The B&W Dilema! 803D vs 801N vs CM9

[mbovaird]

I am rebuilding my home theater/2 channel audio setup. I listen to music 50% of the time and the rest I will use the system for HT/TV viewing. I plan on buying 500 watt/channel mono blocks from Emotiva. My budget for the FRONT speakers is "about" $5,000. I can get used 803D's, 801N's and certainly new CM9's for "about" that price. My question is - what should I do? I know listening is very personal - but the problem is trying to find everything I am considering in one place!

For those of you who have heard these speakers - I welcome your thoughts and advise.

Lastly - any advise on a sub for each/all of them? A B&W sub? I definitely want a sub for HT purposes. For strictly action movie purposes, I want the china to fall out of the china cabinet!

Thanks!
Mike

[wettou]

I am rebuilding my home theater/2 channel audio setup. I listen to music 50% of the time and the rest I will use the system for HT/TV viewing. I plan on buying 500 watt/channel mono blocks from Emotiva. My budget for the FRONT speakers is "about" $5,000. I can get used 803D's, 801N's and certainly new CM9's for "about" that price. My question is - what should I do? I know listening is very personal - but the problem is trying to find everything I am considering in one place!

For those of you who have heard these speakers - I welcome your thoughts and advise. Lastly - any advise on a sub for each/all of them? A B&W sub? I definitely want a sub for HT purposes. For strictly action movie purposes, I want the china to fall out of the china cabinet! Thanks! Mike

Used 803D gets my vote and yes get a sub or better two :T

[aarsoe]

For some reason we men tend to believe that size doesn't really matter - but it does. If you have the power to drive the 801's then there really is no substitute for a 12" woofer. Yes, the N series does have some other drawbacks, but I would pick them even though they do take up a lot of space and have a lot less waf appeal..
But having said that the 803d is a nice speaker that is easier to ingrate into most homes and your wife will most likely like that better..

[bigburner]

Go for the 803Ds without a doubt. With Emotiva 500 watt/channel monoblocks driving them you are seriously in business.

As you mentioned you will also need a sub for music (especially live music) as well as HT. I have a B&W sub (ASW750) but if I was starting from scratch with a pair of 803Ds and 500 watt/channel monoblocks driving them the top of my audition list would be a sub from JL Audio http://home.jlaudio.com/products_pages.php?page_id=2.

Nigel.

[wettou]

For subs to go with 803d I would suggest four JL Audio F110 :T or two JL Audio F113

[stuofsci02]

For subs to go with 803d I would suggest four JL Audio F110 :T or two JL Audio F113

Thats a hefty sub budget.. Two subs are sure nice though...

[mbovaird]

Room

Hi guys - space is not really an issue. When I built my house in 2004, I turned the room over our 3 car garage into a home theater. It's the only part of the house that is "upstairs" and has two child gates AND a locked door (with only me and my wife knowing where the key is!) I am VERY fortunate to have such a room and not have to "integrate" it into the family room or something. I have Mag 3.6's up there now. WONDERFUL speakers - but the tiniest sweet spot. Literally shift your head a little left or right and you lose that wonderful imaging. The way I have the room set up is seats on the left and seats on the right and you walk down the middle as you enter through the door. Dumb dumb me, didn't know what a small sweet spot the 3.6's would have, so I literally had to buy another chair which I slide into the middle when doing 2 channel audio listening.

I'm surprised no vote for the CM9's and the entire CM collection. Maybe they just aren't in the same league as the 801N's or the 803D's. I have to make a trip to Tampa to hear the 803D's. Have never and would never get the chance to hear the 801N's - would have to buy them without auditioning them - but I'm sure I will love them. I heard the CM9's and was blown away. Amazing high notes and imaging.

From the advice, the JL Audio F113 pairs well with B&W speakers in general? I'm surprised the B&W subs don't pair best.

When I built the home theater, I built into the walls/ceiling at the back 6 Sonance in-wall speakers. Maybe it's just me, but they suck and I've read how wonderful they should be. I was thinking of looking at B&W in-wall speakers.

On a completely unrelated note, has anyone hear heard Aperion speakers? They are getting a lot of press. They have the Vista Grand model that is getting rave reviews....just curious.

Mike

[beden1]

I have my 803Ds positioned about 10' wide and the center stage imaging is still excellent.

[stuofsci02]

I doubt you'll get any votes for the CM9 if you are offering the 803D and N801. I have CM7 and like them a lot (especially for the $900 I got them for). They do not sound as good as my 804s however. The 804s was also better to me then the CM9, so the 803D should be awesome.

I also found the 803D very easy to place compared to 804s or 804Di.

[bigburner]

Then again those 801Ns will sound pretty good too. Any chance you can do a bake-off between the 803Ds and the 801Ns?

Nigel.

[Pedro]

If space isnt a problem and you can get N801 for USD5K, in my opinion, is the way to go. With them you wont need a sub of course if you load them with 500W amp or more and which is able to output a bunch of current in 2 ohms, the old nautilus were much more power hungry than the diamonds. With 803D which could be the second option, you still should need a sub for both worlds but they would require less gear. So, in the end the costs will be equal.

[DeepEndX]

I have owned N801, N803, and my friend has the 803D. If you have a large room, I would definitely get the N801, if not the 803D. N801 is one of the most dynamic speakers I have heard. The N801 bass is superb but not as fast as 803D; however, the N801 is much more dynamic and I could hardly can tell the difference unless I listen to very fast bass music (kevlar bass vs Rohacell cone bass). The kevlar mid would be the same as the 803D. The high would be different but you can hardly tell unless you listen extremely close (metal dome tweeter vs diamond). I couldn't tell the difference but my friend claimed that he could. Overall, the N801 is much more dynamic by far, but you would require the space and proper amps to drive it (emotiva 500w should do the job) to utilize it to the fullest potential. I have close to 900 sq feet of listening space with 15 feet ceilings. If you do get the N801, I would suggest play 1812 SACD loud with the grills off. The 15 inch bass is amazing to hear while see the bass driver bulge 1 inch every time when the canons blast.

As for the sub's, JL Audio are the way to go. F113 are great subs.

[diononiz]

I just went through a similiar situation recently. I listened to the Cm9s and while on their own they are great speakers, the 805 diamonds were in another league. If you are considering a sub also you may want to give the 805 diamonds a listen. They are lacking in the sub 50hz region but the midrange was awesome and the tweeter is truly amazing. You will be amazed by the detail and imaging.

That being said I wound up increasing my budget to include the 804 diamond. It improves on the lower midrange considerably (but not to the range of the 803d). I plan on keeping these speakers for 10 plus years so I wanted to make sure I looked at everything in the range. Good luck and have fun!

[Pedro]

The N801 bass is superb but not as fast as 803D; however, the N801 is much more dynamic and I could hardly can tell the difference unless I listen to very fast bass music (kevlar bass vs Rohacell cone bass).

Well i did heard the N801 (but just with Krell 400cx amp) and had the 803D for sometime, i think the same. But here is a doubt: With your experience, could the N801 or 801D (wich still is more faster) perform with the same bass speed as the 803D but using large amps I mean above 600W?

[DeepEndX]

Pedro:

The N801 bass speed is slower than the 801D when I played drum acoustic type of music. But I couldn't tell much of bass speed differences between the 801D to the 803D using Krell amps except 801D dynamic was WOW. The 801's, regardless diamond or not, do require a lot of Watts to drive them due to the 15 inch bass driver. If the Amp is not up to par, 801's bass can sound a little muddy (lack of control) and the listener probably better off with the 803D's. Krells do drive the 801's nicely and the Evo's do make the high and medium much pleasant to listen to than the CX or MCX series.

[BlueSander]

How big is your room? N801 could be a bit overkill. I would recommend to stay either with N802 or 803D for easy to drive and sound quality.