System picture with speaker query...

[rahds]

1368013680

I've fairly recently (since joining here just over a month ago) bought a pair of B&W 802 80s, as you can see. I've even more recently bought (they arrived today) a pair of Kef 103.2s.

Now, having had no experience of colossal speakers, or any in the RRP £thousands price bracket, the 802s blew me away. My ears cannot fault them, everything is there, they don't seem to mind being a smallish room, they sound perfectly balanced, nothing is over emphasised, their tunefulness is, to me, beyond measure. They're the difference between hearing music reproduced (albeit well) electronically and the music being alive in the room, they sound superb at low volumes, and are very loud too (I've never set the amp (CA 840A V2) so low.

Then the Kef 103.2s arriving, Glenn Gould's got me shivering. If anything they 3D (is that audio parlance?) better than the 802s (based on an hours listening anyway) - certainly on solo piano and violin pieces anyway.

I can only keep one pair in the lounge, I do prefer stand mount speakers, or did, until I got the 802s.

if I got the 802s serviced, would they exceed the 103.2s in every way? (I ask as I imagine a service would be very costly)

Back to the picture, the iPod and Pure dock are obscured by the TV but the remote still works, you can just see the blue light of my Yulong D18 DAC, yes yes, me love Yulong time etc

Sorry about the repeat picture and the upside down picture, I couldn't see how to remove the duplicate and the upside down one.

EDIT - the more I hear the 103.2s, like wow.

[Macca]

Two very different speakers. If you don't need the cash I'd hang on to them both for now and make the decision on which pair to keep over the course of six months or so.

[struth]

Good advice.....

[Gordon Steadman]

Another post I don't understand. How many rooms do you have? You should only consider thinning out the collection when each room has a complete working system and then keep a couple of spares just in case:lol:

[YNWaN]

I could never get on with 802's and found them frustratingly opaque and undynamic - the more you tried to encourage them with more wattage the less they seemed to be prepared to give.

[rahds]

I've, for now, removed the 802s. Carrying them upstairs wasn't something I fancy doing again. The stands are shot filled, goodness knows what the total weight of both speakers and their shot filled stands are. Heavy enough induce palpitations in a slob like myself.

All of this prompts another question... Why do people buy new speakers? I've just sold a pair of Monitor Audio RS6s, that were raved about in the meja (I bought them ex-demo/new) but are like toys compared to the full on musicscape the ancient 103.2s and 802s produce. Listening to the 103.2s now, with the Jacko test tracks, the depth of sound is ridiculous, like it goes back another into another room.

After spending weeks of 'lifetime speaker' persuading her indoors the 802s were an essential component of domestic existence, they're now sat in the spare (junk) room.

[Macca]

Not all new speakers are poorer than the old school efforts but it can sometimes seem that way. The 103.2 are a particularly well regarded vintage speaker so not surprising you are loving them.

[DSJR]

I don't think it's true now, but when B&W gave N801's to Abbey Road, one pair ended up as door stops for a while! I couldn't understand how recessed they sounded to me, flutes sounded like they had a blanket in front of them - ugh! - and this was a B&W demonstration! The previous original and 'M' 801's had more life to them, if not as refined I felt. I did particularly like the original 805's though, with the proviso that they were placed on very high stands with the tweeter above the listener - stand up above them and the resulting phase-notch seems to separate the treble from the rest - well it did for me! ;)

The reason why B&W 800's are used in many European mastering suites could easily be due to product placement - promotion. Been done for years in many disciplines.

[YNWaN]

The pro audio industry is as much a victim of marketing and fashion as any other industry, it's just presented differently.

[jandl100]

Ooo - we don't seem to be B&W fans. :nono: - Me, neither! :eyebrows:

Opaque beasties, as has been said, and dynamically slow to boot. The big ones can shift some air, though.

The best of breed I have heard (and owned) was a pre-B&W model - the Bowers Active One - not bad, not bad at all! Some folks hear a 'bextrene cone quack' from them, but it didn't seem to notice in my system de jour.

It was all downhill from there for B(&W), I fear, although their marketing dept deserves an award for performance above and beyond the call of duty.

[Macca]

Friend of mine has the 683 floorstander (three-way with the fancy Kevlar mid with no surround) and the twin bass drivers. Not sure if they still sell them but for £900 new they are very good indeed. I could live with them. But you need a big amp that can swing current, not some fancy boutique amp with only 10 undistorted watts a side. He uses a massive Onkyo HT amp and an Oppo - a reasonable system but it hardly exploits them to the full. Even so they are impressively good for the money. B&W don't make warm and wooley speakers and they are not easy loads so they will show up failings in the system more than some competitors will. Nevertheless people still seem to insist that they make poor speakers or that their speakers are badly designed which is a bit silly, I think.