Break is huge with these speakers, not sure why so much more than others.. But, the fatigue will go away, I assure you. If I could afford it, I would step up to the 804's. And probably will in 6 months or so..

[RebelMan]

Thanks Rolex, I was a little concerned about this as it was rather bothersome and almost put-off-ish. But your vote of confidence makes me feel better and keeps me from considering something else.

[Boone38]

I would agree with the break in period. I have had my 805s for about the same time frame ( 2 weeks) and they are just now souding better and better.

I played allot of classical at first then took a chance on an old Patsy Cline recording and it has never sounded so detailed. The stage just gets bigger and deeper. I am also very impressed with the low end.

One thing that is very much needed is great cables and clean power.

Keep me posted on which way you go speaker wise.