How much better is the 804s when compared to the 703?

[mdavis]

Hi everyone,

I'm madly into the 804S and am on the verge of finally buying a pair. At the same time, I've never had an opportunity to hear the 703, which can be had for much, much less money. Has anyone been able to A/B the two speakers and form comparisons? I'd love to know your findings if you have. I'd imagine the 703 would have better defined bass but the highs would likely be less detailed than on the 804S (no small thing). Help?

[Pedro]

In my opinion 804S has much more better soundstage thank to its midrange, tweeter and xovers. The 703 has better bass, i don´t know why, they sound more fuller but a bit bright IMO.

[htsteve]

mdavis,

First of all, welcome to the forum! :T

I went from a predecessor to the 703 (a P5) to the 804. the gap between the two was noticeable. Better midrange, soundstage, depth and dynamics.
I know the 703 will narrow the gap tot he 804S, but the 800 series is the premier B&W line witht he best enginerring and performance.

One thing to consider is proper amplification. Both the 703 and 804S need to be driven by an external amp. This is especially true with the 804S. These speakers simply perform to their capabilities when given the proper current.

What electronics do you have, or plan to have for these? The better overall solution might be the 703's with a nice amp to drive them. But if you can do a good amp and the 804S, that's the best solution.


Hope this helps.

[leej]

I’ve found myself asking the same question. Though I love my 703’s, I have often thought about upgrading to the 804S. I compared them to the N804, but didn’t find enough improvement to upgrade. I’ve watched A-gon but they seem to go very fast, like all of the 800-S series, since they stopped making them. If I were doing this again, I’d go for the 804S, the first time.

[emig5m]

The sucky thing with buying better speakers is being more limited by recording quality... Thing about the 804S I hate so much is that crappy recordings really stick out like VHS on a HDTV! For well recorded vocals or piano man they're awesome! But I really hate being held back by recording quality most of the time.... I mean as of now, I'm only keeping them because I don't think I could ever give up the HTM3S center matched with the 804S for movie watching... I could probably drop back to 683's with minimal pain, but not the HTM61. Well, who am I kidding. My 800 series is one of my top five favorite purchases of all time - I'm just not into the hobby right now especially with summer coming I plan on spending all my free time out on the water with my 215 horsepower Seadoo personal watercraft! :T I do use my system for at least three movies a week and Xbox 360 gaming...but I'm more into it in the winter when outdoor activities come to an end... I'll probably keep my speakers forever... Well... don't quote me on that. I'm sure at some point I'll want bigger and better, hehe... :lol: But yea, I'd have a hard time giving them up - I was at a friends house the other day and had a hard time understanding dialog. The HTM3S the signal just passes through crystal clear! I originally went for them for music at first, but man are they great for movies too! You really notice the difference when you get used to them and then listen to lesser systems!

[beden1]

Hi everyone,

I'm madly into the 804S and am on the verge of finally buying a pair. At the same time, I've never had an opportunity to hear the 703, which can be had for much, much less money. Has anyone been able to A/B the two speakers and form comparisons? I'd love to know your findings if you have. I'd imagine the 703 would have better defined bass but the highs would likely be less detailed than on the 804S (no small thing). Help?

I have the 703s in one of my systems, and IMO, I think there is a meaningful and worthwhile improvement by going with the 803S versus the 804S, over the 703s.

[wettou]

Hi everyone,

I'm madly into the 804S and am on the verge of finally buying a pair. At the same time, I've never had an opportunity to hear the 703, which can be had for much, much less money. Has anyone been able to A/B the two speakers and form comparisons? I'd love to know your findings if you have. I'd imagine the 703 would have better defined bass but the highs would likely be less detailed than on the 804S (no small thing). Help?

The 800 series is definitely an improvement but the 800 Diamond series is the way to go :T

[SPACEMANRICK]

I’ve found myself asking the same question. Though I love my 703’s, I have often thought about upgrading to the 804S. I compared them to the N804, but didn’t find enough improvement to upgrade. I’ve watched A-gon but they seem to go very fast, like all of the 800-S series, since they stopped making them. If I were doing this again, I’d go for the 804S, the first time.

I moved up from my old 804S to my new 802DI speakers. I traded in my 804's so I have been keeping an eye on the 804's speakers on audiogon and am surprised at their consistently high strong resale value and how fast they always seem to sell.

If you are sitting on the fence and can afford it, I would suggest just buying the upper end of the 2 speakers that you are considering. In the unlikely event that you do change your mind the resale value on the 800 series speakers is very good.

[mdavis]

Thanks, everyone!


The 803S would be a little too large for the room. 804D would be glorious, but are definitely priced out of my range.

You've convinced me, I'll hold out and go for the 804S!

As for what I would power them with, for the time being, it would likely be a Cambridge Audio 640A V2 (not ideal, I know, but it should still sound pretty amazing), and I'll eventually try to get a Classe CAP-151 on the used market.

Just wondering, I keep reading that the 600 series towers are much easier to drive than anything in the 700 or 800 series are, but the 683 seems to have the exact same sensitivity as the 804S. Is there something I'm not getting?

[emig5m]

Just wondering, I keep reading that the 600 series towers are much easier to drive than anything in the 700 or 800 series are, but the 683 seems to have the exact same sensitivity as the 804S. Is there something I'm not getting?

Uh... I ran a Yamaha 663 AVR into protection mode more than once with the 683. They need good power too if you're going to push them IMO. And honestly, even if I where going to use bookshelf speakers, I'd still go with a decent power amp. My 685s sung loud, clear, and full hooked up to an Emotiva XPA-5. People probably say to get the amp with the 800's because why spend that much on speakers just to compromise them with lack of power. I never ran my 800's without an amp to make the same comparison as the 600's so I don't know if there's a bigger gap with the 800's over the 600's with using more power but the difference was noticeable on the 600's and Emotiva amps wont break the bank.

[olilugo]

The sucky thing with buying better speakers is being more limited by recording quality... Thing about the 804S I hate so much is that crappy recordings really stick out like VHS on a HDTV! For well recorded vocals or piano man they're awesome! But I really hate being held back by recording quality most of the time.... I mean as of now, I'm only keeping them because I don't think I could ever give up the HTM3S center matched with the 804S for movie watching... I could probably drop back to 683's with minimal pain, but not the HTM61. Well, who am I kidding. My 800 series is one of my top five favorite purchases of all time - I'm just not into the hobby right now especially with summer coming I plan on spending all my free time out on the water with my 215 horsepower Seadoo personal watercraft! :T I do use my system for at least three movies a week and Xbox 360 gaming...but I'm more into it in the winter when outdoor activities come to an end... I'll probably keep my speakers forever... Well... don't quote me on that. I'm sure at some point I'll want bigger and better, hehe... :lol: But yea, I'd have a hard time giving them up - I was at a friends house the other day and had a hard time understanding dialog. The HTM3S the signal just passes through crystal clear! I originally went for them for music at first, but man are they great for movies too! You really notice the difference when you get used to them and then listen to lesser systems!

And I was preparing a nice e-mail to convince you to sell me your HTM3s... :-) .. too late you alrady got too attch and now you probably even named it as one of your childs.