G'day,
So I went to a the local B&W dealer tonight, and performed some serious auditions on the 805, mainly testing out the lower end. It's good, better than I thought, but not quite perfect. However, I reckon the imaging, detail, and openness of the 805s more than compensate for this.
The only speaker that hit all the right buttons for me was the 802, but that's nowhere near my price range, so the 805 is probably my best bet.
The bottom end still worries me, however. How many 805 owners out there use a sub for 2-channel?
I wanted to try out the 703, but the dealer recommended the cheaper 805. His opinion was that the 703 had bottom end, but lacks the qualities (clarity, imaging, etc) that I like in the 805. Maybe next time I'll get a chance to try the 703s, but does anyone agree with this?
I also did another test of the 705s. I tested these the other week at another dealer, and was not impressed at all with the bass. However, the bass response of the 705s at this dealer was *much* better. Not as tight or as punchy as the 805, but better than I thought. In a previous post I mentioned that I thought that the 602 s3 had the edge over the 705 -- well, I retract that now.
However, doing A/B tests with the 705 & 805, it was no contest. The 705 was harsher, and the sound noticeably thinner. With the 805, the speakers disappeared into the background, but with the 705, I was aware of their presence. The soundstage was two-dimensional, rather than being all over the room. When I upped the volume, the sound seemed to collapse to a single plane.
For example, I was playing the opening track from Beck's "Sea Change", which has some nice acoustic guitar strumming. With the 705, the guitars were tinny and fatiguing, but with the 805, they rang out beautifully.
I mentioned that I had Rotel amps, and the dealer did not seem pleased. He told a "horror story" of a customer who had bought a RMB-1095, tried it out with the 805s, and sold the 1095 the next day. Now this dealer does not stock Rotel, so he would naturally frown on other brands. But I've trusted his judgement so far, and the question should still be asked: are they are any B&W owners out there that have been unhappy with Rotel amplification?
I'm hoping to try out some Paradigm speakers next, specifically the Reference Studio 40 v3, which are just a little bit cheaper than the 705s. I've got a hunch that these will sound somewhere in between the 705 and the 805 (but for half the price of the 805). Can anyone with experience of paradigm and B&W care to comment?
-- Geoff
So I went to a the local B&W dealer tonight, and performed some serious auditions on the 805, mainly testing out the lower end. It's good, better than I thought, but not quite perfect. However, I reckon the imaging, detail, and openness of the 805s more than compensate for this.
The only speaker that hit all the right buttons for me was the 802, but that's nowhere near my price range, so the 805 is probably my best bet.
The bottom end still worries me, however. How many 805 owners out there use a sub for 2-channel?
I wanted to try out the 703, but the dealer recommended the cheaper 805. His opinion was that the 703 had bottom end, but lacks the qualities (clarity, imaging, etc) that I like in the 805. Maybe next time I'll get a chance to try the 703s, but does anyone agree with this?
I also did another test of the 705s. I tested these the other week at another dealer, and was not impressed at all with the bass. However, the bass response of the 705s at this dealer was *much* better. Not as tight or as punchy as the 805, but better than I thought. In a previous post I mentioned that I thought that the 602 s3 had the edge over the 705 -- well, I retract that now.
However, doing A/B tests with the 705 & 805, it was no contest. The 705 was harsher, and the sound noticeably thinner. With the 805, the speakers disappeared into the background, but with the 705, I was aware of their presence. The soundstage was two-dimensional, rather than being all over the room. When I upped the volume, the sound seemed to collapse to a single plane.
For example, I was playing the opening track from Beck's "Sea Change", which has some nice acoustic guitar strumming. With the 705, the guitars were tinny and fatiguing, but with the 805, they rang out beautifully.
I mentioned that I had Rotel amps, and the dealer did not seem pleased. He told a "horror story" of a customer who had bought a RMB-1095, tried it out with the 805s, and sold the 1095 the next day. Now this dealer does not stock Rotel, so he would naturally frown on other brands. But I've trusted his judgement so far, and the question should still be asked: are they are any B&W owners out there that have been unhappy with Rotel amplification?
I'm hoping to try out some Paradigm speakers next, specifically the Reference Studio 40 v3, which are just a little bit cheaper than the 705s. I've got a hunch that these will sound somewhere in between the 705 and the 805 (but for half the price of the 805). Can anyone with experience of paradigm and B&W care to comment?
-- Geoff
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