New to the family

[Hammie]

Well, I just ordered a pair of 804S's and the matching HTM3S. Since my dealer only had black in stock and I wanted Rosenut, they had to special order them. I should take delivery within 3 weeks.

Pics to come later.

[97disco]

Congrats!

What other gear are you running?

[htsteve]

Excellent. Coming from your current speakers, these will be quite an upgrade.

They will take 100-200 hours to break in. The fun part is you simply use them normally to break them in.

[William]

Excellent. Coming from your current speakers, these will be quite an upgrade.

They will take 100-200 hours to break in. The fun part is you simply use them normally yo break them in.

Being summer they will break in quickly. :T

[Hammie]

@97Disco:

My gear is (will be) as follows:

TV: Panasonic TH-50PZ850u Plasma HDTV
Receiver: Denon 3808CI w/ iPod Dock
BD Player: Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player
Gaming: Sony Playstation 3
Fronts: B&W 804S
Center: HTM3S
Surrounds: Polk Audio FXi3
Subwoofer: SVS PB12-NSD

Future upgrades will be (within 12 months):

Surrounds: B&W CWM DS8
Amp: Emotiva XPA-5

Upgrades within 24 months:

Pre/Pro: Emotiva UMC-1 or XMC-1
Second Amp: Emotiva XPA-3 (for bi-amping my front sound stage)

@HTSteve:

Since I'm coming from Polk bookshelves, I am hoping to see an HUGE difference.

@William:

I work from home, so they will be burnt in REAL quick.

[htsteve]

Since I'm coming from Polk bookshelves, I am hoping to see an HUGE difference.

HUGE is definitely the word that comes to mind. So does quantum leap. Prepare for detail, soundstage and dymanics like never before. Even TV commercials will sound very good.

[Hammie]

HUGE is definitely the word that comes to mind. So does quantum leap. Prepare for detail, soundstage and dymanics like never before. Even TV commercials will sound very good.

There is a clarity and fullness I never knew existing in the movies and music I have listened to since getting them.

This is the best purchase I have ever made. Now I can't wait for my surrounds and amps. Hopefully, by Thanksgiving I will have them as long as the wife doesn't change her mind.

[97disco]

"Since I'm coming from Polk bookshelves, I am hoping to see an HUGE difference."


Coming from Polks myself, I would have to agree with steve:

Huge is an understatement! But I don't have the 800 series, (just a humble pair or 704's)!

[emig5m]

HUGE is definitely the word that comes to mind. So does quantum leap.

LOL! Funny! :lol:

[kavallerie]

New to group but not to B&W

Hi,

I'm new to the HT forum, and saw this thread so I thought I'd introduce myself and share the gear I am using with B&W speakers (I'm always interested in what's being matched in systems). My first pair of B&Ws was the 602S2, which I foolishly sold. But now I am running a 5.1 theater with 603S3 as mains, an LCR60 center, 600S3 as surrounds and an ASW 400 sub. I originally used an Arcam AVR300 with Pioneer Elite DV47Ai, but now I am running a Marantz 6003 and Pioneer BDP51 BluRay player (for the 1.3 HDMI and DTS-HD). The best stereo sound that I have though comes from a pair of 602S3 set up with a vintage Sony ES system- TA-N80ES amp, TA-E77ESD pre and CDP-X777ES CD player. Things really got better when I added a Musical Fidelity V-DAC. Anyway, greetings to all, and thanks to those who have already helped me out with a DM12 repair project I've taken on. This forum is a fantastic resource!

Bill

[Hammie]

I just picked up the B&W CWM DS8 inwalls for my surrounds. Here are some pics. I will be installing them this week.

Boxes:



Resting in the box:



Size reference:



Rear View:



Dipole woofer:



Bipole Tweeters (Check out the mini tubes):



They are considered a 3-way dipole/2-way monopole. Drivers include a 7" Kevlar bass/midrange, two (2) 3" Kevlar midranges, and three (3) 1' Nautilus tube loaded aluminum dome tweeters. They go down to 45Hz.

I will eventually set them up to be dipole for movies and monopole for multichannel music. Initially, they will only be setup as dipole, but already wired with the 12V trigger to allow the switching.

Now I'm trying to figure out the height that I want to mount them. In other words, should I mount the dipole tweeter at the same height as the fronts, or the bi-pole tweeters about 2 feet above sitting position?

I probably would have had them almost installed by now, but that is my biggest hold up right now.The other is getting the materials to build my own back box since my wall is open behind the sheet rock.

[aarsoe]

According to the book they should be app. 2-3 feet/60-100 centimeter above your ear level when you are seated..

[ray5]

Neat. Let us know how easy/difficult you find installing them. Besides mounting them where do you connect your cables? Are they similar to the terminals in a standalone speaker? How much do these cost? Eventually I'll add sides and I was looking at the SCMS but seeing these pictures of yours it's encouraging to think about these and save a lot of space! What color are the grills? Keep us posted.
Ray

[MikeFL52]

These look to have the same speaker set up as the DS8S's that I have as surrounds, but configured to fit between the drywall framing. in a more vertical configuration.

It's good that you have the triggers wired so that you can switch between monopole & dipole. I have my DS8S's switched to just dipole since I do not have the wiring to switch them and climbing up to do it every time would be a pain!!

Let is know how it sounds.

[Hammie]

Neat. Let us know how easy/difficult you find installing them. Besides mounting them where do you connect your cables? Are they similar to the terminals in a standalone speaker? How much do these cost? Eventually I'll add sides and I was looking at the SCMS but seeing these pictures of yours it's encouraging to think about these and save a lot of space! What color are the grills? Keep us posted.
Ray

If you can install them between the studs and don't use back boxes, its a snap. I have them in temporarily until I get around to building the back boxes.

Connectors are different. They are spring loaded with holes in them. I will probably use bare wire, but pins would also be feasible. I think banana plugs may be too bulky.

They cost just under $3K and are the in-wall version of the DS8's that Mike has.

I have not done a full calibration yet, but so far they sound fabulous.

[ray5]

If you can install them between the studs and don't use back boxes, its a snap. I have them in temporarily until I get around to building the back boxes.

Connectors are different. They are spring loaded with holes in them. I will probably use bare wire, but pins would also be feasible. I think banana plugs may be too bulky.

They cost just under $3K and are the in-wall version of the DS8's that Mike has.

I have not done a full calibration yet, but so far they sound fabulous.

Thanks.
Ray

[Hammie]

Well, I dialed in my speakers yesterday. Set everything with Audyssey first. Then tweaked everything to 40 Hz as the crossover and 80 db (sub to 83db) with the SPL. Didn't have a chance to seriously test them with any material yesterday. Just some TV last night at low levels while the kids were in bed.

I finally had a chance to play with them this morning with both multi-channel music and some movies (just clips not entire movies). I kept everything in dipole mode. I decided not to run the cat5 for the trigger. I may add it down the road, but not right now. I guess impatience took the best of me. :shrug: Plus, I never went out and bought and cat5 cable.

Volume was set at -15db on my Denon receiver for the tests.

First up was Pink Floyd: DSOTM. It was instantly different (but then for 10x the cost of what I paid for the Polks, there better have been a difference). At first, I thought it was too detailed, not immersing enough. Then, I got to the next track and it took my Breath(e) away. :rotfl: Instantly, everything collapsed around me and I felt truly engulfed in the Pink Floyd world. Music was clear, defined, surrounding. No channel was ever too overpowering. They all worked in unison.

I followed it up with Nine Inch Nails: Downward Spiral. Closer sounded fantastic. Loving the speakers so far for music. Now let's try movies.

I'll be honest, last night while watching some TV, I really did not notice them. But then again, how exciting is a Redskins football game in surround. Thought maybe it was just my settings, so I wanted to see how they performed after a calibration and some HD audio.

:jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop:

Nothing was wrong my calibration. THEY ARE JUST THAT GOOD!!! They are invisible. Oh, sounds are coming out of them, alright. Yes, sounds are coming from them... They just produce such a pure sound that it envelopes the room. No directionality unless asked to do so.

On to the movies...

I started with the opening scene from Quantum of Solace. I always thought that was a pretty good surround scene. I was not let down. Sounds came from the general direction, but I never felt they were coming directly from the speaker. Sound dispersion was great with these.

I then moved to 2 Fast 2 Furious. The opening race scene has always been my favorite for showing off my 5.1 system. It has everything. From the highest of highs when the cars shift gears or the nitrous kicks in, to the lowest of lows from the bass in their audio systems or the rumble of the engines as the pass by. Again, this scene has everything. It especially has tons of speaker sweeps as the cars fly by the cameras -- rear to front, front to rear, left to right, etc. Everything. If you haven't watched this scene. Do so.

Since I was in a Tyrese mood, I put in TF2. The opening Paramount scene where the stars come out and around the mountain was stellar with surrounds. They started in the left rear, swooped over to the right rear and continued around the front right, center and left front. The sound was seamless and and all the speakers handle them extremely well.

Now, don't get me wrong, my Polks were... are fantastic. I would take those any day as my second choice. But te fact that these are in wall, pushed them back just a little bit versus on-wall speakers. Also, a two-way speaker with a 5 1/4" driver against a three-way speaker with a 7" driver is just not fair.

Over all, I am EXTREMELY pleased. To say the least.