Love my B&W 808

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  • POPS
    Junior Member
    • Feb 2014
    • 1

    Love my B&W 808

    Purchased a pair of B&W 808 speakers new and have loved them, and continue to enjoy them. I was wondering if anyone out there could suggest what B&W speakers I could add to the 808's to make a surround sound system. I have been told by a B&w dealer that I cannot mix electrostatics, diamonds etc. which I understand, but it seems they are downplaying the 808's to try and sell me a complete system. Surely there must be a centre, fronts and rears along with a subwoofer that will work with the 808's.
    Any thoughts or suggestions?

    POPS
  • wkhanna
    Grumpy Old Super Moderator Emeritus
    • Jan 2006
    • 5673

    #2
    Welcome the HTG Fourm, POPS!

    I have taken the liberty of moving your post to the B&W section.

    Enjoy, we are V happy to have you here!
    _


    Bill

    Practicing Curmudgeon & Audio Snob
    ....just an "ON" switch, Please!

    FinleyAudio

    Comment

    • maclick
      Junior Member
      • Dec 2011
      • 14

      #3
      Wow I just looked those up, they are some bad boys. Enjoy!
      Rotel RSX 1055

      Comment

      • dan87951
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2005
        • 379

        #4
        Originally posted by POPS
        Purchased a pair of B&W 808 speakers new and have loved them, and continue to enjoy them. I was wondering if anyone out there could suggest what B&W speakers I could add to the 808's to make a surround sound system. I have been told by a B&w dealer that I cannot mix electrostatics, diamonds etc. which I understand, but it seems they are downplaying the 808's to try and sell me a complete system. Surely there must be a centre, fronts and rears along with a subwoofer that will work with the 808's.
        Any thoughts or suggestions?

        POPS
        It will be difficult to find a center speaker to voice match with your mains so I would probably go "centerless". As for the surrounds this shouldn't be that big of a problem so I would go with anything that you think will sound good and is within your budget.
        dan87951
        audio guru

        Comment

        • Ryx
          Member
          • Oct 2005
          • 76

          #5
          hey Pops, good to see another set of B&W 808s still around and being enjoyed ^.^
          I too have a set of 808s in my system, and agree that it would be hard to match them with a center channel other then one of the 3 808s that B&W special built for abbey road which would cost a premium if you were ever able to find one Xp.
          When ever I have used my 808s for surround I have used the "center-less" method and have been quite happy with the results.

          Comment

          • madmac
            Moderator Emeritus
            • Aug 2010
            • 3122

            #6
            Going without a center channel in ANY home theater setup is a bad idea in my opinion. DD and DTS is specifically designed for use with a center channel and to be frank, the center channel is THE MOST important speaker for multi-channel systems.

            I did this for a little while when I first started listening to Dolby Digital and DTS... and while it worked fine with my old Pro-logic receiver (simulated surround based on 2ch stereo), the results were less than good when I got a Digital receiver capable of decoding true DD and DTS. An integral part of home theater is the Center channel speaker and a good subwoofer.
            Dan Madden :T

            Comment

            • Face
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2007
              • 995

              #7
              I'd take a phantom center over a non timbre matching center.
              SEOS 12/AE TD10M Front Stage in Progress

              Comment

              • madmac
                Moderator Emeritus
                • Aug 2010
                • 3122

                #8
                Originally posted by Face
                I'd take a phantom center over a non timbre matching center.
                To add to this, in order to get a decent 'phantom center', I would suggest that one forgo the Surround thing altogether and just play the movie in 2ch stereo and let the left and right speakers image the center. Dolby digital processors do not like and/or do a good job at creating a phantom center. I would just send a PCM 2ch signal to the amp.
                Dan Madden :T

                Comment

                • Kal Rubinson
                  Super Senior Member
                  • Mar 2006
                  • 2109

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Face
                  I'd take a phantom center over a non timbre matching center.
                  Agreed but an 801/802 from the same vintage as your 808s would be timbre-matched.
                  Kal Rubinson
                  _______________________________
                  "Music in the Round"
                  Senior Contributing Editor, Stereophile
                  http://forum.stereophile.com/category/music-round

                  Comment

                  • Ryx
                    Member
                    • Oct 2005
                    • 76

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Kal Rubinson
                    Agreed but an 801/802 from the same vintage as your 808s would be timbre-matched.
                    I was to the understanding that all the matrix 801/802 speakers came with a metal done tweeter. the 808 came with a slightly larger soft dome tweeter. it is because of this reason that I never bothered tracking down a speaker from the 800 matrix series as I didn't think it would be a good match with differing tweeters.

                    if my thinking is wrong then I may have to keep an eye out for an old matrix series speaker to try it out

                    Comment

                    • Kal Rubinson
                      Super Senior Member
                      • Mar 2006
                      • 2109

                      #11
                      I didn't specify the matrix series and I am not speaking from hands-on experience but from speculation. I think it would be a good bet to try.
                      Kal Rubinson
                      _______________________________
                      "Music in the Round"
                      Senior Contributing Editor, Stereophile
                      http://forum.stereophile.com/category/music-round

                      Comment

                      • ekzaktmusic
                        Junior Member
                        • Dec 2018
                        • 1

                        #12
                        Originally posted by POPS
                        Purchased a pair of B&W 808 speakers new and have loved them, and continue to enjoy them. I was wondering if anyone out there could suggest what B&W speakers I could add to the 808's to make a surround sound system. I have been told by a B&w dealer that I cannot mix electrostatics, diamonds etc. which I understand, but it seems they are downplaying the 808's to try and sell me a complete system. Surely there must be a centre, fronts and rears along with a subwoofer that will work with the 808's.
                        Any thoughts or suggestions?

                        POPS
                        i have the original 808 abbey road. these are special made for abbey road studio's. there are only 3 ever made. they where the fronts in the studio 1 especial for recording fimmusic.
                        you can find pictures of them on the internet

                        Comment

                        • tyreman
                          Junior Member
                          • Dec 2009
                          • 29

                          #13
                          A great speaker came out in later 80's but can really kick
                          Just set to stereo on receiver ..........run receiver in stereo config
                          Last edited by tyreman; 23 January 2019, 20:02 Wednesday.

                          Comment

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