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Hi, so I am in the market for some new floorstanders as an upgrade to my recently sold 805S. I have already budgeted money for either the 804S or 803S. While auditioning both I also listened to some other speakers, just to make sure I truly wanted to stay with B&W. Of course there are many other speakers out there but these were of particular interest to me because they represented speakers that were completely different from the B&W in terms of sound and or technology. Anyway, here are my impressions.
Speakers: Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grands
Gear: Macintosh amp, preamp, CDP?, cables?
CD: Sade
So I was totally interested in these because of their reputation for warmth. All I can say is that this reputation is completely accurate. The sound is amazingly "sweet". Vocals are soo lush, driping profusely with emotion, depth, and warmth. I was utterly amazed at how inviting the sound was. The soundstage was humungous, filling a very large listening room. I was totally drawn into the music, almost mesmorized. Even though I knew there was a significant amount of detail missing but who cares! The sound was sooooo wonderful. For me, I would characterize these speakers as very polite and subdued. No part of the music ever was presented with force our authority (even if it was meant to). Everything was composed and totally in control. To me these are passive speakers. By that I mean they make me want to either take a nap or curl up and read a book. Because the music is so sweet and unobtrusive, I feel they are best suited for background music, and not so much active listening. If I had to have a speaker in my bedroom, dining room, or anything other place where music is not the focus and more of an ambiance setter, these would be it.
Speaker: Martin Logan Ascent (I was able to compare this side by side with the 804S)
Gear: Bryston preamp and amp, Arcam CD player, Kimber speaker cables and IC
Music: Sting "Soul cages"
I am more intrigued with the electrostatic technology. The first thing I noticed was the amazing clarity and detail of these speakers. I dont want to call them bright but they did an amazing job of presenting music in a clean, uncolored manner. I did not listen to them long enough to see if this clarity would lead to fatigue though. As a result of the technology used, the music was seamless and totally integrated across the entire (rather large) face of the speaker. Since there is no tweeter or midrange driver to speaker of, there is no separation. Even when listening from only 1" away, I got the full range of the music (as much as the Logans are capable of anyway). I did notice that the there was more low end as I got closer to the bottom of the front face but this is to be expected since the bass driver is located at the base, which leads me to the other very obvious attribute of the Martin Logans, lack of bass. I am no bass head but I do want to hear tight bass if its in the music. With these speakers, low bass was almost non feel existent, only barely perceptible. I definitely did not "feel" any bass. What I thought was odd was the lack of sound staging that I heard was the strength of electrostatics. It should be noted that we did not play with speaker positioning. We just plugged them in and listened. On tracks #3 & 4 of the "Soul Cages" there are several segments where the sound stage becomes very large, extending several feet to the right and left of the speakers. The Logans did not reproduce this to me.
As for my impressions of the 804S and 803S, I wont bore you with my thoughts since everyone here already knows how good they are. As I mentioned above, there are moments on the Sting Cd where the sound stage is cast fairly wide and forward. With the 804S, I was amazed at how wide the stage became. The sound felt like it was coming from 3-4 feet to the sides of the speakers and about 2 feet in front. AMAZING! I also immediately liked the low end response of the 804S as compared to my 805S. The sound was so much more authoritative and full. Whenever I listened to my 805s I was always scared that I was going to blow them up with my 250W x 2 amp, especially when listening to a bass heavy song. I did not get this fear with the 804S as we cranked up the volume to levels I, nor my neighbors would ever tolerate. Once again, we did not optimally set them up. I was probably sitting too close and the toe in was probably too much.
Compared to the Vienna Acoustics, I would describe the B&W as an active speaker. I rarely find myself just passively listening, even with my little 601 S3. Because the clarity is so good, I usually listen for every detail, trying to find every nuance of the music. The 804S did not differ much from the Logans in terms of clarity but the integration was definitely not as good. This makes sense because of the separate drivers of this conventional speaker. However, the low end response was much better. Tight, accurate bass and smooth mids. Anyway, I decided to purchase the 804S. I did so without even listening to the 803S. This was because I was that satisfied with the 804S. I also knew that my wife and room would never be able to handle the sheer size of the 803S. I was afraid that if I listened to them I would actually buy them then have to deal with the wife later...NOT a fun situation. So I spent the lower half of my budget and lived to buy another day.
I hope my Parasound Halo gear is as good as the Bryston, otherwise I see another upgrade coming! Don't tell the wife. I am also going to audition the Kimber cables against my Nordost. I will probably add a Velodyne DD-12 sub in the not too distant future after my speakers have had a chance to break in. Isnt this hobby great??? Our systems are always in a state of constant tweaking as we search (maybe fruitlessly) for musical nirvana.
Thanks for reading...
Speakers: Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grands
Gear: Macintosh amp, preamp, CDP?, cables?
CD: Sade
So I was totally interested in these because of their reputation for warmth. All I can say is that this reputation is completely accurate. The sound is amazingly "sweet". Vocals are soo lush, driping profusely with emotion, depth, and warmth. I was utterly amazed at how inviting the sound was. The soundstage was humungous, filling a very large listening room. I was totally drawn into the music, almost mesmorized. Even though I knew there was a significant amount of detail missing but who cares! The sound was sooooo wonderful. For me, I would characterize these speakers as very polite and subdued. No part of the music ever was presented with force our authority (even if it was meant to). Everything was composed and totally in control. To me these are passive speakers. By that I mean they make me want to either take a nap or curl up and read a book. Because the music is so sweet and unobtrusive, I feel they are best suited for background music, and not so much active listening. If I had to have a speaker in my bedroom, dining room, or anything other place where music is not the focus and more of an ambiance setter, these would be it.
Speaker: Martin Logan Ascent (I was able to compare this side by side with the 804S)
Gear: Bryston preamp and amp, Arcam CD player, Kimber speaker cables and IC
Music: Sting "Soul cages"
I am more intrigued with the electrostatic technology. The first thing I noticed was the amazing clarity and detail of these speakers. I dont want to call them bright but they did an amazing job of presenting music in a clean, uncolored manner. I did not listen to them long enough to see if this clarity would lead to fatigue though. As a result of the technology used, the music was seamless and totally integrated across the entire (rather large) face of the speaker. Since there is no tweeter or midrange driver to speaker of, there is no separation. Even when listening from only 1" away, I got the full range of the music (as much as the Logans are capable of anyway). I did notice that the there was more low end as I got closer to the bottom of the front face but this is to be expected since the bass driver is located at the base, which leads me to the other very obvious attribute of the Martin Logans, lack of bass. I am no bass head but I do want to hear tight bass if its in the music. With these speakers, low bass was almost non feel existent, only barely perceptible. I definitely did not "feel" any bass. What I thought was odd was the lack of sound staging that I heard was the strength of electrostatics. It should be noted that we did not play with speaker positioning. We just plugged them in and listened. On tracks #3 & 4 of the "Soul Cages" there are several segments where the sound stage becomes very large, extending several feet to the right and left of the speakers. The Logans did not reproduce this to me.
As for my impressions of the 804S and 803S, I wont bore you with my thoughts since everyone here already knows how good they are. As I mentioned above, there are moments on the Sting Cd where the sound stage is cast fairly wide and forward. With the 804S, I was amazed at how wide the stage became. The sound felt like it was coming from 3-4 feet to the sides of the speakers and about 2 feet in front. AMAZING! I also immediately liked the low end response of the 804S as compared to my 805S. The sound was so much more authoritative and full. Whenever I listened to my 805s I was always scared that I was going to blow them up with my 250W x 2 amp, especially when listening to a bass heavy song. I did not get this fear with the 804S as we cranked up the volume to levels I, nor my neighbors would ever tolerate. Once again, we did not optimally set them up. I was probably sitting too close and the toe in was probably too much.
Compared to the Vienna Acoustics, I would describe the B&W as an active speaker. I rarely find myself just passively listening, even with my little 601 S3. Because the clarity is so good, I usually listen for every detail, trying to find every nuance of the music. The 804S did not differ much from the Logans in terms of clarity but the integration was definitely not as good. This makes sense because of the separate drivers of this conventional speaker. However, the low end response was much better. Tight, accurate bass and smooth mids. Anyway, I decided to purchase the 804S. I did so without even listening to the 803S. This was because I was that satisfied with the 804S. I also knew that my wife and room would never be able to handle the sheer size of the 803S. I was afraid that if I listened to them I would actually buy them then have to deal with the wife later...NOT a fun situation. So I spent the lower half of my budget and lived to buy another day.
I hope my Parasound Halo gear is as good as the Bryston, otherwise I see another upgrade coming! Don't tell the wife. I am also going to audition the Kimber cables against my Nordost. I will probably add a Velodyne DD-12 sub in the not too distant future after my speakers have had a chance to break in. Isnt this hobby great??? Our systems are always in a state of constant tweaking as we search (maybe fruitlessly) for musical nirvana.
Thanks for reading...
I think Bryston makes some of the finest high-end amps you can buy.
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